Horrible "instructional" video

Chris O'Leary · Apr 7, 2011

I don't know anything about softball pitching, but am trying to learn. This looks borderline illegal, like a double plant (planting the glove side foot and then striding off of it) and an effort to release closer to the plate. The team that's a year older than us went up against a pitcher who was doing something like this.

starsnuffer · Apr 7, 2011

Dusty said:
No, although the accent is the same that's not Rita Lynn. Here's one of hers which could pretty much be a rebuttal to the first video. She apparently does teach the figure 4 finish which I know many are not crazy about but otherwise this seems ok to me.

YouTube - Pitching My Way Preview

I wonder how many of her kids are in knee braces by 18 after kicking themselves in the back of the knee 500 times a week. Rub your thumb and index finger together 500 times and you'll get a blister. Kick yourself thousands of times a year and you're not going to be a happy, healthy panda. Figure four, if used, should be a calf to calf motion that just barely touches, not self imposed mutilation. I wonder if Marque de Sade invented this style?

-W

Ken Krause · Apr 7, 2011

I hadn't thought about how old that video might be since I just got it in email yesterday. But now that you mention it, the ball the pitcher is using is white with white seams. That ball hasn't been used since my oldest daughter was first playing. Maybe the coach has learned a few things since then.

shockcoach · Apr 7, 2011

starsnuffer said:
I wonder how many of her kids are in knee braces by 18 after kicking themselves in the back of the knee 500 times a week. Rub your thumb and index finger together 500 times and you'll get a blister. Kick yourself thousands of times a year and you're not going to be a happy, healthy panda. Figure four, if used, should be a calf to calf motion that just barely touches, not self imposed mutilation. I wonder if Marque de Sade invented this style?

-W

It doesn't seem to hurt the knees. Instead, it's extremely hard on the backs. There is a pitching coach around here that teaches this style. They take all that forward momentum and then slam the breaks on while jamming the leg.

halskinner · Apr 7, 2011

I believe this is the same instructor that made a video attempting to demonstrate a pitching tactic I developed. She screwed that up all to heck too. It was hilariously bad.

Feel sorry for the kids.

sneakysoftballpitching.com

starsnuffer · Apr 8, 2011

shockcoach said:
It doesn't seem to hurt the knees. Instead, it's extremely hard on the backs. There is a pitching coach around here that teaches this style. They take all that forward momentum and then slam the breaks on while jamming the leg.

There's an instructor around here who teaches it as well, and every pitcher she has over 15 wears a brace on their stride knee. I wonder if she's figured it out yet.

-W

BLB · Apr 8, 2011

First of all, I don't like what is being shown on this video but some of the comments given by some posters were slightly intriguing. I would like to give a few comments to this regard. Although I don't teach "stepping style" as some posters call it, I don't dismiss it. Neither did pitchers such as Kathy Arendson, Joan Joyce, Eddie Feigner, Stan Kern, Rob Guenter, etc. But hey, what have they accomplished in their careers, right? I will say this, pitchers on the men's side from the 70s were "at least" as good as today's pitchers with better movement on the ball because of that extra distance the ball traveled. Also, some pitchers seem to use a form of the figure 4 (legs) but actually end up stacking with a back knee to back of the front knee. While moving on to their follow through they show a type of figure 4 in the process. Using an actual figure 4 can cause the pivot leg thigh-knee to get in the way of the pitching hand at release in some cases.

Sparky Guy · Apr 8, 2011

BLB said:
First of all, I don't like what is being shown on this video but some of the comments given by some posters were slightly intriguing. I would like to give a few comments to this regard. Although I don't teach "stepping style" as some posters call it, I don't dismiss it. Neither did pitchers such as Kathy Arendson, Joan Joyce, Eddie Feigner, Stan Kern, Rob Guenter, etc. But hey, what have they accomplished in their careers, right? I will say this, pitchers on the men's side from the 70s were "at least" as good as today's pitchers with better movement on the ball because of that extra distance the ball traveled. Also, some pitchers seem to use a form of the figure 4 (legs) but actually end up stacking with a back knee to back of the front knee. While moving on to their follow through they show a type of figure 4 in the process. Using an actual figure 4 can cause the pivot leg thigh-knee to get in the way of the pitching hand at release in some cases.

I don't know Kathy Arendson, but didn't Joan Joyce use slingshot with a strong drive instead of the stepping style? The other thing they had was they used a white ball instead of the optic yellow.

As for the men, you're comparing apples to potatoes. Men have so much more upper body strength so they are able to use a step style with better results. Women need to use their legs more to develop the necessary pitch speed.

We're in the same boat with the figure four. I teach my girls to follow through and brush the ankle to the back of the calf, if at all, so long as they keep the follow through with the drive leg going through to the point of setting it down all in one motion with no stops.

Sparky Guy · Apr 8, 2011

Joan Joyce will tell you the slingshot with a strong step was harder.

I think I would have to classify Joan Joyce as more the exception than the rule.

Sparky Guy · Apr 8, 2011

As a pitcher who has done sling shot, windmill and leap and drag, I have to disagree with the leap helping women get more power

It's not just the legs but the whole combination of the motion I outlined in the Leg Drive thread.

Horrible "instructional" video

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