Softball - Introduction to Pitching Mechanics

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Suzy Willemssen
http://www.eteamz.com/GloryGold  
703-978-3166

Suzy grew up in Waterloo, Iowa where she was the first female to play in the boys baseball program. She was a 4 sport athlete in high school and was an all-state player in volleyball, basketball and softball. She played softball at the University of Iowa, where she also earned a B.S. in Physical Education Suzy is currently the head coach of 18u Glory Gold, an ASA junior olympic gold team and has just been named the head coach for Episcopal High School. Prior to the EHS position Suzy was the head coach at Chantilly HS and an assistant varsity softball coach at West Springfield High School. She has over 35 years of experience either as a player, coach or teaching professional. In addition to her private lessons, she has run or been an instructor for numerous youth, high school and college softball camps and clinics. Suzy gives instruction on all facets of the sport and is known for her knowledge, passion and enthusiasm for the game.  

Softball - Introduction to Pitching Mechanics

In this video series, professional softball instructor and coach Suzy Willemssen describes a number of basic skills required to play fastpitch softball. The videos are designed for the beginning softball player, but include a variety of tips and techniques that would be useful to players of any skill level. This video series includes an overview of the basic equipment and the basic skills involved when throwing, fielding, pitching and hitting a ball.

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Transcripts

Hi. I am Susie Willimson and I am a Travel Ball and high school softball coach. I have Christie here helping demonstrate some basic fastpitch softball skills. In particular, we are going to discuss some of the pitching mechanics. With this segment, we are going to have Christie just do her full motion and as she is going through the full motion, I want you to look at how rhythmic she is, how fluid she has, she has a tempo and Christie, lets see you have just start throwing and also we will talk about some other things you need to take an account when you are pitching in fastpitch softball. In addition to how Christie is rhythmic and fluid, she needs to start with both feet on the mount, to get the side from pitcher and then just lets it go. Now, we all know pitching is trying to disrupt what is the ultimate goal of every hitter and that is timing. So, since hitting is all about timing, a pitchers job is to do whatever she can do to disrupt that. So, a good thing for pitchers to learn initially is going to be the fastball, then the change-up and then a drop ball, those are three great foundation pitches for beginning pitchers and you also could throw a curve ball, a screw ball, a rise ball is also great pitch because that also breaks the planes, north and south but to throw a true rise ball, you need to be able to throw the ball about at least 58 miles an hour. So, in our next segment, we are going to break down each one of those pitches and have Christie demonstrate the grips and show you what those pitches look like.

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