Timing out of wack

[madkenna1469]

I am going into my second year with DD (11yo) and she has had tremendous improvement. She has gone from chopping at the ball with no lower half involvement last year to something that we can actually work with. IMO she has a decent swing (now) when we are hitting of the tee she uses her lower half and the sequence looks decent. We are having trouble with live pitching it seems like all the hard work we put in goes out the door, lower half disengages half the time and has no concept of timing. We are already doing the HG drill, I also have her do the front leg up (flamingo style) drill followed up with front toss that she seems to still use her lower half. Any help on getting her transitioned into live pitching would help. By the way we hit off live pitching once a week.

 

[Eric F]

More front toss, less tee. Focus on getting the mechanics and sequence in order. Power will come when all the other pieces start falling into place.

 

[madkenna1469]

I agree, over the past month or so we are just using the Tee work as a warm up before we go into front toss. She is a solid girl 5'4" around 130 and swings harder than the majority of the girls on the team not saying that is that important if you can't arrive on time and on plane. It's almost like she doesn't trust her instinct to swing at the ball when she are seeing live pitching.

 

[SBFAMILY]

When tossing balls to a kid, make sure you give them time to load. Softball is a ballastic sport, not how many swings you can get in. I have seen way too many swings ruin via timing, because the person that is tossing the balls gets in a hurry.

 

[coach james]

Walk throughs on a tee (happy gillmore)
And utilize the knee kick drill at contact. This will sync up the timing and get her weight shifted into contact.

 

[madkenna1469]

I agree, over the past month or so we are just using the Tee work as a warm up before we go into front toss. She is a solid girl 5'4" around 130 and swings harder than the majority of the girls on the team not saying that is that important if you can't arrive on time and on plane. It's almost like she doesn't trust her instinct to swing at the ball when she are seeing live pitching.

I completely agree! When we are getting our one on one time I try to give time in-between pitches I will try to give her more so she doesn't feel rushed.

 

[madkenna1469]

Walk throughs on a tee (happy gillmore)
And utilize the knee kick drill at contact. This will sync up the timing and get her weight shifted into contact.

I use these drills from the tee, what do you think of using them with front toss?

 

[knightsb]

At the expense of my garage walls, recently I have been bouncing tennis balls and jugs lite flight balls to DD from a front toss position behind a net. Her goal is to load on the bounce. DD's feedback is she really likes that drill.

 

[madkenna1469]

At the expense of my garage walls, recently I have been bouncing tennis balls and jugs lite flight balls to DD from a front toss position behind a net. Her goal is to load on the bounce. DD's feedback is she really likes that drill.

Thanks, I will be trying this tonight if all goes well.

 

[coach james]

Walk throughs on a tee (happy gillmore)
And utilize the knee kick drill at contact. This will sync up the timing and get her weight shifted into contact.

I use these drills from the tee, what do you think of using them with front toss?

VERY difficult due to the lack of timing.
One of my favorite drills is a modified front toss. I will get on one knee at about 15' away. (Behind a screen) At the same basic speed as front toss, I will perform a full windmill. This will help them to feel the rhythm of the stride/stretch. I say be moving out into you toe on the release and plant the heel when your ready to commit. This drill is the best way of simulating the speed and timing of facing a real pitcher. Im able to pitch for real to them at the end of every bp. I suggest you do too if possible. If you can't pitch at a comparable speed as her opponents then move up a bit. There is no gain in tossing up meatballs.