Lockinging elbow and pushing during full motion

[djcarter1966]

The finishing motion has made positive improvement she is standing much taller and is not bending at the waist. Also overall she is doing fine just remember this is a process, it's a marathon not a sprint, it's about ingraining the muscle memory of what the correct mechanics are so she can repeat them and also self identify when things are not right.

Now for the top three things that I think need to be addressed, I'm not a pro so I will let others help with what is most important and drill to help work on them:

- She still has a locked arm on the way down. It needs to be bent to get the best whip. Also does not look like her hand is under the ball.
- Next as you can she from same stills is her back leg, it is an anchor through the whole pitching motion, her goal should be laces towards the catcher but she will see a big improvement if she can just make sure her heel is off the ground after that it will let her back half follow through much more naturally right now her back half rotation is too late actually after the pitch is released. Have her stand just like she is in the picture them have her lift her heel and turn her laces to the catcher she should feel her whole back side (hip) release.
- Finally as Man10 stated she really needs to work on driving off she is really just stepping of right now. Working on getting the knee up and out first as Man10 suggests is right on target

vs

 

[Full Count]

Thanks. I have been trying to tell her that for a while now, but not having much luck. The last thing I tried was for her to try and "knee the catcher in the chin as she strides out".

 

[Full Count]

Thanks dj. That is what is so frustrating. She is able to whip and throw the ball much harder doing the 12 O'clock drill, but once we start with circle or full motion the arm tends to stay straight. I keep hoping that it will just click with her soon.

 

[Man10]

Thanks dj. That is what is so frustrating. She is able to whip and throw the ball much harder doing the 12 O'clock drill, but once we start with circle or full motion the arm tends to stay straight. I keep hoping that it will just click with her soon.

My DD still struggles with too straight of an arm but the most progress we make is when we focus on the glove hand. Usually what one arm/hand does the other will do. The positive about working with the glove hand instead of the ball hand is that she doesn't have the ball on her mind. Also, we always throw into a tarp when making the adjustment so she doesn't feel the pressure to throw a strike.

 

[djcarter1966]

Thanks. I have been trying to tell her that for a while now, but not having much luck. The last thing I tried was for her to try and "knee the catcher in the chin as she strides out".

Show her this so she can see the difference. This also shows her how much more powerful her push off should look versus just a step off.

 

[Full Count]

Will do. Thank you

 

[Ken Krause]

One thing I've had some success with is telling pitchers the ball should always be moving forward relative to the ground, rather than moving backwards after they get to the top of the circle. What often happens is they're trying to be big, so they extend the arm out and the elbow locks itself. If she can understand the concept of the ball always moving forward as she moves forward she will have to avoid locking out backwards.

Another thing to try is asking her to close her eyes as she pitches, and then concentrate on what she feels. Without being able to see the plate you take away the compulsion to throw strikes, and she can then focus on her arm and what it's doing more. The more you get them to focus on what they feel the easier it become to correct.

I had an eight year old (with a very short attention span) out in a lesson last week. I saw that she was locking out her wrist as she did her arm circle, and I referred to it as "the claw." We worked a bit on loosening it up then went back into full pitching. Darned if the first time she locked out her wrist again she didn't say "claw" all on her own. And she continued to. Hopefully she's continued to pay attention to it this week.

Point is, if they can feel it they can correct it. If it doesn't feel wrong, she'll have a much tougher time getting it to do the right thing.

 

[Ken Krause]

By the way, it's hard to tell for sure because her hand is too blurred in the second video, but it looks like she may be turning the ball backwards toward second base just after the top of the circle. That is probably where the elbow is locking out, even though she then turns it toward first a split-second later. That's another symptom of taking the ball back all the way. Try to have her work on it staying out toward first or facing home instead. She'll still have to work at bending the elbow, but at least she won't be prevented from it by having her hand facing the wrong way at a crucial moment.

 

[Full Count]

One thing I've had some success with is telling pitchers the ball should always be moving forward relative to the ground, rather than moving backwards after they get to the top of the circle. What often happens is they're trying to be big, so they extend the arm out and the elbow locks itself. If she can understand the concept of the ball always moving forward as she moves forward she will have to avoid locking out backwards.

Another thing to try is asking her to close her eyes as she pitches, and then concentrate on what she feels. Without being able to see the plate you take away the compulsion to throw strikes, and she can then focus on her arm and what it's doing more. The more you get them to focus on what they feel the easier it become to correct.

I had an eight year old (with a very short attention span) out in a lesson last week. I saw that she was locking out her wrist as she did her arm circle, and I referred to it as "the claw." We worked a bit on loosening it up then went back into full pitching. Darned if the first time she locked out her wrist again she didn't say "claw" all on her own. And she continued to. Hopefully she's continued to pay attention to it this week.

Point is, if they can feel it they can correct it. If it doesn't feel wrong, she'll have a much tougher time getting it to do the right thing.

The idea of keeping the ball moving forward really helped. She couldn't believe how much faster she could throw the ball once she started whipping. Thanks for the great advice.

 

[Ken Krause]

The idea of keeping the ball moving forward really helped. She couldn't believe how much faster she could throw the ball once she started whipping. Thanks for the great advice.

Ironically, I used it myself tonight to help a 9 year old get the feeling of whipping too. So I do eat my own dog food.

Glad you found the tip helpful. Different things work with different kids.