Building Effective Movements in Youth Athletes

September 2019

In the game today we are starting to see a list of norms being taught to our young athletes by coaches, parents, and even trainers. With this list of norms being taught so widespread, the two questions which come to my mind are - Are we teaching our kids the correct techniques and movements from a young age? Or are we just teaching what has been widely accepted as a solid starting point/easiest drills to coach. My goal for this post is to provide a high-level overview of youth instruction while providing some applicable habits parents and coaches can teach their young athletes.

The game currently has been transformed by our little league and youth baseball systems. More than ever young athletes can join clubs such as travel organizations, little league programs, and receive private instruction from just about anyone. The fact of the matter is there are many myths and norms in youth training being taught which could actually hurt your kid in the long run.

With Tommy John Surgery growing so rapid in today’s game, many coaches are left wondering where they went wrong. Questions come up such as did we throw him too much? Did we push him too hard?

In my opinion many of the issues we see with our high school, college, and pro athletes can be traced back to poor movements taught to them at a young age. The habits we build as young athletes, whether good or bad, will ultimately translate into how we move as advanced athletes later in life. If we look at the record of injuries in the major leagues today. Over half of the arm injuries we see are solely to American players. This is a crazy statistic which doesn’t seem to make sense. With the wealth and resources available to our kids. Why are they getting hurt so easily? The answer is pretty simple actually. It isn’t from overuse or playing too many games. It also isn’t from throwing curve-balls at a young age. Simply I believe American players are taught improper techniques at a young age, while foreign players are just simply taught to “throw the ball hard.”

Essentially this causes young players to effectively figure out what it takes to “throw the ball hard.” These third world countries don’t have fancy instructors, facilities, or even actual equipment in some instances. For the most part the only resources these kids have are a ball and a fence. This type of development ingrains the habit to just practice throwing the ball as hard as possible to a precise location. This simplicity teaches pitchers to organize the way they move in the most efficient manner without fancy cameras and instruction. Ultimately they teach themselves how to throw hard and rapidly improve once they begin the climb the ranks of the professional system. This is one of the many reasons why athletes from other countries have dominated the professional ranks without many injuries in recent years.

Let me take a second to discuss young hitters as well. Our athletes in America are taught things like shorten up, take the ball the other way, and just put it in play. In this instance it is just a change in mindset. Many players from other countries are simply taught try to hit the ball as far as possible. The same thing happens as it does with pitchers. They simply begin to “feel” and teach themselves what it takes to hit the ball really far! It is crazy how just a change in mindset can go a long way. Imagine if someone to Javier Baez to back off and take it the other way from a young age. Chances are he wouldn’t be where he is today in the game. He has one of the most violent swings in the Big leagues and he still seems to be successful.

Now that we have discussed the issues in mindset and coaching let’s talk about some practical ways to teach our kids.

For the most part 12-14-year-old kids are smarter than we give them credit. Many of them can grasp complicated techniques as long as they are given a proper explanation. With the internet and social media widely available, kids are picking up on what pro athletes do even at a young age. To start I’m going to discuss three common drills/techniques which are taught to our youth athletes which promote poor throwing mechanics.

#1 Balance Point

I see this taught in ever youth, travel, and little league program in the country. This is the cue of teaching kids to come to an absolute stand still balance point before throwing. The thought is to keep kids under control which coaches relate with throwing strikes. In my opinion this is a faulty thought. As harmless as it seems, this can lead to some serious issues. So many kids I see on a weekly basis come to me with having some type of arm pain. I personally believe this is one of the many reasons. Almost every kid I work with whether that be a 12-year-old or an 18-year-old, everyone seems to come to a balance point when I first get them. This proves that kids don’t work out of it as they get older and that they need to be taught proper movements from a young age.

Let me dive a little deeper for a second. When we come to an absolute stand still, we often see athletes moving out of their leg lift in a misdirection. They try to create velocity by dropping and spinning versus smoothly moving/driving toward the plate. This type of movement can often cause premature supination (Pushing the ball), placing unnecessary stress to the throwing arm. Another common issue happens from the lack of momentum. This can often result in a reverse w with the upper body from a stagnate lower body or simply create poor velocity and command from a slow unathletic movement. I try to encourage kids to stay as athletic as possible, then teach from there. This encourages natural athletic movement and a healthier throwing motion, over a stagnate robotic movement.

