Lexi Davis

[slingnit]

Uh, I grew up in FP. No men use a backswing, or overlap, and they have fine timing and velocity. We are simply not going to make the kid use a backswing for the drill if they don't have one (about 40 percent don't), or use long-winded explanations with them or buzz words or code words, as new ones come in every decade.

Simply, as you can see under pressure, the more moving parts a motion has, the more likely it goes awry, whether it is walks, poor spin, or inconsistent velocity. At lower levels, the pressure the WCWS ladies feel is coming in every week in HS or TB. They have to learn to pitch in a short amount of time, and they need to be able to respond to it. They HAVE to learn while playing games. They don't often have the support they need, so the pitchers today need to use their own minds, their own natural motions/ideas, and it has to make sense to them, NOT ME.

The proof is in how the pitch ends up (velocity, spin the curve to the backdoor, etc. whatever the goal is). Then they can work from that.

Uh, over half the guys on this video overlap. Uh, I guess growing up in fastpitch doesn't make you an expert anymore than living in a house makes you a carpenter.

 

[slingnit]

JAD

I don't think I could disagree more with your statements regarding males vs. females. Just because males have more upper body strength in most cases doesn't mean they are pitching with safe and sound mechanics. And I am not sure what you're talking about in saying a woman needs to use her legs to maximize potential. That is true regardless of the pitcher's gender. It's funny how so many people are appalled at the "leaping" and "crow hopping" that takes place in men's fastpitch (do a Google search of Adam Folkard, for example who is the top pitcher in the world) and tell me he's not maximizing his legs. That's what leaping and crow hopping is... massive use of the legs. And while it's not legal in ASA and NCAA girls softball (YET!) the time is coming when it will be. ISF has had the brains to open up the pitching rules for women, allowing the leap so it won't be long until other's follow suit in the USA. Especially when the USA is the ONLY country in the entire world that uses different pitching rules than the ISF, other countries are going to see their pitching taken to new heights pretty darn quick. And then USA/ASA will have to play catch up. Under different circumstances, ASA/USA let men's fastpitch slip away from them... putting all their money and resources into the women's program and look at the results. Can you name a single man on the US men's team? Probably not. Look at the USA website... take a look at the "tours" scheduled for the USA women this year... then look at the men's. Prior to the last ISF World tournament, the USA women did a nationwide tour, went to Europe, went to Japan, had multiple training camps, etc. etc. Prior to the last ISF Men's world, they had funding (barely) for a single camp... even though the world tournament was played in New Zealand in March (during our winter). There was 1 camp for the team to meet, play some ball, etc. And if I'm not mistaken, that came was in January. So, they went to the camp in Jan... home to the snow for 2 months, then to NZ without having seen each other or trained together since. But I digress...

JAD, if male pitching is about upper body strength then I clearly didn't get that memo. Don't tell anyone my secret here but, I'm not exactly big in the upper body. I take huge issue with this assertion that men's pitching is about strength and women use their legs/hips more. Personally, I don't think there could be anything further from the truth.

Bill

Thank you!!

 

[JAD]

JAD, if male pitching is about upper body strength then I clearly didn't get that memo. Don't tell anyone my secret here but, I'm not exactly big in the upper body. I take huge issue with this assertion that men's pitching is about strength and women use their legs/hips more. Personally, I don't think there could be anything further from the truth.

I am sure that the top male pitchers utilize their upper bodies and their legs, especially since leaping is legal in male FP. Looking at the video of Lexi Davis' pitching mechanics, do you think she is maximizing her potential?