Need Help on Fixing Arm Circle

[Goetz]

My 13 Year old DD, RH Pitcher, has developed such a poor arm circle, she basically moves her arm out to the right as she begins up swing, causing her to go behind her body on the down swing, that she has lost velocity and control and she has pretty much stopped pitching because of it. She actually was throwing about 50-52 MPH last year and has not improved but has gone backwards. Any thoughts on how to try and correct this, is it a cause of something else? She has tried but she literally does not understand where her arm is during the pitch. She thinks or tries to do it correctly but is almost the total opposite.

 

[NVfishing]

Did her body change from 12-13? She may have devoloped hips and it might be something she just needs practice time to work through.

 

[Goetz]

Not hips, she got taller but her body type is still long and lanky.

 

[sanchosj]

Arm Circle

Not hips, she got taller but her body type is still long and lanky.

As I've said here many times before!She must learn to pitch to her glove or into it and stay open till release then 45%.This works wonder and she can do a million of them.

 

[MandM]

The easiest way to help her is most likely to post a video of her that folks can comment on. My DD had an awful leaning problem that affected her arm circle. The coach, who helped her fix the problem, stopped her full motion pitching for a time, during which she did dry drills in front of a full length mirror so she could see where her arm was, and correlate that with what she was feeling. As you pointed out with your DD, my DD could not "feel" that her arm was angling behind her until she could see it herself to correct it. It took time and patience, but this worked for her.

 

[halskinner]

The mirror drill

My 13 Year old DD, RH Pitcher, has developed such a poor arm circle, she basically moves her arm out to the right as she begins up swing, causing her to go behind her body on the down swing, that she has lost velocity and control and she has pretty much stopped pitching because of it. She actually was throwing about 50-52 MPH last year and has not improved but has gone backwards. Any thoughts on how to try and correct this, is it a cause of something else? She has tried but she literally does not understand where her arm is during the pitch. She thinks or tries to do it correctly but is almost the total opposite.

Get a full length mirror. Run a line of painters bkue masking tape down the middle. Give her a pair of rolled up bright colored socks for the ball.

Now have her stand back just far enough so she can see the "ball" at the top of her arm circle. Hae her turn her hips and feet to a 45-degree angle to the mirror and position herself so the socks are showing directly on the blue line as she looks at the mirror.

Now keeping a slight bend in the arm through the entire circle, SLOWLY make a full arm cicle keeping the ball on the blue line always. When she can do that consistently, go a little faster, then a little faster.

Dont forget to keep the socks on the line in the downswing too.

Youcan stand a few feety behind her and see ifit stays on the line/.

 

[BoardMember]

My 13 Year old DD, RH Pitcher, has developed such a poor arm circle, she basically moves her arm out to the right as she begins up swing, causing her to go behind her body on the down swing, that she has lost velocity and control and she has pretty much stopped pitching because of it. She actually was throwing about 50-52 MPH last year and has not improved but has gone backwards. Any thoughts on how to try and correct this, is it a cause of something else? She has tried but she literally does not understand where her arm is during the pitch. She thinks or tries to do it correctly but is almost the total opposite.

I feel for you Goetz.........Repairing this type of flaw can be frustrating........But it CAN be fixed! Most all of the suggestions here are some examples of how some people go about it........

I'll offer you my resolution to this flaw.........

What I normally see with this flaw is that the arm circle starts out away from the body because the shoulder line isn't opening soon enough.....If at all........The arm circle abbreviates outward to lessen the strain on the shoulder as the arm travels up over the top of the abbreviated circle and down the backside.........

A simple way to train this out of a student is to have perform a drill which has her move her arm and front shoulder slightly toward each other as she moves up the circle.........If her arm is moving slightly more toward her front shoulder, it won't travel outward.......And if her front shoulder is moving slightly toward her throwing arm, it will open sooner to allow a good pass over the top and down the backside without abbreviation......

That's my fix for this flaw..........Good luck!

 

[Goetz]

Board member, she does swim with her glove side quite a bit. Thanks for the suggestion. I will have her try this. Maybe she can correct both flaws.