Feedback on 12-year old mechanics please?

[Madsofball]

Folks: I have stalked this site for many many months. I have truly learned to value the opinions of many posters on here. I would love for your to give some feedback on the things you see in her mechanics. Please do not feel the need to sugar coat your thoughts. We are looking for all the information possible to improve.

Thank you in advance for all of your comments... I'm truly excited to read them.

Additionally, thank you again for all the time you all spend sharing your knowledge & experience.

https://vimeo.com/71648466

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Have you watched the Bill Hillhouse video or Youtube videos? He addresses the slap on the leg and I think, he talks about eliminating the high back swing in the pre-motion. I would encourage her to put all of the energy wasted in the slap and the back swing into her pitching.

She has a nice loose arm, at release and that is what I encourage my girls to do.

Very nice job, with the videos.

 

[Stand an]

I'm seeing a load and a huge super fast backswing to start out. But the load is expelled just getting the backswing back to her starting position.

 

[BoardMember]

REALLY GOOD...........Her overall mechanics are REALLY SOLID.........

Part of what makes her so good is this. Kudos to this girl's PC.........

You could afford to get rid of that long back swing at this point in her development. But do it slowly, and don't allow it to mess with her current mechanics. To start, I'd ask her to stop her arm swing at her rear hip as a drill to eliminate her long back swing. She'll "feel" like it's stopping at the bottom, but I'd bet it still travels almost parallel to the ground for a good while. I'd still allow her to use the back swing, but keep it short and more explosive FORWARD from closer to the bottom..........

 

[Madsofball]

Thank you guys for taking the time to comment. It's funny that yesterday when I was preparing the video to post I told her that "we really need to fix that huge back swing". I'm glad to get the reenforcement on that.

Please do not hesitate to be hypercritical. She just really wants to work to get better. Your comments are certainly helpful. It is interesting to me that her instructor has never specifically taught (at least not verbally) that arm position. I am currently racking my brain for drills that he teaches that would encourage that arm position. Honestly, I think it may be the "sum of the parts".

Thanks again...keep it coming!

 

[BoardMember]

I'm sure that position is a result of the PC understanding the bent elbow.......Or just your DD's natural athleticism.

And just knowing mentally (consciously or not) that you have more torque potential when there is an angle in the direction of the force. Think of it like a screw driver on top of a screw vs. a wrench on the side of a bolt......One is has infinitely more torque potential then the other.........

 

[Madsofball]

Thanks BM. That makes perfect sense.

Again, I really appreciate all the effort you make in responding to posts. It is quite informative, and a great service to folks.

 

[slingnit]

Looks good! I think more leg drive would be great. She gets in a really good position to drive forward then it looks like she almost stands straight up, losing all her lateral momentum. Arm swing and leg slap would not be a major concern to me.

 

[Madsofball]

Just wanted to say thanks again for all the replies. Also, wanted to touch briefly on the leg slap noted by Amy. I am a little perplexed by it. DD never slapped her leg until recently. In fact, she would often joke about how painful it looked when other pitchers did it! Then all of the sudden after a throwing session her left leg was literally black and blue. She has no idea why she is doing it. By looking back at old videos all I can glean is that her left arm appears to be punching more toward the target rather than a smooth swing toward the target. As we have talked about it some, the bruising after throwing has improved some, but there are still times when her leg is bright red. Does anyone have any thoughts on what the cause of the sudden leg slap could be?

 

[Stand an]

Just wanted to say thanks again for all the replies. Also, wanted to touch briefly on the leg slap noted by Amy. I am a little perplexed by it. DD never slapped her leg until recently. In fact, she would often joke about how painful it looked when other pitchers did it! Then all of the sudden after a throwing session her left leg was literally black and blue. She has no idea why she is doing it. By looking back at old videos all I can glean is that her left arm appears to be punching more toward the target rather than a smooth swing toward the target. As we have talked about it some, the bruising after throwing has improved some, but there are still times when her leg is bright red. Does anyone have any thoughts on what the cause of the sudden leg slap could be?

I think the leg slap in her situation is the result of a couple things. In a lot of the pitching videos I've watched the arms and pivot foot all come towards the body at the same or nearly the same time at or near the moment of the pitch release. If the pivot foot is dragging like an anchor she has to derive the momentum/power from one of the other two points. So that glove hand slams down as she pulls that leg in.