2022 FLAFA Winter Pitching Clinic
Lesson 3

There are three topics in lessons 3. They are presented separately below.

4 Key Principles

There are 4 key principles that form a foundation for building pitching technique. Alignment, Posture, Spacing and Sequencing are the keys to long term success. Alignment is basically everything moving directly towards the target (home plate). Posture refers to the body leaning forward at the start, leaning back in the middle and standing upright at release. Spacing is being able to get the ball past the hip in a direct line to the target. Sequencing is the way that the joints and muscles work together to efficiently deliver energy to the ball.

There are no specific drills to demonstrate these as every drill incorporates all of them. These are presented as a framework for diagnosing difficulties that the student may be having. The link below goes into far more detail about these principles.

Refining the Arm Circle

There are two main considerations. One is arm whip, or leading with the elbow. This is one of the most important aspects of sequencing. The other is the path of the elbow and ball as it goes around the circle and this is an important part of alignment.

Here are some drills that can help refine the arm circle. Note that these examples are not necessarily technically correct in every aspect of the motion. But they are still valuable to watch, learn and practice.

Drills for arm whip

Whip, Whip, Throw
Forearm Whip
One Knee 3 Circles
Palm Up Flip
Stop Along the Way
Xelerator

Drills for Circle Accuracy

K Into Glove

Pitch Into Glove

Throwing Full Motion Pitches

Here's some examples of pitchers using pretty good technique. In lesson 7 the pitching motion will be shown in slow motion with annotated comments.

9U
10U
11U
12U
13U
14U
16U
17U

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The commentary above demonstrate all of the concepts in lesson 3. 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.

Text - 4 Key Principles of Fastpitch pitching

9 1/2 minute video Throwing from the Circle Position
Text - Throwing from the Circle Position Technique and potential problems


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Here are some external sources for creating whip. 1 minute video Amanda Scarborough Demonstrating Whip

7 1/2 minute video Forearm Fire by Fastpitch Power Note that in the video the palm of the throwing hand is facing up on the back side of the circle. In this clinic the technique will be that the palm is facing sideways. I teach both ways to my individual students depending on which works better for them. I have not noted a material difference in performance so I look at this as individual preference. Currently the palm sideways method is much more widely taught than the palm up approach so in the clinic that is the technique taught so that as the students move on to other coaches they won't have to make changes. It's actually not that difficult to switch from one to the other. But this video makes a lot of good points about elbow lead (aka whip, hand lag, forearm fire, forearm lag, elbow snap and basic fundamental technique).