Changing Mechanics - Best Practices

[yuba30]

Hi,

Love this forum, you guys give great advice. After a couple years of struggling to find good information, we stumbled upon the Hillhouse videos which felt like a life saver. Then found this forum with stickies on IR, brush interference, etc. to add to what we learned. So thank you to everyone who contributed.

Alright on to my question. This forum has a bunch of good threads on proper mechanics, but I couldn't find any posts on how to go about changing a pitcher's mechanics. It's so difficult to change muscle memory and there are so many factors I'm surprised there wasn't a sticky thread on this.

A few specific questions I'd like advice on are:

1. How do you handle mechanics changes during a season? When I make a change to my daughter's mechanics mid season we go through a period of her losing speed and accuracy in games because we spend every practice working on the change but in game she defaults to the old way of doing it (due to muscle memory/comfort) and struggles to adjust. I could wait until the end of the season, but at this age (12U) I've heard you should always be working to improve mechanics.

2. How do you know when to start usiing a new mechanic in games? As in when to tell her to consciously focus on the change while pitching in a game to get more practice with it and not just let her fall back into her muscle memory. Or in game do you always let her do what is natural and hope that eventually through practice the new mechanics become natural.

3. If you have multiple changes to make, how do you do that? For example right now we're working on proper toe drag and getting the ball facing up at 9 o'clock. I've been working on just toe drag and planned to do arm whip once the new toe drag is muscle memory. The thought being that too many changes at once is too difficult. Now I'm wondering if each practice we should work on both changes (in separate drills), to speed up the process of changing muscle memory.

I'd love to hear thoughts on those questions as well as any other advice on how to speed up or simplify the process of making changes to mechanics.

Thanks!
Jim

 

[DNeeld]

Hey Jim,

1. It is very difficult to make changes in season. As you noted they will resort to old muscle memory during games and essentially get multiple reps of bad practice. So best practice here - if taking a break isn't an option - is to continue to reinforce proper mechanics during practice. The key is to get more good reps than bad reps in.

2. This relates to #1. The time is NOW to start using new mechanics in game. You are going to experience negatives....loss of velocity, loss of control, etc...but it has to be done. Otherwise you are just confusing the body by practicing one way and playing another. The danger here is the pitcher losing self-confidence. It has to be said over and over again that it is a process and a journey and it will take time to get where they want to be.

3. Every pitcher has multiple issues to work on. The key is to identify the most important and work through them one at a time. Personally I would focus on one area until it is acceptable then move onto the next area.

Best of luck.

 

[yuba30]

Thanks for the reply, that was really helpful. We do have a few months off coming up after the all stars season, so I think it makes sense to wait until then to start on the changes instead of trying to force them now. I'd been debating doing that, but wasn't sure.

I still think this is a good topic though, so if anyone else has advice on ways to make changing mechanics easier I'd love to hear them...

 

[MadBandit22]

Hi,

Love this forum, you guys give great advice. After a couple years of struggling to find good information, we stumbled upon the Hillhouse videos which felt like a life saver. Then found this forum with stickies on IR, brush interference, etc. to add to what we learned. So thank you to everyone who contributed.

Alright on to my question. This forum has a bunch of good threads on proper mechanics, but I couldn't find any posts on how to go about changing a pitcher's mechanics. It's so difficult to change muscle memory and there are so many factors I'm surprised there wasn't a sticky thread on this.

A few specific questions I'd like advice on are:

1. How do you handle mechanics changes during a season? When I make a change to my daughter's mechanics mid season we go through a period of her losing speed and accuracy in games because we spend every practice working on the change but in game she defaults to the old way of doing it (due to muscle memory/comfort) and struggles to adjust. I could wait until the end of the season, but at this age (12U) I've heard you should always be working to improve mechanics.

2. How do you know when to start usiing a new mechanic in games? As in when to tell her to consciously focus on the change while pitching in a game to get more practice with it and not just let her fall back into her muscle memory. Or in game do you always let her do what is natural and hope that eventually through practice the new mechanics become natural.

3. If you have multiple changes to make, how do you do that? For example right now we're working on proper toe drag and getting the ball facing up at 9 o'clock. I've been working on just toe drag and planned to do arm whip once the new toe drag is muscle memory. The thought being that too many changes at once is too difficult. Now I'm wondering if each practice we should work on both changes (in separate drills), to speed up the process of changing muscle memory.

I'd love to hear thoughts on those questions as well as any other advice on how to speed up or simplify the process of making changes to mechanics.

