- Apr 11, 2013
- 52
- 8
--- Part II ---
The next thing I'd work with her on is her 'open' style mechanics. After all, they can lead to blindness... Seriously, though... it is VERY evident that she is taking to this new instruction and FORCING her hips to stay open. It's not a good blend to have a forward lean AND a disconnected torso... it's sort of setting her up for a possible injury. People like RLG go WAY overboard with this methodology, IMO. It shouldn't be a focus at all. The stride foot sets the angle of the hips, and that should be all. BUT... because this is a focus, your DD's hips and shoulders are TOTALLY disconnected. She's gonna have a bunch of issues arise from this... including a more difficult time with her control. I know you are digging these new PC's - but this stay open with the hips thing is not helping. For an example of this "disconnection", reference the hip and shoulder lines in this next vid:
Aside from the obvious posture fix and stride foot angle, one fix for 'reconnecting' the hips and shoulders would be to focus on the drive foot during the last quarter of the circle. Your DD plants at 90-degrees - and as a result - her whole side of the drive foot drags on the ground. You mentioned a knee-to-knee closing - and that's cool... but the knee-to-knee closing should also involve the INTERNAL ROTATION of the drive foot. This is marked by the shoelaces facing third at 9 o'clock and IMMEDIATELY rotating towards home by 8 (often referred to as from side of big toe, to the top of big toe). This is often a torque mechanism - and it will reconnect her hips to align to her shoulders... meaning she will close a little more (with her hips). The drive foot knee does and should come forward - but it does NOT move much, if at all, until after release (when done correctly)... so you don't have to worry about "slamming the door".
This fix, coupled with the posture fix above, would really help your DD achieve that brush interference Rick and Doug are talking about.
Again, I used Cat - cause it sounds like her mechanics are in line with your PC's style... Here's a comparison of your DD to Cat... pay close attention to Cat's I/R of the foot (really evident in her quad orientation). Then watch your daughter. This should be an obvious spot for you when comparing the two - and also a comfort for you to see a high-level pitcher doing it without "slamming the door". Here's that comparison:
Lastly, I mentioned your DD might have a heel that kicks backward. This is usually the case with most younger pitchers... but it looks like your DD is really pinching the knees. Really makes me thing that your PC shares some similarities with Rita Lynn (RLG), too. This squeeze, pinch, or 'clap' of the knees is one of her trademarks. If her heel did kick towards first, it would create excessive spacing between her thigh and throwing hand, eliminating some of the brush interference. This does happen a little, but I'm confident if you taught her to I/R her foot, this heel drift would never be an issue. Here's that one...
Lastly, she has a bunch of rotation of the ball during her wind-up. I'm not a fan of that personally, but it does appear she repositions her hand properly as she heads towards the top of the circle. I'd be really curious to see what the top of your DD's circle looks like... but that's another day....
Hope you can find some good in this post. Your DD is obviously talented.
Cheers,
~JS
All I can say is wow! Thanks.
We knew the leg drive is an issue, and the plant foot should be at 45 degrees. But wow on the analysis....fantastic.