Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

If you're a fastpitch softball pitcher, here is an important concept to understand and remember…

Pull – don’t push – the ball through the circle

After you’ve been doing private instruction for a while, you come to take certain things for granted. While there are always variations on a lot of things, there are some things that are so fundamental to success that you just assume they don’t bear mentioning. After all, everyone must know this.

Then I find out that’s not true. As a case in point, I mention the way the ball is oriented through the arm circle. Or rather the way it shouldn’t be oriented.

Turning the ball back toward second base and then having your hand on top of it all the way around the back of the circle is bad. It is not just bad, it is bad, bad, bad. When you turn the ball back toward second base, all you will be able to do is lock the elbow and push the ball down the back side. That will create a slow and stiff end of the arm circle, which will be slow and lack whip. There will be no acceleration to propel the ball at maximum speed toward home.

That would seem pretty obvious, especially if you try to do it. Yet I’ve run into a couple of girls lately who were taught exactly that by coaches who accepted money from unsuspecting parents.

Let me repeat again, that technique is bad. If you find a coach who is teaching it, run away and never come back. Seriously.

What you really want to do is turn the ball out toward third at the top of the circle, and keep it there until the hand naturally turns forward. Usually that happens just before the hand reaches the bottom. In this position you can pull the ball all the way through the back half of the circle, first using the big muscles in the shoulder to pull the upper arm (only) down, then using the forearm muscles at the bottom to help accelerate the hand and wrist through the release zone.

I have seen others suggest that the hand turn forward at the top of the circle rather than to the side. I suppose that can work too, but I like the side position because it also helps set up the hand for other pitches. Either, though, will set you up for arm whip. The ball facing backward won’t.

Remember that a loose arm is a powerful arm. You can’t be loose if your elbow is locked. And if you turn the ball backwards your elbow will lock. One more time, turning the ball backwards is bad.

Your Turn: Do you have any advice you would like to share? What tips would you like to add? Please comment below.

View Original Post at softballperformance.com

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