2022 FLAFA Winter Pitching Clinic
Lesson 1

Lesson 1 is done mostly without using a ball. There are three main concepts, the push, the transition to toe touch and the forearm swing. Also included is gripping and releasing the ball

The push gets the body moving. The body, leg and ankle need to remain facing the target (i.e. home plate for now) until the push is completed with full ankle and knee extension. Doing the push is pretty straight forward (pun intended). Here's how it looks.

First Part of the Three Part Push

The transition to toe touch happens from after the push is complete until the stride foot touches the ground. During that time the body must turn sideways. The pitcher should arrive at toe touch with the body leaning back a bit. This position is called the k position as the body resembles the letter k and k is the official scoring term for a strikeout.

Second Part of the Three Part Push

The forearm swing is the last thing that happens before the ball is released. There are several drills that help learn this technique.

Forearm Swing
Flips
K Position
Circle Position

Having started from the beginning and worked up to toe touch, then starting at the end and working back to toe touch what remains is putting those together to throw a pitch (without a ball)

Pitch without a ball

Before throwing the ball it is very important to learn how to properly grip and release the ball.

Grip and Release


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The drills above demonstrate all of the concepts in lesson 1. If you want additional information pitchngmagic.com is my website that is intended to be a guide for coaches who don't know much about pitching technique but they have to teach some players how to pitch. The website provides the technique and the rationale and problems associated with each part of the pitching motion. Note that the website was made before the pitching rules changed to allow the stride foot to start behind the pitching plate instead of in contact with it.

7 1/2 minute Video - Push and transition to toe touch
Text - Push and transition to toe touch, technique and potential problems
8 minute video - Grip and Release The first 4:30 is for lesson 1 and the remaining 3:30 is for lesson 6.
Text - Grip and Release technique and potential problems