Completely lost when it comes to pitching

Outside of the pitching fundamentals, I am completely lost when it comes to pitching. My dd is interested in being a pitcher and this is her 2nd year using the windmill style of pitch and her first year of getting any lessons from a pc. She had 8 lessons so far. I don't know if she should shorten her stride or lengthen her stride as she was doing before posting this video. Should she work on opening/closing her hips? How about the so called follow through with her arm? Her dad suggested for her to pause as she get her hips to the catcher and then explode. Any suggestions or input is greatly appreciated.
[video=youtube_share;vYzWV9smd5g]http://youtu.be/vYzWV9smd5g[/video]

I will try this again, see if it will work now.
[video=youtube_share;vYzWV9smd5g]http://youtu.be/vYzWV9smd5g[/video]

riseball said:

"This video is private"

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I reposted, hope it works now

Hi Crystol,
Welcome to DFP! Hope you enjoy the ride, because I think your in for a good one!

I would not suggest much focus on the hips and would take a closer look at her posture at release. Generally, I'm good with the hips (torso)being somewhere around 45 degrees at release, but definitely avoid any cues about trying to close them. Before that, I'd like to be sure her whip mechanics are good. Do you happen to have a video of her from the other side and up close? One from behind or ahead would help as well.

Ken

Your DD looks to be a pretty good athlete.

Should she work on opening/closing her hips?

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*NO**NO***NO.

She needs to "get open and stay open". She should completely forget about closing the hips until she becomes much, much better.

How about the so called follow through with her arm?

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It could be better, but that isn't her problem.

Her dad suggested for her to pause as she get her hips to the catcher and then explode. Any suggestions or input is greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

He may be the greatest dad in the world, but he has no clue about pitching. "Get her hips to the catcher"??? Wow...I thought the idea was to get the *BALL* to the catcher.

Your DD is closing her hips too soon and walking forward after release.

*SHE IS NOT BEING TAUGHT THE CORRECT WAY TO PITCH* If she has had 8 lessons and is doing this, then you should find a new pitching coach.

This is Amanda Scarborough, one of the best pitchers around. Where is the "get the hips to the plate"? Where is the "walking forward after the pitch"?

[video=youtube_share;k5X86nD_WS4]http://youtu.be/k5X86nD_WS4[/video]

I completely agree with Sluggers here. After 8 lessons she looks like that.... time to replace PC's. As said above she looks very coordinated and athletic, but her fundamentals are off base.
There are a ton of videos online on how to pitch. The problem is most of them are backyard idiots. I'd recommend Bill Hillhouse DVD's get his newest one called 101. Or go to pauleygirlfastpitch.com and study some of Ricks clips. These should get you on track as to what you need to look for in a PC.

I know the term get the hips to the catcher sounds weird but at the time of typing this, it was the best description I could think of. Her pc has her bringing her landing knee up higher than before as she makes the turn. She was hitting her hips a lot and pitching inside to the right batter a lot.

Her stride used to be the same as her height but my husband said it made her slower and her stride needs it to be shoulder width apart.

This is Amanda Scarborough, one of the best pitchers around. Where is the "get the hips to the plate"? Where is the "walking forward after the pitch"?

[video=youtube_share;k5X86nD_WS4]http://youtu.be/k5X86nD_WS4[/video][/QUOTE]
My dd used to pitch similar to Amanda. In fact, she used this video to learn to pitch fastpitch(she was a slow pitcher before). Her dad is the one who said the pitching style is not working for her. She would never get fully upright before the ball came back around and would look like she was bowling.

The best advice anyone on this site can give you at this moment is to keep her dad out of it. I mean that in a nice way but he isn't doing anything close to constructive with her even with the best of intentions.

Should the pitcher take shorter or longer strides? Why? I keep hearing different things about the stride length and it only confuses my dd when she is being told to work on her stride length and then told instead of striding 5 feet to shorten it to only 3 feet.