fivepotsogold

My DD turned 12 in April. No travel yet.
No pitching coach.

She hasn't pitched in two, almost three weeks ... our dirt area got dug up by an animal so we need to fix that.

Typically she pushes off more...but since she isn't today....let's see how we can fix that and get better at it...
in games she is faster.....but since today wasn't a great day.....let's see what you think...

http://fivepotsogold.com/K1.AVI
http://fivepotsogold.com/K2.AVI
http://fivepotsogold.com/K3.AVI
http://fivepotsogold.com/K4.AVI

These do load if you cut paste link in brower...may take a minute..but they are short clips....

halskinner

Video her again when she is pitching like she does in the game. Then ask for an analysis.

Hal

sluggers

First, what is your plan? Is this off-season now? If this is during the season, she needs to be pitching at least 3 times a week. Again, she has to throw 100,000 pitches (throwing in drills doesn't count) by the time she pitches varsity softball in HS. So, how is she going to get to the magic number?

Generally, not too bad. She does a nice job staying upright at the finish. Here is what I see:

(1) Her head is coming forward. If look at K4, is in front of the ball at release. The head an dleft shoulder are over the front foot. That means the weight has already transferred forward, so whatever energy you think she is generating from her leg push is already gone. She is "dragging" her arm with her body rather than letting her arm be ahead of the body.

(2) She is cutting off her follow through. Look at K4, and you'll see her pull her arm down after she throws. (Cutting off the follow-through is a big no-no.) In K1 & K3, she doesn't. But, look at her hand position in K1 and K3. She ends with her palm facing 3B. So, her follow through is messed up. She needs to be ending with her right arm in at least an "L". (People argue about "L" or no "L". It doesn't matter. What matters is that she doesn't stop the arm after she releases the ball. I suspect when she doesn't stop the arm, the ball goes over your head, into the tree, and hits a cow in the next county.)

(3) In K3, stop the video right as her left foot touches down. You'll see that the ball is in front of her nose. The ball should be over her right foot when the big toe of the left foot touches down. If you look at the video, you can see how this ends up resulting in her body getting ahead of her arm. Her left foot is fully down (the heel is down), and yet the ball is still at 9 o'clock.

(4) In K1, there appears to be an alignment problem. Se is using the glove hand to "pull" her body closed.

(5) At the beginning, some times she forces her right arm back, and other times it is a natural "swing". (Compare K3 and K4).

So, she needs to practice and work on becoming more fluid. She needs to slow down her body (but not her arm).

I'm a big fan of "Carolina Walk Throughs". (Do you know what a walk through is? ) She throws the ball, and then tries to end standing on only her left leg without using her right leg for support.

She needs to do spins, spins and more spins (also known as flips). Her wrist looks a little stiff, so this will help looses her wrist.

JRW

fivepotsogold

Yes..she is very stiff.....
3 weeks of All Stars, just two games......then went right to Softball camp...even though she said they pitched for an hour each day ...she received instruction to change things (sigh).
Then she got home and with her sisters All Stars we let it go for at least two weeks.

She had on cleats and pitched on the grass for the video.

Travel tryouts start August 16.
Fall Ball starts Sept 6

I will dig out/level her pitching area (pesky night animals dug a hole) and have her pitch the next 3-4 days.....new video then....
...back to some of her drills as well.

"She needs to do spins, spins and more spins (also known as flips)"
I think we call them snaps ... yes.....definitely...

I'm not quite buying the 100,000 pitches though ....


Thanks.

sluggers

My DD's (D1 all-conference) pitching schedule, starting when she was 13 YOA and ending which she was 18 YOA:

September-October: Pitched every other day for 1 hour.
November-March: Practiced every other day for 1 to 2 hours. Sundays she would practice for 3 hours.
April-May (HS Softball season): She pitched 2 games a week, practiced 4 times a week.
June-July: Summer season. She pitched 6-10 games a week. (She played on two teams. One summer, she played on three.)
August: Off.

Amy in AZ.

Note her stride. She needs to be getting out there approximately as far as she is tall. Also, she needs to stay out there. She is beginning to back up before the catcher receives the ball. That is pretty typical of young pitchers.

Buy a pitching plate for her and mark off 6 feet and 8 feet for her, so she has some guide lines.

Is she doing some long toss (underhand), too?

OT - she has beautiful hair. I love the braid. Amy

fivepotsogold

We typically practice 5x per week for an hour. At this point she has only played rec ball in the Spring and Fall.

I just dug out her pitching area this AM.. between animals and her sliding over to her left.....it was a mess. Just bought a pitching rubber as well.

Yes...long toss (50 feet, 40 pitches 5x per week)(walking pitches 20 5X per week)(these two are when well warmed up)(under the leg drills with weights and a 14" ball)(wrist snaps)(30 feet arms straight up: reg ball, weights, 14")
We stopped this 3rd week of June....getting back starting today....just been pitching with long toss ...

Never cut her hair...down to her butt...so is my 10's, so is my 3's ....very thick! Lots of work!
Will video again in a week!

bigdaddy

5,

Your DD could add 3-5 mph (easily) if she worked on her lower body. If you look at clip K2, her rear leg is completely disconnected from the pitching motion. As she strides out, her back foot should remain under her back hip. She's 'leaving her rear foot behind'. She needs to ride the back leg so that the kinetic chain stays connected. The momentum she creates with the stride is not being efficiently transferred to her torso. Watch SLO-MO video of elite pitchers from a side view. You will see that as they stride out, the drag foot comes with them and stays beneath their back hip NOT behind their back hip. This allows the efficient transfer of momentun from the lower body to the upper body. Your DD's center of gravity or center of momentum is stung out between her legs rather than over her rear leg. If you need clips of elite pitchers, PM me. You can also look at the avatar of Bill Hillhouse on his website to see the position I'm talking about.

Keith

sluggers

This is a picture of Osterman pitching (from the Under Armour commercial). Note the location of the ball (above her left foot) compared with the position of her right foot (toe is off the ground, just about to touch).

She is open, and her glove is pointing at the catcher. The only criticism might be that her upper body is a little more upright than other pitchers, but her forte is control and movement, not power.



Finch is amazing at keeping her weight back. Her arm is straight up, and her left foot is is 18 inches off the ground. She throws around 70 mph...an incredible athlete.

JRW

bigdaddy

Very nice Slugger!