Need help with mechanical issues

[Crab]

I am a newcomer to this forum. I am a baseball coach who happens to have 2 daughter that play softball and both want to pitch(9 and 12). The 12 yr old has been taking lessons for 8 months. The 9 yr has had 3 lessons total. I don't claim to understand the motion but have paid attention and studied the motion by reading and videos . The 12 ur is a decent athlete(5"6' 115 pounds). She throws overhand 54 to 56 mph but underhand she is 48 to 50. She gets 1 lesson per week and practices with me the remainder of the week. These are the issues that I see through video analysis and need help on correcting. 1 she has developed a nice size crow hop. 2 she leans forward throughout her motion. 3 does not appear to me that she throws against a firm or braced stride leg and in fact her forward moment carries he an extra step. 4 at release she is square to the catcher(which I think strains the shoulder) instead of being more closed.5 there is very little wrist or elbow snap. It is like she is bowling. 6 she has a very long stride. Is longer than her height which seems to me to almost make her become off balance or out of control. I just think her mechanics are so poor that they are robbing her of potential accuracy and velocity. I spend a lot of time working with her but want to be able to help her when she is away from her teacher. Her teacher seems to be pretty good but I don't know if she notices these things. I don't see them unless I look at frame by frame video. Please offer advice and drills to correct these problems. Thanks

 

[inde53546]

Strongly suggest posting a video from swveral angles if possible

 

[RookKev]

The issues you describe are large enough, that frame by frame honestly, is not needed. Just an eye for what to look for should make them jump out. You identified just about every segment of her pitch. So, it sounds like the good news is you can just rebuild it from the ground up. Get her feet and body properly located, and that should begin to fix alot.

 

[nanotech14]

If she square to the catcher, that is closed. If at release, her shoulders are facing 3rd for a righty or facing 1st for a lefty,that is being open. She needs to be open at release, then the hip follows after release. Go find the IR thread in the pitching forum, you will learn a lot from there. Post a video on here of her pitching and you will get help and welcome to discuss fast pitch. Also I see you are from Rocky Mount N.C., I work for Cummins Engine in N.Y., there is another engine plant in your area, just a small connection with your area.

 

[David Carter]

Things that worries me are 4 and 5 if she is facing the catcher at release and bowling sounds like a very closed hello elbow type pitch, which is not going to generate as much power as she could and might lead to other problems.

A video would really be nice, we don't bite really. If not you could go through some of the old pitching threads and see if you find something that looks like what she is doing and then follow that thread to see what advice was given.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Wow. You mentioned about every problem that could be a problem. I will address the bowling and leaning forward. Are you familiar with the Stork drill? I used to address the bending forward at about the place your daughter is now. I finally figured out that "this is nuts" and I address it in the first lesson, now.

Also, it would seem that your DD (darling daughter) is pushing the ball, instead of pulling it. Her hand should not be behind the ball, but beside it, on release.

Keep asking questions.

 

[halskinner]

Drop the stride length down to her height, minus 3 inches.

Make sure the ball and the stride foot come forward of the rubber at the same time.

At the exact instant of landing foot touchdown, 1. The hips should be at 52 degrees, or as close to that as you estimate. 2. The ball should be just starting into the downswing behind her, at around 1:00 to 1:30'

When the stride foot touches down it should be near 45 degrees.

Google the STEADMAN - HAWKINS REPORT TO COACHES and print it out. What I noted above is the safest mechanics for the female shoulder complex. That report will verify that.

http://www.softballclinics.com/olympic/olympics01.html

 

[coach james]

Don't loose sight of the fact that this is a journey with your dd's and will take alot of practice, patience, and passion... fix one issue at a time. As stated above, look at the i/r forum and read up on everything. Also go online to "house of pitching.com" Bill Hillhouses dvds will be a great starting point as to fixing mechanical flaws. Ps. You will get tremendous help from alot of experienced people here if you could post some video clips from various angles of your dd's. Good luck, James