stride foot landing heel first

FastPitchCat · Sep 16, 2014

DD has recently developed a bad habit of landing her stride foot heel first. she's complained at one tourny that her knee hurts and video reveals just that. heel first landing.

we've been trying to work on finding what's wrong. tonight after a brief practice and some more videos, one video was landing good, meaning ball/toe to heel and another was bad, heel first.

what i've noticed is that when DD lands incorrectly, she seems to be 'stepping' off the plate where her pivot foot seems to lag slowly behind.

When she's landing correctly, she seems to push off properly, i.e., no lazy pivot foot.

i told her to push off with the pivot and not pull with the stride foot and make that pivot foot 'fast' and not lag behind.

does this analysis make sense?

Jojo · Sep 18, 2014

Okay, so when she's landing heel first she is not pushing, but stepping. Stepping straight forward and not opening much, I'm assuming since she is landing heel first.
When she is pushing she is opening up more and landing correctly.

I guess I'm understanding that right.
You're telling her as she pivots to push and not to step and pull in the drag? Like she is stepping out leaving the drag foot momentarily then pulling it in? Almost like a step then drag?

I don't call the push foot a "pivot" foot. I call it a push foot. PUSH the leg from the loaded bent position to the elongated position as explosively as possible. Allow it to trail the body and drag back in-keep it moving.
A little more to it, but I don't want to go further if that isn't whats happening. Sounds like she needs help in her forward drive.

Amy in AZ. · Sep 18, 2014

Actually, Monica Abbot lands heel first. I have found a very good technical and scientific explanation as to why not to land heel first. I will have to see if I can find it.

coach james · Sep 19, 2014

My response to this was lost in the upgrade.
Landing heel first is a result of hip placement. She's either not opening enough or she starts to close way too soon. If the body is completely open (sideways) at 12:00 its nearly impossible to land on your heel. Poor drive mechanics plays into this as well, but the bottom line is in the hips position at high noon.

Doug Romrell · Sep 19, 2014

While Abbott's foot looks like it lands heel first, I think she lands more flat foot. Yes, as her foot approaches the ground, it appears that her heel is going to hit first, but as her foot lands, it appears that she lands more on the bottom of her entire foot. She then clearly get into the bottom of the front of her foot, even though her heel doesn't rise much off the ground. Personally, I quite like Abbott's drive mechanics. Of course, I think she's three stories tall with legs that are much longer than the vast majority of pitchers. I wonder how far out there she's leaping. Probably shakes the hand of the batter right after release.

FastPitchCat · Sep 19, 2014

i've also seen several clips of monica landing heel first. CJ - i've checked DD's video and she is ever so slightly not fully open at 12. Maybe she's closing too early? my response here got deleted somehow. will check her video again later.
thanks

Ken B · Sep 19, 2014

I'm not sure I'd worry too much about how the foot plants. I think the overall drive mechanics are a better focus. As a result of drive improvements, you may see a difference in how the foot plants. I see the foot plant as a symptom, not as an issue to fix.

Ken

Amy in AZ. · Sep 19, 2014

Landing flat footed is what I call "foot plop." It just looks like a plop to me. Check girl's overhand throw, they should not be landing heel first. Pitching should be the same.

Jojo · Sep 19, 2014

Doug Romrell said:
While Abbott's foot looks like it lands heel first, I think she lands more flat foot. Yes, as her foot approaches the ground, it appears that her heel is going to hit first, but as her foot lands, it appears that she lands more on the bottom of her entire foot. She then clearly get into the bottom of the front of her foot, even though her heel doesn't rise much off the ground. Personally, I quite like Abbott's drive mechanics. Of course, I think she's three stories tall with legs that are much longer than the vast majority of pitchers. I wonder how far out there she's leaping. Probably shakes the hand of the batter right after release.

My DD faced Monica at a 16u tournament. Didn't know who she was at the time, but I was extremely impressed with her. Found out she was 6'2" at 16. I took a couple of pictures of her leap because it was so large.
She beat us throwing a 1-hitter.

It does look to me like she is landing on a flat foot.

FastPitchCat · Sep 19, 2014

Jojo said:
Okay, so when she's landing heel first she is not pushing, but stepping. Stepping straight forward and not opening much, I'm assuming since she is landing heel first.
When she is pushing she is opening up more and landing correctly.

I guess I'm understanding that right.
You're telling her as she pivots to push and not to step and pull in the drag? Like she is stepping out leaving the drag foot momentarily then pulling it in? Almost like a step then drag?

I don't call the push foot a "pivot" foot. I call it a push foot. PUSH the leg from the loaded bent position to the elongated position as explosively as possible. Allow it to trail the body and drag back in-keep it moving.
A little more to it, but I don't want to go further if that isn't whats happening. Sounds like she needs help in her forward drive.

DD's got this right before but somewhere along the way... she lost it and learned some bad habits. i think she's not really pushing off as hard.

Is this right:

at 3 o'clock, hands forward, stride foot forward, hips not open fully
at 12 o'clock pitching hand at 12 (of course), stride foot coming down, hips fully open
at 9 o'clock pitching hand ball to the sky (ideally), stride foot already landed
and off the pitch goes at 6 o'clock (or @ 5:55

)

stride foot landing heel first

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