one knee drill...

[Sweet Lou]

Oh no another old guy from the dawn of time to support some parents who never pitched a day in their lives. Yeah, the pitchers did some stuff back then but like you said it is 2014, and the brush was part of the closing, stepping method, and it is over and has been over. If some adult pitcher wants to do it fine, but making a kid do something unhealthy when it serves no purpose but to make her miserable and you happy, you can have at it.

I just find it funny that we have to go old school on this...You can stay there, but we are not brushing at the hip and making it a contact sport. We are doing our rollover with the fingers to the side. Fortunately when we are at our clinics or practice or I watch hundreds of college games, practices and camps, (and when I am talking to the coaches) not one of you are near the place.

The girls do one knee drills for riseballs. I have seen it at some of the TB and college practices and camps I have visited. It works, not my thing, but I see how good their spins and posture are. So sometimes i just wish folks actually played the sport, or got the knowledge before posting. It just makes you look bad.

DD1 went to PC who was a former pitcher (woman) from way back in the day. She DID NOT teach brush. And DD1 never developed much in the way of accuracy or velocity. She also taught OPEN to start but said we would progress to CLOSING THE HIPS for more power later on. She was big on wrist snaps for power. I also seem to recall her advocating some sort of 1 knee drill similar to what JJ is describing.

DD2 goes to a PC who is a former D1 all-american pitcher. She absolutely teaches brush and rails against closing the hips. DD2 has progressed more with accuracy and speed in the last 3 months under this PC than DD1 did in 2 years under the other PC. But back then I was just baseball dad who never pitched fast pitch and didn't know any better and took the recommendation of our local league on who go to for a PC.

 

[riseball]

Just one example of what you call a "new school" pitcher OILF, just one. I really want to see what you consider good mechanics, I won't ask again, I will just assume that if you don't name one then you have no clue what you are talking about. as a recap here are some examples of pitchers that have been shown to use a brush recently...

Ueno
Cat
Sarah Pauly
Dallas Escobedo
Keilani Ricketts
Michelle Gascioioiogneyieyi
Monica Abbott
Michelle Smith
Amanda Scarborough

The way that some will stick to their story regardless of reality reminds me of Baghdad Bob.

 

[NVfishing]

I've seen this drill used a lot by a dominant 12 yr old where I live. It looks like it adds a lot of stress to the forearm so I don't do it. My favorite drill is pitching. How can you go wrong practicing what they are supposed to be doing anyway?

 

[bucket pinata]

Its a good drill to isolate what you are working on. most young pitchers have many things to "work on". They can only handle so much input at one time before they get mechanical and teaching them anything become useless. So if I'm working on whip, snap and spin I don't have to overlook them reinforcing poor leg drive mechanics or other timing/balance issues. Its not like you have them on a knee for 1 hour and don't Pitch, Its just a tool you use for 10 minutes or so if you have one thing to work on. Practice does not make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect. Always cracks me up watching the PC Or bucket dad tell young pitchers between every pitch OK, stand tall, bend the elbow, snap the ball, spin it hard, keep your drag foot on the ground, point the plant foot, finish relaxed, explode thru the release. now have fun and above all for the love of god JUST THROW STRIKES!

I've seen this drill used a lot by a dominant 12 yr old where I live. It looks like it adds a lot of stress to the forearm so I don't do it. My favorite drill is pitching. How can you go wrong practicing what they are supposed to be doing anyway?

 

[Sweet Lou]

As a bucket dad I learned the hard way to try and keep my comments to DD and 1 thing on each pitch.

 

[JJsqueeze]

It's a balance....and depending on the day it changes for us. Some days she is smooth and we just pitch, working on progressions and spins. Other days she is a mess and cant get in the groove and we break it down to smaller chunks (drills) to get the flow back. On these days it is kind of stop and start....pitch a few, do an isolation drill, pitch a few to see if the feeling translated, rinse and repeat.

I do try to make sure that all drills have a purpose and are not at odds with the big picture though, so for the release point drills we go to more of a K position and throw into a tarp from about 5 feet, aim is off the table but she needs to focus on feeling the brush (insert post saying I am a sadistic moron from OILF here), and staying loose. For my DD she has used the brush contact as a release cue since day one so we never really needed to use other drills like the one described. Same thing for when her circle and stride timing is off, we just break it down to a drill that doesn't have a backswing, throw into a tarp and have her concentrate on LFT and arm position relationship.

It's a balance, I see a lot of mindless drills and have gotten "PC says to do it" as an answer as to why a kid does a drill many times. I like to think that if my daughter was asked why she is doing a drill by a coach she would be able to explain at least a little as to why she is choosing a drill during a warmup.

as a general rule I like drills to be smaller parts of the overall motion with as little change as possible. For instance...the one knee drill where a RHP has the right knee down and the left foot on the ground and just pitches a full circle is pretty good, it promotes the right posture and helps with forward leaning and the positions it gets her in make sense and directly translate to the full motion, this drill I described does the opposite and is not a natural pitching position so I don't use it, but to each his own. Hard to argue with the success of BPs kids though.

 

[Bugab00]

Strange? Kinda. Cynical? Definitely.

From time to time there have been couple folks who have joined the community, ruffled feathers, got banned, then created a new profiles claiming they are new, etc...

Our sincere hope is that you are who you say you are and that you stick around to share and discuss fastpitch.

I hope this is who he says it is too! My DD is a student of his... We'll be seeing him Sunday - tomorrow.

 

[Ken B]

I think you'll do fine. He's been around the block more than most and knows his stuff. I can't speak for his teaching on the finer points of the motion without a little more info, but his real life experience is top notch. I'd trade a minute of being in your shoes in a heartbeat! Have fun!

 

[Bugab00]

Well, JJsqueeze gimmick account radar was accurate. "All Day" is not the pitching coach for Belmont Abby (unless there is another BA somewhere).

I also see "banned" over the name, so I guess this is old news. Anyone know how or why? I read some other posts and didn't see anything glaring.

 

[JJsqueeze]

Well, JJsqueeze gimmick account radar was accurate. "All Day" is not the pitching coach for Belmont Abby (unless there is another BA somewhere).

I also see "banned" over the name, so I guess this is old news. Anyone know how or why? I read some other posts and didn't see anything glaring.

It's just a tone. This particular troll has a tone of his posts that just do not sound like someone new to a forum. I am sorry he wasn't legit, the more college level pcs the better on the forum. Hope you told him to check it out.