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by Gerald Warner, Softball Pitching
Instructor
The off-season is an ideal time to make
necessary major
adjustments to your mechanics, develop a new breaking pitch or two,
AND to increase the speed of your
fastball. 
However, during the late-Fall and Winter period
from November to March, pitchers who live or go to
school in most cold-weather states don’t always find it
possible to practice outdoors.
We have found that the most
beneficial speed-increasing drill for softball pitchers is one that
can be done at home…and it is a simple one to set up. It involves hanging a
remnant piece of carpeting (or an old rug, or even a heavy tarp)
from a joist in the ceiling of a
basement or garage.
Then, from a pitching rubber 10 or 12 feet away, pitch with
all of your power…throwing it as hard as you can into the
carpet. Use
good body mechanics the same as you do when you
are pitching outside.
But here, the objective is to teach your body to throw
harder…don’t worry about control…just “wail away”.
The key is to get better with each
pitch. Take a little
time in between pitches and think what you can do to make your
delivery smoother and to throw the next one a little harder. This is the off-season, so
you won’t be throwing to a live batter for weeks or months. By doing this exercise for
75 or so pitches per session, three or four times per week, will
condition your body…and you mentally…to substantially increase your
fastball speed. Then,
as soon as you get into live practices with a real catcher, your
pitch control and accuracy will come back…but with a much greater
velocity.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
(1) You might
be able to get a free remnant at a
carpet store if you tell the Manager what you want to use it
for. (2) Find a piece
of carpet at least 6-feet wide so you don’t have to worry about
missing it when you throw.
And, if floor-to-ceiling height is 7 or 7½ feet, the carpet
should be at least 10-feet long (at the floor, let it curve
outward toward the pitcher, to help with ball
return). (3) Don’t bother
painting a strike zone on it…the purpose of this exercise is to
throw hard…without focusing on accuracy right
now.
ON A RELATED SUBJECT..."Take a
break"
Each year we recommend that young
pitchers…and even some in high school or college…can benefit by
taking an off-season break from softball. We have seen many promising
young girls (or their parents) who become so
obsessed with softball that they “live it” 7 days a week and 52
weeks a year. Then, by
the time they reach high school age and should be approaching
greatness, they “burn out” …softball has become a job…it’s no longer
fun.
So,
for a month or so during the late Fall or Winter, consider taking
some time off. Clear
your head of softball for a while; concentrate on homework, your
family and friends, school activities, and maybe even your social
life. Don’t totally
forget about softball and don’t lose sight of your goals, but at
least focus a little bit on other things for a few
weeks.
Then,
when you are ready, get back into softball with a new and fresh
attitude and commitment. Softball is a
great game, it's fun to be a pitcher, and you can do it better when
your heart is really into
it.
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Article by Gerald Warner of
PitchSoftball.com
and include a reference to this
website: www.pitchsoftball.com
If you have questions
or need more information
E-mail us, or
call Pitching Instructor Gerald Warner in Colorado at
(720) 200-4575
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