thanks. she is incoming freshman HS so plenty of time to fix. its easy to pick apart, tougher to help them change!!! my personal diagnosis was the foot down at the right time issue is the first thing to fix. . with a firm front side its a lot easier to change an arm bend and whip. its very hard to whip against air. my current conclusion is I need to get her center of gravity forward and that will drive her foot down sooner. I know that with her foot down and providining resistance the back foot "plow" and the arm whip will be a lot easier to learn - and as you observe there are a lot of pitchers who push off with a twisted foot and who throw hard. And there are some whose arm does not appear to lead with the elbow and be bent but get tremendous whip from 9 oclock forward - look at Ric paulies videos of Sarah and his vids of her arm times from 12-9 and 9-6. But sarah has her foot down at 12 and develops tremendous front side resistance as Ric calls it where she transfers power into the ball.well I think this time around the holidays is great chance to work on a few things. She does have a couple bad mechanical issues but I don't think they are insurmountable....and she will have to work on both at the same time.
First is the arm it is locked out almost her whole circle there might be a slight bend at 12 but not much, she does appear to pull the ball down even though she isn't really palm up but more towards third base but for now it's OK since she never really gets hand behind ball position but she has to work on getting that arm loose, find the IR thread and start using the first back chain drill so she can start to feel what a bent arm at 9 feels like.
Second but just as important is the drive. He first motion off the mound is not a drive forward it is a twist sideways and she honestly does look a little like Barnhill but she doesn't get as much of a second push. She needs to drive forward, the first things to hit the ground should be her front foot, hard to say if she is off the ground or just dragging the back foot but it definitely replants into the ground. She can practice this inside just in the living room with no ball,. Also need to not drag the back foot as an anchor can't believe I'm saying this but if you look at the Barnhill video at release her heel is off the ground naturally finishing close to laces to catcher.
Now for some quick other info....has she ever been called for an illegal pitch leaping or replanting? What year group is she? I only ask because if she is a senior already committed this might be something we want to address a little differently in a much more incremental approach.
If you don't understand anything discussed I would be happy to walk through a couple still shots, maybe some side by sides with a model pitcher or whatever but didn't want to take all that time if you understand everything...fastest way to quick results is going to be to stop locking that arm out and get better whip but the other things still need fixed...also forgot to mention does look like she leans over a little hard to tell from the angle but straight and tall would be great cues for her in general anyway
no offense but you do have to make an effort to get open. It becomes automatic once drilled in but getting to the open position is IMHO the #1 challenge developing pitchers face."Initiate rotation" is incorrect. There is no conscious effort to open.
no offense but you do have to make an effort to get open. It becomes automatic once drilled in but getting to the open position is IMHO the #1 challenge developing pitchers face.
Agree completely with this statement. There is not a conscious effort to "rotate". However, I think one must be careful (not you DNeeld) but others who read this. Monica steps across the powerline by quite a ways similar to Doug Gillis and others I could mention. If you step across the powerline you "have" to rotate to bring it back across the plate or it would go 10 feet behind a right handed batter. Point being.....when you look at several different model "pitchers" you need to understand how they are different from other "model" pitchers and not try to combine all into one or you will struggle. Pick one and focus on her. But trying to look at Amanda, then Cat, then Finch, then Parker, and finally Ueno, will create a nighmare for your young pitcher. They all do some things differently and it all works for them. Just have to figure what works for your pitcher.I thought this had been discussed a few months previously, so I checked back on some old posts and found it:
Internal and External Rotation of the legs. Need some help.
I finally got my dd to drive straight off the rubber. Yoo-hoo for her. She is also timed up properly. Everything at the catcher at 3 o’clock. Leg and both arms. All timed up. Yoo-hoo for her again. Here in lies the problem. I’ve been reading @javasource drive mechanics and got to the part of...www.discussfastpitch.com
For the sake of discussion, In those 9 frames of Monica, please explain in which one she is making the conscious effort to "rotate" or where you would teach a pitcher to make this conscious effort.
Monica steps across the powerline by quite a ways similar to Doug Gillis and others I could mention. If you step across the powerline you "have" to rotate to bring it back across the plate or it would go 10 feet behind a right handed batter.
she definately has time to get this right since she is just a freshman. This forum is all about people providing their opinions and then posters can take what they like and use it and feel free to disregard the rest. One thing we do always try and do is show the best hittters/pitchers and use them as models for what works because if 95% of the most elite pitchers did something you would want to probably try and emulate that....you presented what you thought was a problem timing of the front foot...IMO it's just hard to know if that is an issue until the other issue is fixed. Someone that replants from an open position like your DD must have a hitch or pause in their arm circle to compensate so there is no real way to know what her timing would look like without it. Barnhill had a career that any softball pitcher could only dream of but mechanically you just won't find anyone that teaches proper mechanics wanting their students to emulate what she did.thanks. she is incoming freshman HS so plenty of time to fix. its easy to pick apart, tougher to help them change!!! my personal diagnosis was the foot down at the right time issue is the first thing to fix. . with a firm front side its a lot easier to change an arm bend and whip. its very hard to whip against air. my current conclusion is I need to get her center of gravity forward and that will drive her foot down sooner. I know that with her foot down and providining resistance the back foot "plow" and the arm whip will be a lot easier to learn - and as you observe there are a lot of pitchers who push off with a twisted foot and who throw hard. And there are some whose arm does not appear to lead with the elbow and be bent but get tremendous whip from 9 oclock forward - look at Ric paulies videos of Sarah and his vids of her arm times from 12-9 and 9-6. But sarah has her foot down at 12 and develops tremendous front side resistance as Ric calls it where she transfers power into the ball.
Because her stride foot is closer to touchdown, and her arm is basically at the same timing in the arm-circle, tell them what happened to her speed!I had a similar problem with my DD for the longest time. after hearing me say her timing was off, and then Java and Coach James saying the same thing, she finally realized something needed to change. so, step one, activate the 6 inches between the ears. step two, we changed her posture at start of her drive to a more upright position.