Problems caused by a poor drive-through

[javasource]

Hey Java,

What did the Dad misinterpret? What did DD do that increase her speed? Rolling over on the toes? Just curious. Waiting to see, what he reports back to u.

Thanks.

sbcowboy,

Boomers DD has/had a tendency to throw around her rear leg... as opposed to across. This premature closing... and continual rotation of the shoulders through the whip phase was something that he felt was a good time to address. In other words... she was closing too much THROUGH the release/whip phase.

As such, we were discussing different cues to give her to assist in this translation to her mechanics. We decided to isolate the rotation of the lower extremities... as she picked up on this cue. As with many cues, this didn't translate to a change in foot/leg mechanics... but it did help drastically with stabilizing her torso...

The results? Phenomenal. Not only did she add a consistent 2-3% of speed to her pitch (overnight)... she's doing it with an INCREASE in spin rate. For a girl her age... consistently hitting 52-53 mph... and then spinning that at 18+ RPS is marvelous. Her drop ball has MUCH more movement. Location control? Much improved!

Lizzy still gets to 45-degrees at release... but the timing and control of the movement allows for her to powerfully adduct her arms into her body... something that has been a pretty popular discussion as of late...

In just over 2 months she has added 15-20% to both her speed and spin rates... Great parenting and work ethic go a long way...

Look at the difference in the torso... the difference is quite evident...

Here are the results... Lizzy rocks!!!

 

[slingnit]

Every time he drug his foot across the grass it made me cringe! Go over to the pitching lane you have and quit tearing up the yard! lol

 

[Rick Pauly]

Not certain everyone on this forum realizes that this forum was started by Mark Dagenais, the author of this article. In a live presentation Mark has more energy than 10 of us combined.......very good at what he does.

The role of core stabilization in athletic performance is to reduce the waste of energy and to
maximize its transfer from the lower body to the upper body. In sprinting, the arm action
creates a tremendous amount of rotational force on the trunk while the arms try to propel the
body forward. A strong and stable trunk helps to counteract this rotational force and allows the
energy not to be wasted and to be properly used. The weaker the core, the more energy is lost
in the rotation of the trunk. This energy saving concept applies to the lower body as well. The
legs drive off the ground and the energy travels up the legs through the core to the upper body.
A weak core will cause some of this energy to be lost creating a slower runner.

This concept applies to any athletic move that requires speed, power, agility and quickness. In
other words, it applies to everything a softball player does on the field. A strong and stable
core will also allow an athlete to change direction more quickly. As an athlete decelerates, the
upper body is still moving forward. A strong core will help decelerate the upper body allowing a
faster change of direction. This is similar to wearing a seat belt in a car accident. Wearing a
seat belt in a car accident (strong and stable core) will maintain the body in place while not
wearing a seat belt in an accident (unstable and weak core) is likely to propel the body in
space.



http://www.pomounties.org/cms/lib02/PA01000181/Centricity/Domain/112/Core_Strength.pdf

 

[Softballs]

sbcowboy,

Boomers DD has/had a tendency to throw around her rear leg... as opposed to across. This premature closing... and continual rotation of the shoulders through the whip phase was something that he felt was a good time to address. In other words... she was closing too much THROUGH the release/whip phase.

As such, we were discussing different cues to give her to assist in this translation to her mechanics. We decided to isolate the rotation of the lower extremities... as she picked up on this cue. As with many cues, this didn't translate to a change in foot/leg mechanics... but it did help drastically with stabilizing her torso...

The results? Phenomenal. Not only did she add a consistent 2-3% of speed to her pitch (overnight)... she's doing it with an INCREASE in spin rate. For a girl her age... consistently hitting 52-53 mph... and then spinning that at 18+ RPS is marvelous. Her drop ball has MUCH more movement. Location control? Much improved!

Lizzy still gets to 45-degrees at release... but the timing and control of the movement allows for her to powerfully adduct her arms into her body... something that has been a pretty popular discussion as of late...

In just over 2 months she has added 15-20% to both her speed and spin rates... Great parenting and work ethic go a long way...

Look at the difference in the torso... the difference is quite evident...

Here are the results... Lizzy rocks!!!

How did you accomplish this. My DD has been working on core torquing, but is definitely closing too early with the shoulders and probably hips, causing her to throw around the hip, greatly affecting accuracy.

She always did close the shoulders early (muscling the pitch by closing the shoulder) but the added hip torquing has really made her entirely too closed at release.

