If you have 2 minutes to watch DD

[BuckeyeGuy]

This video is a sequence, starting from the start of DD's lessons in Sept 2014 until now. Critiques welcome. We know what her PC has her working on, but more eyes are better than fewer. Whatever you see, if you could offer a drill for addressing the issue it'd be greatly appreciated!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVAKbBvZVWw

 

[FrozenRope]

I know this is obviously much more evident in Oct and Nov, but it's still a little bit of an issue now. She's got too much up and not enough out in her drive. Her energy is exhausted in mid air and then she's just coming down on her plant foot as opposed to driving into it. The other thing I notice is it looks like she's cupping her wrist and getting behind the ball too early and releasing around the ball instead of through the ball. You want her to stay inside the ball just before release. This will help her to stop rotating her lower arm too early. A good queue that worked for my daughter is that the pinky should be forward just before the bottom of the circle.

 

[BuckeyeGuy]

I know this is obviously much more evident in Oct and Nov, but it's still a little bit of an issue now. She's got too much up and not enough out in her drive. Her energy is exhausted in mid air and then she's just coming down on her plant foot as opposed to driving into it. The other thing I notice is it looks like she's cupping her wrist and getting behind the ball too early and releasing around the ball instead of through the ball. You want her to stay inside the ball just before release. This will help her to stop rotating her lower arm too early. A good queue that worked for my daughter is that the pinky should be forward just before the bottom of the circle.

Yeah, she's not exactly a full blown athlete, so we've been working on getting out and up versus just out or just up. We've started a plyometric routine that should help strengthen the legs a bit.

The wrist cupping is intermittent - but a known issue. We'll try the pinkie-forward thing. Thanks!

 

[FrozenRope]

Sounds like you know what you're working on. That's a good start. I saw you were looking for Drills.....have you tried Walk Throughs, to get her to drive forward? It's OK to teach up and out...but the only thing that should go UP is the stride leg knee. The hips shouldn't elevate much if at all. Dont worry about how far she strides right now. It's more important for her to learn to feel her front leg working as the brakes to her forward momentum to create the resistance in the whipping action and her back leg to drive forward into that resistance. That's where all the power comes from.

As for the release....that's just repetition repetition repetition.... but I would work on that with 1/4 circles and half circles.

 

[Doug Romrell]

Sounds like you know what you're working on. That's a good start. I saw you were looking for Drills.....have you tried Walk Throughs, to get her to drive forward? It's OK to teach up and out...but the only thing that should go UP is the stride leg knee. The hips shouldn't elevate much if at all. Dont worry about how far she strides right now. It's more important for her to learn to feel her front leg working as the brakes to her forward momentum to create the resistance in the whipping action and her back leg to drive forward into that resistance. That's where all the power comes from.

As for the release....that's just repetition repetition repetition.... but I would work on that with 1/4 circles and half circles.

WALK-THROUGHS!!!!! Lots of them.

 

[Edy]

Nice video! It's very impressive how she developed in such a short time.

Besides the drive issue I would suggest you to work on her brushing. I see her taking the hips away to let the arm continue the circle and deliver the ball. This "free path" avoids the deceleration of the upper arm and thus she's wasting one of the most important phases of the whip.

Compare the arm action with a soccer/karate kick. Would kick with a straight leg all the way? Of course not. You have to bend your leg and let the lower part of the leg do the job when the knee achieves the acceleration peak (and stops moving!!!).

The same is valid for the arms. Lead the circle with the elbow and brush it to the hips iot decelerate it.

Here's a good example

And here is a great thread about it http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/17521-arm-whip-brush-interference.html

 

[FrozenRope]

Nice video! It's very impressive how she developed in such a short time.

Besides the drive issue I would suggest you to work on her brushing. I see her taking the hips away to let the arm continue the circle and deliver the ball. This "free path" avoids the deceleration of the upper arm and thus she's wasting one of the most important phases of the whip.

Compare the arm action with a soccer/karate kick. Would kick with a straight leg all the way? Of course not. You have to bend your leg and let the lower part of the leg do the job when the knee achieves the acceleration peak (and stops moving!!!).

The same is valid for the arms. Lead the circle with the elbow and brush it to the hips iot decelerate it.

Here's an good example

And here is a great thread about it http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/17521-arm-whip-brush-interference.html

Buckeye, This is also a GREAT demonstration of Hand inside the ball....pinkie leads.

 

[BuckeyeGuy]

Thanks, everyone! I never notice the hips, good catch. One of her LARGE issues is bringing her arm back behind her from 12. It doesn't stay on the power line, or in line with the catcher, so you can imagine where the balls go: everywhere! We've been working with her using the key "elbow in front," which brings her in line, but apparently at the price of moving the hips and losing whip. I'll definitely be looking at that and letting her PC know, too.

Hadn't considered walk-throughs, thanks for that. We've been doing the stork drill to keep her drive foot from turning 90°, it's getting better. Walk-throughs might also help along those lines.

 

[JJsqueeze]

My first impression is that this is a girl that needs to find her foundation. I don't see anything in the motion that she has fully figured out yet. Each part seems to be a little off. What I mean by that is often you will see a young pitcher that has a good arm whip, but her drive is weak, or she drives nicely but has a stiff arm. Your DD is still in the formative stages so she is still figuring out how to throw underhand (I am guessing she is 9 or 10?).

I probably sound like a broken record, but at this stage I think the liberty or K drill positions are far more important than the full motion. I have a pretty simplistic view of pitching. There are really just three things you need to do. the first is teach a good arm circle and whip. The second is a drive, the third is synchronizing them. In that order also, although 2 and 3 go together.

So do you have any video of her doing drills without the drive? I think it is really difficult to get a good drive and upper\lower synch if the arm motion is still in the formative stages.

 

[Classof2020]

Well it looks like she has been working hard.

Does she already do any of the I/R drills? 9:00, Liberty, Show it and Throw it? Those should be super helpful for getting consistent arm circle and feeling the arm staying close to the side.

It looks like you chose to take out her back swing, but wonder if it might be helpful for her to try a back swing in some drills to help with her timing and building a powerful drive.

Now you need to tell us what drill it is where you complete the pitch, but don't knock the water bottle over