Stride foot

This may be a really stupid question! I've been trying to teach myself to pitch to better help my dd. I've been playing around with different wind ups and trying to get better at driving off the rubber. What is the stride foots job, before stride? Am I supposed to use it to help me push off then stride? The way I have understood in the past your only pushing with the Right (rhp)
But it seems like if I push with the stride foot then with the other I would get a better push? Idk I'm just trying to figure it out, thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Definitely! Check out javasource's Drive thread. A efficient and powerful drive surely makes use of both feet. Sounds like you're already on to it, though! Drive-stride-drive...

mothgirl said:

This may be a really stupid question! I've been trying to teach myself to pitch to better help my dd. I've been playing around with different wind ups and trying to get better at driving off the rubber. What is the stride foots job, before stride? Am I supposed to use it to help me push off then stride? The way I have understood in the past your only pushing with the Right (rhp)
But it seems like if I push with the stride foot then with the other I would get a better push? Idk I'm just trying to figure it out, thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

It is used to "push off" with also but the main job is balance! Off balance=Off target!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T337A using Tapatalk

Thank you both, I know it seems like common sense to use both feet to push but for some reason I always thought that foot was just for striding. I wonder if my dd thinks the same thing? I have read the drive mechanics, but not as many times as I need to understand it all. I really need to print it out and put it in a binder!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

mothgirl said:

I have read the drive mechanics, but not as many times as I need to understand it all.

Click to expand...

I (non-pitcher) retained javasource's lessons more easily after I stood by my monitor and did the 2-Step Drill https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufRaP2LkbGs .

Reading the associated post ( http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/18135-drive-mechanics-8.html ) and doing the 2-Step Drill with java/Chloe also helped me recognize the same patterns (or lack thereof) in other pitchers.

Good luck!

That will make Chloe's day, pumpkinbear.

Peachy, some pitchers at a high level are all forward... some utilize what I'm after... which is more of a bipedal motion. If you go back onto your stride foot with the thought of going forward... meaning no delays or pauses... with forward momentum of the body, you will find that both legs are doing work.

You can easily throw with 80-90% speed without the lower body... I just want to help younger pitchers squeeze every bit of that 10-20% out of their pitch.

The benefits... IMO... are that the younger pitcher will learn to perform more work... "pushing" herself harder to prevent plateau's, perfecting her timing, and recognizing the necessity to start training (physically) at an earlier age. I find that those that choose to go all out on the rubber, will quickly discover what 100% effort really means/feels like.

Every coach dd has been to has stressed the importance of weight shift and getting all the her weight off the stride foot onto her pivot foot which I understand. However no one ever explained to push with stride foot except Java, and the others that responded to my thread. Wow what a difference pushing with the stride foot makes! Lol, it sure makes it easier to get your pivot foot pushing off and makes it a hell of a lot easier to stay in your forward lean! dd was practicing today and it's really helped, thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk