I love to coach mechanics. I have a series of drills that break down throwing and I think they translate quickly to pitching so once I have kids throwing I can turn them into serviceable pitchers.
I’ll publish pictures and step by step for these very soon, but the general idea is AIM to target and the lead arm aims, throwing arm gets back to the furthest point from target, hips cock and as the player steps toward the target, when the lead foot lands, the hips unload and the throwing arm moves with high speed and the ball is released way out in front and the arm keeps going into a smooth follow-through.
So while making pics of all these I notice my nephew is constantly pointing his lead arm too high. He’s not tall so I guess he figures all targets are up in the sky.
So part of me wants to really jump on him for always pointing too high. But and there’s always a but with this stuff. He’s throwing 100 MILLION TIMES better this summer and he’s starting to enjoy himself. So is it — Hey kid, fix your mechanics. Or is it Hey Kid — GREAT THROWING?
I think the answer is that the mechanics get fixed but its gotta be done carefully. So maybe after a few good throws next practice I’ll give him a high five and say YOUR THROWING HAS REALLY COME ALONG and then maybe a few minutes later so as not to water down the compliment, i’ll say UH a UH MINOR MINOR TWEAK that might maybe might make you a hair better is to uh, NOT POINT YOUR LEADING ARM TO THE EXPLETIVE SKY — but to kindly point it at the target. We’ll see how it goes. Oh the dilemmas that face all coaches…..stay tuned for the results.
