New PC - Advice and Sympathy Needed

[coachkurtis]

Please define HE?

 

[Jojo]

A lot of good advice on this thread.

Gunner, I was recently replaced as a league's PC, after a board-member had a neighbor move in that used to pitch in college. This automatically made her a more qualified PC than me. Whenever this happens, I always think, -"Who was her PC that taught her?", "Does she actually know that much about mechanics and pitches, or will she say, "Do it this way, because that's how I do it"? And I watched her last week work with the girls and she does teach hello elbow.

As far as a team PC, I go through this a lot with my students, everyone of them has a team PC, that's either a dad of a player taking lessons, or in some of my older girls, a former college pitcher.
With my younger students whose team PC's are another pitchers dad, I tell them to just let let them know you are seeing another PC and you only take mechanical instruction from them. I had one last week wanting one of my 9yr olds to run forward after she released the ball. Thankfully the parent addressed this to me. I have several students on teams whose teammates are taking lessons from a former Olympian, and she teaches the figure 4 and hello elbow, so their parents are always telling my parents they need to kick their legs up and hello elbow.

I once had to tell a parent that is just wasn't a good idea for his DD to continue seeing me because he wouldn't tell his team PC to leave his DD alone because he was afraid it would cost her pitching time and I told him it wasn't fair to his DD to try and pitch with 2 different styles.

With my older students, I give them the same advice as when they are going to a college camp. Listen to what they tell you, if you think it may help you, try it. If you think it helps, let's discuss it, if you think it doesn't then tell them you don't agree with that and why, or you want to discuss it with your PC before you work on it. After discussing it, the student then has knowledge as to why it's not helpful and can relay that knowledge back to the team PC.
The most important thing between a pitcher and her coach or PC is good communication.

 

[Ken B]

Please define HE?

HE (Hello Elbow) is a forced action that occurs after release. The tips of the fingers move toward the throwing arm shoulder and in some cases, the elbow points at the target.

 

[starsnuffer]

Smile and nod. Throw hard and hit your spots. The kid has been doing the same thing to her parents for years already, doing it for a coach isn't any different.

-W

 

[Ken B]

Below is an example of Hello Elbow in action. Please note that the motion to touch the shoulder occurs well after release and appears to be a forced afterthought.



My favorite is the kid at:58 that forgot her HE then added it after an otherwise decent looking release.

 

[halskinner]

"I'm old and have been in softball longer than your parents have been alive. I have alot of knowledge and experience. YOU are young, just a little experience in softball and you are gonna have questions. When you have a question, you stop me and ask it. Dont be afraid to do that. THE ONLY DUMB QUESTION IS THE ONE THAT NEVER GOT ASKED!".

(Part of my first lesson speech).

 

[Rocketech1]

Please define HE?

My definition of "hello elbow" is when an instructor tells the the student to "push the ball" down the circle, with the palm pointed towards second base at 9:00 (instead of pointed to the sky) and then has the hand and arm come up to the throwing shoulder side after release. The elbow and back of the hand are pointed to the catcher in what someone here stated was "the Strong Man position" like someone is showing off their biceps.

The problem with the above technique is it essentially kills are the internal rotation of the shoulder, arm, and wrist because you are forcing the arm into an unnatural position instead of generating the maximum whip. Hello Elbow proponents argue that it is the safest technique and new, young pitcher can have some "success" early on, which keeps the students coming back each week. However, anyone that wants to maximize spin and velocity will eventually have to abandon it.

My DD used to see a HE instructor (seems like they are everywhere) but fortunately my DD pitched with mostly I/R in spite of her instructor preaching otherwise. Once I saw the light, I had to find a new instructor. I just couldn't spend good money on a technique that would limit my DDs ability to pitch well. She now sees an instructor who primarily focuses on the lower half of the body and leaves the arm circle instruction to me.

 

[Rocketech1]

HE (Hello Elbow) is a forced action that occurs after release. The tips of the fingers move toward the throwing arm shoulder and in some cases, the elbow points at the target.

View attachment 4531

View attachment 4532

Ken,

One thing to keep in mind is there are two types of hello elbow pitchers. The first one uses I/R throughout the pitch and then tries to get into the Hello Elbow position because they think that is what they are suppose to do. Since most of the this technique happens after the ball is released, it has little effect on destroying the good I/R that happened upstream.

The second technique is the one I explained above where the PC encourages the student to push the ball (instead of pull the ball) down the circle which kills the arm whip. They will also frequently say " snap the wrist up" and "finish the hand coming up to the shoulder (throwing side)". This technique is the death to any pitcher IMO.....

 

[Jojo]

Amanda Scarborough uses internal rotation, she just then adjusts her follow through, I'm assuming because it was what she was taught.
In her clinics she teaches push down, pull up, hello elbow.

 

[corlay]

Below is an example of Hello Elbow in action. Please note that the motion to touch the shoulder occurs well after release and appears to be a forced afterthought.

why does Scarborough force-finish with H/E in these vids?
Is she one of those former-players that teaches H/E but actually does I/R?

This clip is a lot different than that super-hi-res-slow-mo powerdrive ad featuring her that gets posted here almost weekly...

Confused...