Arm Whip and Brush Interference

JJsqueeze said:

on a side note, I wonder how bruised her hip got during the learning process with that much power and that much interference.

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Or... alternatively, she didn't learn to anchor around... she learned to brush... and through years of experience gained the body control and ball control she displays.

And... maybe what we see as a pop or roll around the hip... is actually the radius and ulna pronating.... you know... that whole internal rotation process...

Teaching a bump or firm anchor is dangerous to a new kid. Over time... their bones will grow stronger... actually thicken, in response to the repetitive load placed on it from pitching. It's known as Wolff's law if anyone desires to research it.

As Doug noted, get them in position to allow for a brush... not a bump or anchor... and they will mature just fine. I like the conversation you are all having... I just worry about the interpretation as it applies to instruction...

Carry on...

I don't have any clue how to teach it, and prefer not to even think about teaching it as I think it will come naturally, but if we are going to talk about what the best do, it looks like there is a good amount of contact. I don't think brush is strong enough, but bump and anchor are too strong. It is like a bump roll, these are all just words and terms though and words can get a little slippery so I will just say that whatever it is that we see in the video of all of these great pitchers is the best thing to do as far as contact goes. The concept that it is either something to be avoided, stylistic only, or is a light sleeve on shorts brush are the concepts I don't agree with, I think that meaty part of the forearm is contacting the upper most leg/hip pretty darn good on these ladies.

Don't you think if this was more than a very light brush, there would be a lot of women with raw elbows and forearms? You can see some color in Amanda's arm but lord only knows how long she was throwing prior to this clip. From what I'm able to get out of my dd, she can barely feel the brush, but her forearm does get pink. No bruising, maybe she is not doing it correctly yet. No it did not come naturally, it came with proper mechanics. I combination of different factors.
This would be a good question for Rick, Bill, and BM as well as any pitcher with good mechanics. How much would you say that you feel the "brush" ?

If you have been pitching long enough you don't feel it.

CoachFP,

Is there any visible sign that you are doing this correctly? One of dd coaches simply said that her forearm would get pink. The other is a man and and quite frankly, I don't think the word "pink" is in his vocabulary LOL

javasource said:

As Doug noted, get them in position to allow for a brush... not a bump or anchor... and they will mature just fine. I like the conversation you are all having... I just worry about the interpretation as it applies to instruction...

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Just last night at pitching practice with DD, right in the middle of what we were doing (working on stride--raising the knee and toe, then kicking), daughter stopped and pointed at the inside of her forearm. It was very slightly red, not raw, just obvious that brushing had been taking place. I hadn't mentioned brush interference at all last night while working on her drive and stride, but what we were doing was obviously also getting us improved results elsewhere (i.e., brush interference).

That being said, I see absolutely nothing wrong with mentioning "brush interference," particularly when they are not real young.

Doug,
I would say that is good news. I was not trying to imply that it should get raw. I think if it more than a brush, you would start to see some type of wear on the area. What I was trying to say is, I think "brush" is just fine to describe what is taking place.
Super slow motion is great for picking things apart but I also think it has a way of enhancing the look of what might "really" be happening. It may look harder than a brush, but I really don't think it is

Madsdad said:

Doug,
I would say that is good news. I was not trying to imply that it should get raw. I think if it more than a brush, you would start to see some type of wear on the area. What I was trying to say is, I think "brush" is just fine to describe what is taking place.
Super slow motion is great for picking things apart but I also think it has a way of enhancing the look of what might "really" be happening. It may look harder than a brush, but I really don't think it is

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The person you need to worry about in terms of worrying about harming the pitcher with brush interference is OILF.

My post wasn't aimed at your post because I thought you meant raw skin due to brushing. It was that it made me think of a good thing that was happening regarding brush interference with my own DD when we weren't even focused on it.

Pitching with DD the other day and she had a series that were just exploding out of her hand. I wish I had a gun because these felt 2-3 mph faster than the previous pitches. We have been working lately on explosive/compact drive (she has a tendency to over-stride) and front side resistance.

I asked her what she was doing/feeling different in those pitches. She said she changed her posture a little, what she felt was that she was getting a little more contact with her upper forearm and hip and if felt like it accelerated her whip.

If I were to guess I would say that the little bit of extra contact (roll or bump) stabilizes the upper arm and helps transfer the energy down the chain until the "roll" completes.

I really want to hear BH, RPs, BMs and Balswick's take on this. I know the term "brush interference" is RPs, but from what I have gathered from his posts and his discussion with Balswick, his description (and Balswick's-which is slightly dfferent) of the contact is more significant that what I see as JS's and BH's description. From what I can gather, there seems to be a healthy spectrum here going from RP-RB-JS-BH in order from most to least contact. I don't recall BM ever chiming in on this, but I am sure he has a well reasoned take on it.

Poster abbreviation decoder for any newbies:
RP- Rick Pauley
RB- Rich Balswick
BH- Bill Hillhouse
BM- Boardmember
JS- Javasource