Loose Arm/Arm Whip

[Boomers2012]

While watching a video of my DD pitching on an Iphone App, I noticed that her arm is whipping where it almost looks like jello upon her follow through. At first glance it looks rather strange and painful. I asked her if it hurt or even if she knew it was whipping like that. She says no to both questions. My question/concern is this.......Is this a normal motion of the pitching arm for a 10 year old? Is it safe? Are there any long term effects that could arise? I know the arm is supposed to be loose but this looks as though her arm is made of rubber. Please take a look at the video, apologies for the poor quality but you can clearly see what I am talking about. Thanks.

LP3313 - YouTube

 

[inde53546]

Off topic but she seems to bring the ball way to far over the other side of her head

 

[sanchosj]

Se is in need of Bill Hillhouse asap.She swims and te glove hand flies away from body/For both of your improvement youtube Bill Hillhouse asap.He is te best at teaching Pitching

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Please get us better video. I don't see a lot of problems, at this point, for her age. Her loose arm is fine, that is what Internal Rotation is. We used to call it "rag arm," until it got a real name.

With just a few tweaks, she will add a few mph, I think.

 

[JAD]

Would help if we had a slow motion side view of her pitching, but as inde53546 pointed out, she seems to bring the ball too far over her head, which will cause additional stress on her shoulder and can lead to accuracy issues and loss of velocity. Bringing the ball slightly over your head is OK on a curve ball, because it will give you increased spin, but for every other pitch it will be a detriment.

 

[Ken B]

Video would be better if it was from the side and as Coach Amy said, the "noodle arm" looks good.

 

[Boomers2012]

Would help if we had a slow motion side view of her pitching, but as inde53546 pointed out, she seems to bring the ball too far over her head, which will cause additional stress on her shoulder and can lead to accuracy issues and loss of velocity. Bringing the ball slightly over your head is OK on a curve ball, because it will give you increased spin, but for every other pitch it will be a detriment.

I assume you are talking about the arm circle not being optimal. That is something we have yet to address as she has had other more pressing issues to correct before we moved on to that. I may have a different philosophy than most but I dont not "move on" to other problems until the one we are working on is corrected and engrained into muscle memory. I have found this to be the most beneficial for my DD, may not be the best/worst way but it works for us. I also realize that one problem may be the root cause of another problem. However, in this case, the whipping of the arm, I think the arm circle is irrelevant as long as it is not so rigid to the point in cannot whip. I think everyone would agree, her arm may be too relaxed at the initiation of her arm circle. I would rather it be too laxed than too rigid at this point.

I appreciate everyones input!! I will try to get a better video of her pitching this eveing and post it. Thanks again!!

 

[halskinner]

Arm circle is like a hula-hoop. Should be in the straight up and down plane of the body. If the ball goes over the head AT ALL you have a bent hula-hoop.

You need to have a slight bend in the elbow throughout the entire pitch. If you are trying to pitch with a long and loose arm, you are asking for injuries. Muscles are what protects the ligamates, tendons and joints . If those muscles are relaxed in the arm, then you are throwing with all shoulder muscles, again asking for injuries.

THIS INCLUDES WHAT THE ARM DOES AFTER BALL RELEASE.

Think about it..

 

[Pitchermom28]

It looks like her arm is not coming around in the circle..it's almost bent over her head. Also it looks like she is "arming" it instead of a snap on the ball and her arm on follow up is coming up really high which would relate to her ball going high.

 

[inde53546]

I assume you are talking about the arm circle not being optimal. That is something we have yet to address as she has had other more pressing issues to correct before we moved on to that. QUOTE]

I'm no coach, Amy and Hal can be more specific, but when my dd started the arm circle was the first thing to conquer before moving on. the more reps she does incorrectly the more engrained/muscle memory she is going to have. Read Hal's post on the bent hula hoop and the training idea of painters tape and a mirror to correct the plane of the circle. She looks pretty good, but this is BIG.