Beginning for the Beginner 

Too much emphasis has been put on speed instead of location and strikes.  We've all been to those games where the coach starts a hard throwing pitcher and the game becomes a "walk fest".  With the following drills and the proper emphasis on throwing strikes you'll have yourself a little pitcher in no time.

• Warming Up

It all begins with the warm up. For a beginning pitcher their warm up routine is just as important as the pitching practice session itself. Most coaches (and parents) usually tell the kids to get a ball and grab a partner not paying attention to the details of their warm up itself. How many throws, pass balls, uncatchable tosses and so forth. Here's my routine for the youngsters step by step.

1. Stretching:  Teach a young player the importance of a good stretch before starting. There is no wrong way to stretch and everyone has their preferences, but I just kept it simple because you'll lose a kid if too much emphasis is placed on just exercise. 

• Stretch the wrist, forearm and shoulder with basic movements.
• The midriff with toe touches keeping the back straight.
• Hands on hips and lean back stretching the back muscles then with legs locked lean forward.
• Stretch the hips by in a sitting position stretch out one leg and touch the toes then the other leg finish with both legs touching the toes and holding for a count of ten for each of the legs routines.
• Finish by jogging to a relatively long distance (foul pole to foul pole and back is what I preferred)

There is no wrong way to stretch, maintain your routine and keep it short trying to involve every part of the body.

2. Throwing: Micro managing a beginner player during tossing warm ups is crucial for him to maintain the seriousness of the routine as he gets older. Wild pitches and sloppy tosses serve no purpose but to waste time and energy. This is the opportunity to teach consistence making every pitch valuable as if he's on the mound.

• Start at comfortable distance for each person throwing (Do not throw from mound)
• Slowly expand your distance until you are long tossing without bouncing the ball. 
• Have pitcher retrieve all wild pitches (Do not throw from where ball was collected, return to original spot before throwing another toss)
• Without aiming emphasize the importance of hitting the target. (Remain throwing don't aim the pitch)
• Trust your eyes to adjust to the target. (Do not have pitcher take his eyes off the target)
• Once pitcher shows he could hit his target consistently, move target to another location until he starts hitting the new location consistently, but return to the previous target after every fourth or fifth warm up pitch.
• Make sure technic stays the same, extend around the arm rotation while stepping towards the target.

• Summary
• Start by finding a comfortable distance for all involved gradually moving away from each other to long tossing.
• Show target to player and get him to try and hit it without you having to move your glove.
• Have him trust his eyes staring at the target letting his eyes take him to the target.
• Throw, don't aim the pitch.
• Make player retrieve all wild pitches not throwing until returning to his original spot.