Progression from Drill to pitch

[corlay]

one mistake I think a lot of folks make with young pitchers is urging them to over-stride,
usually as a (mis-guided) way to chase more speed.

Following DNeeld's great advice,
learning to *control* the stride and subsequent resistance is paramount.
So, work the length of stride slowly is my advice...
(which I could go back in time. I am jealous!)

 

[Perfect Circle]

^^^ of course I Agreed w/ last 2... but kinda vague ???

Did trigger a thought/question, to add to my using the distance of swing stride, instead of her height -3"... (that I excepted as an absolute) when starting out with DD, back in the Day...My signature says 8-12. @ 8 its Coach Pitch... So your only pre-Pitcher option to prep for pitching while playing on a team would be SwingStride, to add to "play the position" defense.... JMHO

Have you considered start out using SlingShot, or SubmarinePitch, as Uncle How called it. And then there is the old stair thing... except do it with both feet, with hands on hips..... core flight.... I know there is an elaboration on pulling the knee upwards on here... can't remember where...


... just trying to give you something to do Tonight :{)) But you might wanta hold off & wait for batman to chime in... and ask Him "whats next Doc"... I'd get a clip with all including un-lock-it, with full body feet & all...for his review. He might say, you gotta keep feet @ 45 degrees... or something IDK

He posted he would post some of the finer points of pitching this winter... this would be a good place to start... I/R @ Practice 35' Rubber & Plate :{))

 

[FrozenRope]

I agree Corlay....I have no desire to create a powerful drive at this stage. She's basically using nothing more than a stride right now, and that's ok. I am more interested in her maintaining good posture at this point. So no, we're not going to get involved with stairs, or 2 step drills until she can get a little more body awareness. It's a challenge to correct them during the full motion at this age, as there are so many moving parts that aren't moving the way they are supposed to. I find myself correcting 5 things on one pitch. Then I catch myself.....and reel myself in. And we focus on one....hoping the other 4 don't become too deeply etched on her hard drive so we can reshape them when we get there.

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[djcarter1966]

I agree Corlay....I have no desire to create a powerful drive at this stage. She's basically using nothing more than a stride right now, and that's ok. I am more interested in her maintaining good posture at this point. So no, we're not going to get involved with stairs, or 2 step drills until she can get a little more body awareness. It's a challenge to correct them during the full motion at this age, as there are so many moving parts that aren't moving the way they are supposed to. I find myself correcting 5 things on one pitch. Then I catch myself.....and reel myself in. And we focus on one....hoping the other 4 don't become too deeply etched on her hard drive so we can reshape them when we get there.

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While I can agree with over doing the stride...IMO though it is exactly why she looks so clunky in the full motion...no stride. It basically looks like a drill because she is being ask to do everything correctly while basically just stepping forward and not losing contact with the plate. I don't know if you pitch yourself (its great way to learn more even if it is just good enough to throw a little BP now and then) but go ahead a try pitching full motion a looking and feeling correct while maintaining contact with the plate...it just won't work.

It does not matter to me if she is only one foot off the plate and just takes a big step without proper drive she has to have the forward component, you can't pitch stilling still.

 

[FrozenRope]

DJ, I'm confused. She does stride off the plate in the last rep in the video.....which is the only full pitch. The drag foot hangs back, but not by design.....that's one of the many things than need to be corrected.

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[djcarter1966]

DJ, I'm confused. She does stride off the plate in the last rep in the video.....which is the only full pitch. The drag foot hangs back, but not by design.....that's one of the many things than need to be corrected.

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Look REALLY closely at the video her back foot maintains contact with the plate throughout then as she completes the motion her foot kicks to the side, I'm not see a back foot toe or even completely dragging the heel forward it is mostly just sideways...I'll make stills if you still don't believe me after re-watching...we know how much I enjoy doing that

did I forget to mention she is looking great for such young age and I'm sure she will grow into a good pitcher if she keeps this up

 

[javasource]

OK... so I've convinced myself that starting with a new canvas (DD#2), I can teach the concept of the arm whip. Where I realize I am challenged, is taking this concept and instructing it to the full pitch. Now keep in mind that this little fire plug just turned 9 a few weeks ago. She can chuck it pretty good in drill..... but as soon as the full motion is introduced, it goes in the pooper. She has ZERO body awareness during the full motion. As smooth and effortless as she looks in drill... she looks like an elephant in labor during the full pitch. We've just started to introduce the concept of the full motion. So for all you DFP rockstars out there with experience in this area (building the full motion in a very young one), do you keep plugging away at it... and let it be ugly until they develop some body awareness knowing that bad habits will form and need to be broken/fixed down the road?

Here's the progression of drills..... Lock it in-(didn't film unlock it), Liberty, and 3 quarter... then the dreaded "pitch"


~FR

Rope,

You are doing just fine, as is she.

Back in the 70's, education received a serious kick in the pants when they discovered that fluency... that is, the ability to perform a series of tasks repeatedly... while maintaining the appearance of smooth and performing with relative ease, was the ticket to mastery. She's getting there.

Couple of things to help her get there:

Lateral sway should be removed. In drill, there is a pattern of the right hip running away from the arm at release. Say something like, "let's make something that doesn't move towards the target... so we can use it to make our pitch more accurate and consistent."

Back foot slight angled in will help with the above tip.

Use walkthroughs... slow and relaxed ones to help her progress into the full motion. Be sure to flare the right foot a hair to assist her in not rotating on that back foot. Make early focus on getting into a nice still/stacked posture to throw against.

Hope to see you all soon. Happy holidays!

 

[djcarter1966]

^^^^walkthroughs sound like a great idea

 

[Perfect Circle]

^^^^walkthroughs sound like a great idea

Yep for most, and maybe when they are older, when confident w/ control, and focus on tapping the legs for some MPH, or at least for the feel of where some could come from... I never seen learning to release on the move... then having to re-sync every thing.

Still think bat stride length and weight transfer is where I'd build the foundation of going forward, if I had this awesome opportunity to dismantle DD's milestones...right before her very eyes.... LOL JMHO.

<video width="512" height="100%" controls loop video controls autoplay>
<source src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58923514/Resent/1-Baby-Swing_HB.mp4" />
</video>

I'd stride out about half between these 2... to start...

 

[joe720]

As the father of a 10YO pitcher, best advice is throw 10,000 pitches. And while doing that, have fun. Little girls are just that, little girls. I pushed a little hard in the beginning but after laying back it seems to have done wonders. You're on the right path, don't try to fix everything at once.