Now, I don't want to eliminate the improved upright posture that has resulted from the core torquing, but I know that she cant continue to pitch so closed. So HOW did boomers DD accomplish the improved mechanics?

 

[javasource]

Softballs,

First... Lizzy accomplished it... me and Boomers just like talking about it!

Second... and I think you already know this, because you allude to "too early" in regards to closing... BUT just in case... many people look at the moment in time the ball is released and the orientation of the shoulders at that point in time. Based on this observation, they assume a pitcher is too closed... or too open. It's an important distinction, because that can be well after adduction of the arms into the side has occurred. As you'll notice, the stills of Lizzy are at 8-9ish... when upper arm adduction into the side is occurring for her. If the hip/spine rotation is approaching 45-degrees at 8-9... then there is no way your DD or any other is going to successfully adduct... as the upper arm will just blaze on by. So... long story... it's this 8-9 o'clock position you want to reference... in addition to the articulations that are specific to your DD...

Just like rotation of the ball/hand outward over the top... pitching around the hip/leg as opposed to across it, is most often associated with a previous movement, than that movement... at that time. All pitchers are different, but I'd recommend keeping this in mind when trying out your own fixes...

Look for things upstream, like...

• Is she getting open late?
• Is she actually getting open over top?
• Does she open during her backswing... and then have to overcome that 'openness' by closing, re-opening, and then closing again... That's a lot of movement to control.
• Does she have a soft plant... with excessive knee flexion?
• Is her stride leg too stiff or locked on plant? These two will make it hard to stabilize the torso and control or stabilize it.
• Where is her head on plant... is it ahead of the spine... or behind? Not having a resistive back posture really hurts, too.
• What degree of elbow flexion does she have as the upper arm is adducting?
• Or... is her elbow fully extended (arm straight)? Degrees of flexion will vary between pitcher... and as a result... so will the ball position.... The moment of upper-arm stabilization is a lot less with an extended elbow... but the adduction moment is a lot longer...
• Is her stride foot/drive orientations negatively influencing her ability to stay open?
• In most younger pitchers and many older ones... rotational control is a function of the inner core... something recently talked about in the latest Drive Mechanics post (shameless plug).

Point being... aside from 'stay open longer'... the cues you might have success with may not work for others...

I point those out... because you can simply try "stay open longer"... but if that's unsuccessful... you need to try elsewhere... and knowing some other things to look for can be helpful.

Although I've never met Lizzy, Boomers and I talk regularly. Lizzy comes from a 'slam-the-door' background... and Knee-to-knee (or toe-to-heel) closing that I'm not a big fan of. One result is that she doesn't side-anchor her foot... she rolls onto her toe... heel-over-toe (or turn the laces inwards) - which is fine. It's not a negative movement.. but in regards to Lizzy... it can be... This 'heel-up' roll would usually happen as Lizzy came over top of the circle... and her hips would respond to it, too.

Knowing Lizzy... knowing her history... and having seen hundreds (literally) of videos of her... Boomers and I thought we'd try to cue her foot position at the top of the circle. Won't work for everyone... and it really didn't change anything in her leg motion... but it did keep her open longer. I'm not packaging and selling that as a solution for anyone else...

Point being... you know your DD best... so if 'stay open longer' doesn't work... adapt to her history/style.

Other cues/ideas... that might help...

• Hold Tummy to 3B...
• (if younger) tell them there's a camera in their belly button and they need to keep it pointed at 3b...
• Don't let your throwing shoulder see the target...
• Have a lower finish... below the belly or across the belly, palm-down ...
• Keep palm up at 9 (show them it's much easier to perform while fully open...)
• I've even had them stiffen the back leg a hair as a posture fix... (the biceps femoris activation can stabilize the lumbopelvic region... but be careful with this... as it can and often does hurt speed)
• Cue the feet... or slightly modify the stride or drive foot orientation...

As you can see... there are lots of possibilities... and I'm not suggesting you try all or any... but perhaps pointing all of this out will help you, help her... and I hope it does! ~JS

 

[Softballs]

Thanks java. I actually found something from your drive mechanics thread that my dd tried yesterday. It was the very first thing in the thread. My dds leap was very linear and she did not raise her stride knee at all. She had no time to get fully open. In retrospect, this it what was causing her poor posture, she had her weight over her front foot because she couldnt stop her forward momentum from the low and linear drive.

The terminology that she responded to was to jump out and UP. This caused her to get a better stride leg angle, and have more time, or as a result of better leg position, get fully open to the target.

The result was amazing. She only had about thirty minutes to try it yesterday,but it definitely was a noticeable improvement.