My suggestions for coaching

  • Step Behind w/leg lift
  • Cross over w/leg lift
  • Walking Windup
  • Use of Core velocity belt (Advanced Athletes)

Each of these drills encourage athletic movement to the plate without placing restrictions on the athlete. It encourages them to move forward while remaining calm and under control. For younger athletes have them practice without a ball and use a towel or simply their hand. Once they get that start to add the use of a baseball. For advanced athletes incorporate the use of plyo-balls, medicine balls, and finally a plain old baseball. For more information or demonstrations please email staffordbaseballperformance@gmail.com or Message me on social media.

#2 L Drill or T Drill

The second movement I see being taught to young athletes is the L-Drill or T-Drill. According to Austin Wasserman (2016), in his book high level throwing points to the fact that these two drills can lead to improper throwing mechanics. The first drill the L-Drill teaches young athletes to throw from a stagnate position causing them to “push” the ball versus “throwing the ball.” This can lead to serious issues down the road from the significant stress placed on the elbow. The initial thought behind this drill is to teach kids to get their arm up or throw from a 90-degree angle. According to Wasserman (2016), throwing from this stagnate position causes a “push” rather than a throw. Leading to various arm issues down the road.

My suggestions

  • Chest up throws
  • Pivot Pick Offs
  • Pocket Drill

Each of these drills promotes proper throwing mechanics while working through an athletic full range of motion. The concept is moving in a spiraling motion versus a linear static motion. I teach kids to think working from their pocket up. The idea is to keep the ball facing either 1st or 3rd base rather than in a long T shaped motion facing 2nd base. Once the athlete figures out the proper motion. The arm will naturally move into scapular loading like a spring rather than forcing the arm into that position as seen in the L-Drill. For more information or demonstrations please email staffordbaseballperformance@gmail.com or Message me on social media.

#3 Follow through over bent front knee

The third most popular movement I see taught to youth athletes is to follow through over a bent front knee. I can specifically remember my coaches coming up the ranks yelling at me from the dugout things like “Bend your back” and “Follow Through!” These are really just coaching buzz words which mean nothing and promote poor throwing mechanics. The thought by coaches is by bending your back you will enable to throw the ball down in the zone and end up in a good fielding position. The fact of the matter is all this is doing is putting our head and torso out of position. Regarding landing in a good fielding position this is not super important as I would much rather teach a kid to throw strikes effectively versus landing in a better fielding position. If you watch most of the college and professional players, it is slim to none who land in a proper fielding position.

My suggestions

  • Roll-in throws
  • Quarterback Drill
  • Rocker Drill w/ stiff leg finish.

The action of the arm must be the priority over the position of the torso. The back bending is the result of intent by the pitcher. The better cue should be to keep a stiff front leg versus a bent front leg. Think of the human body as a whip. The goal of the lower body when throwing is the accelerate the body then stop it abruptly. Think of the legs as the base of the whip and the hand like the tail end. As the base accelerates and stops the end of the whip cracks out front. The same principles apply to the human body. Throwers should be actively taught to have a solid base on the front leg versus a bent front knee, allowing the hand to accelerate out front. This theoretically should help both velocity and command.


Conclusions

As stated throughout the duration of this post, youth athletes are much smarter than coaches often credit them. We can teach kids to have high level and efficient movements while teaching in an understandable way. My hope is that by doing this it can help kids have long healthy careers, achieving their lofty dreams in the game of baseball. It may be going against the grain to incorporate these types of drills and cues, but it is my belief that it will help our young athletes in the long run.

For more details regarding throwing drills, numbers, plyo-balls, and cues please reach out to staffordbaseballperformance@gmail.com or message me on social media. I am also available for private instruction throughout the week at RBA West in Richmond Virginia and online consulting via my web page.

Part 2 coming shortly where we discuss hitting!

Author,

Michael Stafford

(757) 439-3765

staffordbaseballperformance@gmail.com

RBA West