Throwing

[FiveFrameSwing]

Ok, now I find this interesting as it incorporates the main movements that Hodge stresses. I might give this a try with a slight modification. I prefer the arms have a bend in the elbow. Notice how the front thigh rolls over as the front foot lands. The rollover of the front thigh is what triggers the throwing arm into the "L" position.

When the kids are taught to go right to the "L" position at hand break, there is nothing to trigger when the front thigh rolls over. The kids are out of sync. This girl is in sync because she keeps her throwing arm forearm level to the ground until her front thigh to rolls over.

Thanks for posting this

I think you are in for a treat. As you perform these drills, turn on your feel sensors in your rear lower back ... then turn on your feel sensors from the rear lower back running up to your throwing shoulder. See if you don't 'feel' an 'under the hood' whipping mechanism.

Forget the 'L'.

 

[redhotcoach]

Who is Hodges?
I am trying to find some kind of break through on dd throwing. She is my best player, except her throwing power is maybe average. She was dropping her elbow, fixed that, but still not throwing that hard. I have one girl thats a lot smaller, and another that is a lot skinnier that throw harder than dd. Just eyeballing, dd looks like she has better mechanics than either. It, as people have said to me, looks like she is throwing a change up. Good mechs, hard throw, and the ball just comes off so so. I looked at throwing coaches, clinics, etc around here, the only one is a catcher throwing private coarse, (dd is catcher, but we like to "round out" a bit) and it is about 3 times more than any lessons I have ever seen.

 

[guero_gordo]

Who is Hodges?
I am trying to find some kind of break through on dd throwing. She is my best player, except her throwing power is maybe average. She was dropping her elbow, fixed that, but still not throwing that hard. I have one girl thats a lot smaller, and another that is a lot skinnier that throw harder than dd. Just eyeballing, dd looks like she has better mechanics than either. It, as people have said to me, looks like she is throwing a change up. Good mechs, hard throw, and the ball just comes off so so. I looked at throwing coaches, clinics, etc around here, the only one is a catcher throwing private coarse, (dd is catcher, but we like to "round out" a bit) and it is about 3 times more than any lessons I have ever seen.

When DD overhauled her throw, there were no breakthroughs, just week after week of steady progress. Early on it was just about adding a little velocity and a little distance without overloading the circuit-breaker in her brain and reverting to wonky mechanics.

 

[redhotcoach]

When DD overhauled her throw, there were no breakthroughs, just week after week of steady progress. Early on it was just about adding a little velocity and a little distance without overloading the circuit-breaker in her brain and reverting to wonky mechanics.

Thats what dw just said a little while ago when I said something about having someone look at dd's throw. "I was out long tossing 4-5 days a week, nobody told us how to throw, we just threw."

Then bad went to worse, the UPS truck pulled up.

 

[guero_gordo]

Thats what dw just said a little while ago when I said something about having someone look at dd's throw. "I was out long tossing 4-5 days a week, nobody told us how to throw, we just threw."

Well, it was crucial that we found a guy to establish good mechanics, I don't mean to deprecate that, but it does sound like you have done that already.

 

[redhotcoach]

Ok maybe got the breakthrough. Took slow mo and when she releases her thumb is pointing to the ground, pinky to the sky, putting a counter clockwise rotation on the ball.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Red ... your description sounds like basic pronation of the throwing arm upon release ... that's a good thing.

 

[RayR]

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Pronation on release of throw ....

 

[Mr T]

Thats what dw just said a little while ago when I said something about having someone look at dd's throw. "I was out long tossing 4-5 days a week, nobody told us how to throw, we just threw."

Then bad went to worse, the UPS truck pulled up.

I started this thread with the frustration of struggling to get certain girls to overcome very bad mechanics.

I have yet to hear about a foolproof method. I have seen Hodges, and yes I appreciate the mechanics discussions and they are of course good to learn and think about.

I could be 100% wrong, but the more time goes by the more I believe less in drills and methods and more in "just throw". For example, an eye opener at the end of 8U TB practice last summer was how incredibly fun the game of pickle was to the girls. I wouldn't have necessarily guessed that they would love it at that age. It gets them to stop thinking about it and motivates the heck out of them to make fast accurate throws. Ton of reps in a short time.