Thanks!
Jim

Slight tweaks/adjustments during the season. Major corrections in off-season.
As an example if you want to change her wind-up do it in the off season.
I have done this several times with my daughters. Always looking for the simplest most powerful motion so then can repeat it easily. I see many girls out there with too much cosmetic hand motions that just distract them from the goal of being accurate and getting batters out.
The old adage Keep It Simple Stupid works well with pitchers.
I would suggest Amanda Scarborough videos. She does a good job of explaining what she’s doing. I learned much from her videos.
Also have your daughter watch softball. Good opportunity right now with WCWS later this week. Check out the best of the best and try to incorporate some of their techniques in your players pitching motion.

 

[Cornbread]

Some of the top notch gurus on here advise when changing from hello elbow mechanics to IR stuff, its best to begin by teaching the pitcher to throw "through her body her body" and not around it (ala slamming the door).

 

[GunnerShotgun]

Wow some bad advice being given in this thread.

1. Make the changes immediately do not keep reinforcing bad mechanics. At 12u she will adapt faster than you think.

2. You pitch in games the same way you pitch in practice. If you can't throw strikes in a game/practice you shouldn't be pitching.

3. Make all changes as you see them however some of the "changes" you are focusing on are not as important as others...

 

[efastball]

My son made changes every day, even in college. He would sometimes try things during an inning.

During your kid's long career what can a 12U game or season matter? What better time to see if something works than when facing live opponents.

If your coaches really cared about each kid's development, they would promote this approach, but they won't because they mostly care about winning.

Also, always measure changes. We always tried techniques that we read about or saw, and if they were faster on a radar gun, then we kept doing them.

 

[DrRiello]

Hi,

Love this forum, you guys give great advice. After a couple years of struggling to find good information, we stumbled upon the Hillhouse videos which felt like a life saver. Then found this forum with stickies on IR, brush interference, etc. to add to what we learned. So thank you to everyone who contributed.

Alright on to my question. This forum has a bunch of good threads on proper mechanics, but I couldn't find any posts on how to go about changing a pitcher's mechanics. It's so difficult to change muscle memory and there are so many factors I'm surprised there wasn't a sticky thread on this.

A few specific questions I'd like advice on are:

1. How do you handle mechanics changes during a season? When I make a change to my daughter's mechanics mid season we go through a period of her losing speed and accuracy in games because we spend every practice working on the change but in game she defaults to the old way of doing it (due to muscle memory/comfort) and struggles to adjust. I could wait until the end of the season, but at this age (12U) I've heard you should always be working to improve mechanics.

2. How do you know when to start usiing a new mechanic in games? As in when to tell her to consciously focus on the change while pitching in a game to get more practice with it and not just let her fall back into her muscle memory. Or in game do you always let her do what is natural and hope that eventually through practice the new mechanics become natural.

3. If you have multiple changes to make, how do you do that? For example right now we're working on proper toe drag and getting the ball facing up at 9 o'clock. I've been working on just toe drag and planned to do arm whip once the new toe drag is muscle memory. The thought being that too many changes at once is too difficult. Now I'm wondering if each practice we should work on both changes (in separate drills), to speed up the process of changing muscle memory.

I'd love to hear thoughts on those questions as well as any other advice on how to speed up or simplify the process of making changes to mechanics.

Thanks!
Jim

Jim, I went through this transition at 12u Knowing she needed to get better to play 14u.
It is tough to change mechanics during the season and maintain your control and speed. However, as some have said I would completely wait till the season is over.
My advice, what worked for me, is to change 1 thing at a time. I would immediately get away from HE. get your dd doing IR as soon as possible. We actually saw an increase in velocity when she did it correct. Then see where to next most significant change needs to be made. Probably the hips. HE form is different than IR form. Our biggest hurdle after IR was getting her to 45 and not completely opening up to 90. That took all off season.
You can begin the process no doubt.
Hope this helps.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[wheresmycar]

If she is playing All Stars, I would wait until after the season is completed. Struggling in the circle is no fun, and might give her a negative view of tournament ball. If she made the team with her old motion, she should play with her old motion.

Travel Ball never really ends, so if you have to make changes, you don't really have an option to wait until the end of a season.

IMOHO

 

[djcarter1966]

I really like the one thing at a time comment as long as we are just tweeking, the last thing you want is 10 things going through her head as she is trying to pitch. Practicing as you pitch is an absolute must she can't have two motions one for practice and one for games. If she is not comfortable with a new pitch she is learning that's OK to not work it in yet but her basic mechanics have to be the same, if she reverts back to old mechanics in a game so be it but between innings you need to remind her of what she is doing wrong and get her to keep at it....noticed i did not say yell at her after every pitch to "DRAG THE TOE or 9 O'CLOCK PALM UP" or whatever. The other thing is find a que that works for her so she can feel and understand when she is doing it wrong and self correct.

Major mechanical things should probably be tackled off season but sounds like you are mostly there...although if she isn't palm up at 9 oclock that could be pretty big unless you just think she just has a small angle off of palm up obviously if she is behind the ball thats huge issue.