PitchingMagic Manual

My main motivation in developing this method and preparing a manual was to help inexperienced coaches in areas where fastpitch is not a major focus teach kids to pitch. In the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN) Metro area, for example, there are lots of great clinics and individual instructors available for the motivated and financially able kids. When I have presented clinics in other parts of the state the feedback I have gotten is that the coaches feel that they have to fend for themselves and they are concerned about teaching the kids incorrect technique. Also in the Metro area, there are a lot of parents on lower level teams that are not willing to invest the $60-80 an hour for private lessons for beginners, or even clinic fees where you get limited exposure to the coaches at $10 - 20 per hour.

But it turns out that this step by step approach has resonated very well with the kids who have learned pitching this way. The experience I have found is that the kids going through the process are throwing faster and more accurately far sooner than the kids I taught using a more traditional method. I now use it for all my new students, even those with some pitching experience.

What is it that I am marketing? The contents of this website is what is known as "shareware" in some circles, though in a slightly different context. The information is available for free, but my hope is that if you find it useful, you will be willing send a small donation via PayPal to jim@pitchingmagic.info.

Anyway, for now enjoy it for free and please send me comments if you have them, especially if your pitchers have enjoyed success. This project will be updated regularly with new content and video clips. The next things available will be more advanced things like change ups, breaking pitches, drills, as well as commentary on how to select coaches for your pitchers that are advancing beyond your capabilities. After that comes a more polished version of everything. But I will only do that if I get some constructive criticism and positive feedback. The nice thing about an on-line product is the ability to make revisions.

The manual comes in two different forms. One is similar to what a printed book would be. This is useful if you want to print off the pages and carry them with you for instruction sessions. The other is video clips on YouTube which shows kids doing it the right way and the wrong way and helps you learn how to spot the differences.

The introduction shows very briefly each of the 28 steps so that you can get a feel for how the entire process works.

Title	Print Version	Video Version
Introduction	Intro	Intro
Weight Transfer	Step 1	Step 1
Closing	Step 2	Step 2
Stride	Step 3	Step 3
Longer Stride	Step 4	Step 4
Arm Drop	Prelim to Step 5	With Step 5
Elbow Whip	Step 5	Step 5
Last 1/4 of Circle	Step 6	Step 6
4th Quarter and Finish	Step 7	Step 7
4th Quarter and Stride and Finish	Step 8	Step 8
4th Quarter and Longer Stride and Finish	Step 9	Step 9
K Position	Step 10	Step 10
K Position with Stride	Step 11	Step 11
Whip and Follow Through	Step 12	Step 12
K with a Bat	Step 13	Step 13
2nd Quarter of Arm Circle	Step 14	Step 14
Stride from Pitcher's Plate	Step 15	Step 15
Pitch	N/A	Step 16
Attack	N/A	Step 17
Flipping the Ball	N/A	Step 18
Feeling the Ball	N/A	Steps 19 and 20
Eyes Closed	N/A	Steps 21 - 24
Seeing the Ball (Flips)	N/A	Step 25
A Real K	N/A	Step 26
A Real Circle	N/A	Step 27
A Real Pitch	N/A	Step 28
Change Ups	N/A	N/A
Breaking Pitches	N/A	N/A
Drills	N/A	N/A