In young, developing windmill pitchers, no drill, exercise, or implement will lead to greater overall gains more than improving leg strength. Balance and bodyweight exercises should progress to near maximal, compound lower body lifts as athletes mature. However, attracting high school and even college females to the squat rack or platform is not always easy. Want to get your softball athletes to ferociously attack legs in the weightroom? Use my analogy. I call it "Carcrashpitch". 

In my masterpiece below, the car represents the body, while the driver represents the arm and ball. I apologize if the crash-analogy is offensive or violent, but it works. This event occurs much like the windmill delivery. If you're unfamiliar with the sequence, here is my review. Essentially, we're trying to maximize the resultant velocity of the driver (arm and ball) as she flies threw the windshield, while controlling her direction.

To do so, we can adjust a few variables:

1) Speed up the car. This equates to improving the pitcher's explosive drive off of the rubber.

2) Reinforce the wall. The car must come to a halt QUICKLY in order for the driver (arm and ball) to continue at a high velocity. If the system (car and driver) takes time to slow down, the resultant velocity of the ball will be less. This equates to improving deceleration capacity of the lead leg and trunk.

3) Make sure the collision is head on. If the wall is angled, or the car turns at the last second, both the velocity and direction of the driver (arm and ball) will be negatively affected. This requires development of strength and body control that supports technical mastery.

4) Remove the windshield. This equates to releasing restrictions in the upper body that would interrupt the kinetic sequencing of the delivery.

5) Install an "eject button" to be triggered at impact. Contribution from the upper body and torso muscles gives the ball one last boost before it's released. This requires upper body strength (also beneficial for shoulder preservation) and elastic core development.

The car crash analogy can be applied to other movements including batting, overhand throwing, golf, and striking.

In Part II, I'm going to cover the specific lower body kinetics of windmill pitching and explain specifically why many young girls have difficulty mastering pitching mechanics.