Almost everyone has “pitching experience”… Sendai City Shichigo Youth Baseball Club’s pitching instruction is “in short words”
Shichigo Youth Baseball Club, a youth baseball team in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, has a history of 53 years, and currently has 51 members, nearly three times as many members as it did two years ago. Of these, nearly 40 students are in the “nurturing/kids” age group, who are in the fourth grade of elementary school or younger. Coach Yusuke Kameura, who coaches the same age group, gives all players equal opportunities to play in games and has them play various positions with an eye on the future. Among them, pitchers are almost “essential.” We asked him about the key points of teaching how to throw.
“The fun of baseball and all the fundamentals of baseball are included in the pitcher’s play. The pitcher’s movements also connect to other positions. It is also a position where you have to overcome situations on your own, so you need to train yourself mentally. You will be able to
Manager Kameura explains the purpose of giving pitchers experience. However, being a pitcher is not a position that everyone can play. Especially for younger elementary school students, it can be difficult to throw into the strike zone.
What we are focusing on is teaching people how to throw with an awareness of “switching shoulders.” When throwing, centering around the axis of your body, you can quickly “switch” between the back shoulder that holds the ball (right shoulder if you’re a right-handed thrower) and the front shoulder that holds the glove (left shoulder). When Coach Kameura visited a team in the Kinki region to observe pitching instruction, he was shocked by the high level of pitching ability of the lower grade players. I have taken that teaching know-how home with me and am using it as a reference. It is said that being able to smoothly switch between the left and right shoulders improves ball control, and as the speed of switching increases, the speed of the ball also increases.
To convey this in an easy-to-understand manner to younger students, when playing catch, a straight line is drawn with lime in the direction of the ball from the player’s feet. Before throwing, have them spread their arms parallel to a straight line and give simple instructions such as “Follow the line straight.” Director Kameura explains the intention of this “visualization” and “concise instructions”: “Some children can’t understand left and right, and some children can’t concentrate for more than a minute, so instead of trying to get them to memorize it in one sitting, we show them the movements.” “I try to explain it in short words,” he says.
The number of games played per year has increased by 5 times…With the appointment of a “dedicated” coach, even with an increase in club members, participation opportunities are secured
Once you can play catch between the bases to a certain extent, you will have the opportunity to pitch in a “development” game. This year, 14 fourth-year students and younger experienced the actual mound.
In the first place, if the number of club members increased, it would seem that it would be difficult to give each player an opportunity to play, but this concern was dispelled by increasing the number of games per year to more than five times the previous number. In particular, it was only after Kameura took over as coach that we were able to increase the number of games for fourth-year students and younger.
Previously, there was no dedicated instructor for the training and children’s age groups, and they were unable to work separately, so they mainly supported the older students on days other than practice days. It is said that lower grade students only participated in tournaments “once a season.”
From January 2022, when Coach Kameura began coaching exclusively, he increased the number of games with the belief that “games help you learn baseball better than practice,” and “development” for fourth-year students and below is at least 30 games per year. “Kids” who are younger than grade 1 play more than 50 games a year. In some cases, third-year students participate in “development” games and fourth-year students participate in “rookie” (fifth-year and under) games as a “jumping grade.”
“We practice for the game.If we practice but don’t participate in the game, we can’t measure how much we’ve improved.It’s more stimulating for children if they have the opportunity to touch the ball and swing the bat.” I think it will be,” said Director Kameura. Because we have a large number of members, having them gain experience from early grades is part of “creating an environment where they can continue playing baseball.”
(Kotaro Kawanami)
I want to increase the speed of the ball, I want to hit the ball farther… “First-Pitch,” a sibling site of “Full-Count,” tells baseball boys and girls, coaches, and guardians about the coaching methods they want to know about, as well as the “current situation” in the field of baseball training. We will provide useful information every day as a gateway to learning the fun of baseball and as a clue to solving your questions.
