Video of DD. Need help

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Feb 3, 2010
5,752
113
Pac NW
Is there any fear of injuries when encouraging her to contact her hip?

Definitely. Contact with the hip bone can lead to bruising at the least. With repeated contact I'd worry about a stress fracture. Following everyone's advice will likely eliminate any discomfort or concern. Work on posture--get the shoulders inline the the hips (or actually--get her hips squared to her shoulders) along with loosening up the lower arm and allowing it to whip. This will put the hip bone into a position where the elbow can tuck behind it and the forearm can wrap/roll/brush underneath in the soft spot above the thigh. Here's the shot that sluggers posted above:

Screen Shot 2018-11-26 at 6.55.33 AM.jpg Screen Shot 2018-11-26 at 7.17.05 AM.jpg

Here's a nicely summarized javasource video that Dave Mccrakin from The Fastpitch Zone put together: https://www.facebook.com/phil.mccrakin.1656/videos/2258610601062950/
Like javasource suggests in the video, get the hips squared to the shoulders by getting up on that back toe going into release. Looking at the pitchers in sluggers' picture, you can see that most are on the point of their drag toe.

Try this experiment: get into the release position with the drag foot on its side and just let your throwing arm hang down at your side. Then--not changing anything else, roll up onto the drag toe. Notice what happens?
 
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Definitely read all these links but I would start with getting the drive heel off the ground. If she drives straight over her drive toe it’s going to change her entire posture. Then evaluate form again. My thought pattern start at the ground and move up. Get her feet right then work on front side resistance. Good luck!
 
Jun 10, 2010
554
28
midwest
1. To me the first problem is the drive leg isn’t driving.

Not a fan of the squat on loading. The way its done here is she is activating the quads not the glutes…She never gets to a good launch position as the top picture shows.
drive-leg.jpg
then uses the stride leg to leap out…with a very little and late drive leg action. Second picture.

Re-read the first part of Java drive mechanics.

The goal is from a good launch position QUICKLY and IMMEDIATELY push/activate/drive the drive leg FIRST.

When she corrects the drive leg, she probably will not leap so far left of the power line. When they are stride leg dominant for the leap…they will go in that direction.

2. Ball path…watch the ball path from the rear…it goes left then more down the power line. 2 planes. work to keep ball path on one plane. Board member has mentioned this many times, for many years.

Once the drive leg is driving, it will be easier for her to keep the ball on one plane rather than two and get the brush.

3. As MatttM pointed out…turning hand early and losing some whip with IR. Goal..IR, IR, IR! :)

4. As slugger said…not closing hip any. All adduction of lower body with open hips imo. No glute activation for strong front side resistance. Possibly a quad dominate female?

JMHO
 
Feb 3, 2010
5,752
113
Pac NW
The goal is from a good launch position QUICKLY and IMMEDIATELY push/activate/drive the drive leg FIRST.

I mostly agree, but would suggest that sequence and starting the forward drive from the stride leg are keys to a getting into a good launch position. In the below gifs, I see the pitcher already driving forward with the stride leg when the right leg hits the gas:

https://giant.gfycat.com/ConsciousFastAlligator.gif
https://giant.gfycat.com/HighMajesticBison.gif
 
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Jun 18, 2012
3,183
48
Utah
I mostly agree, but would suggest that sequence and starting the forward drive from the stride leg are keys to a getting into a good launch position. In the below gifs, I see the pitcher already driving forward with the stride leg when the right leg hits the gas:

https://giant.gfycat.com/ConsciousFastAlligator.gif
https://giant.gfycat.com/HighMajesticBison.gif

I don't believe I've seen that gal in the second clip. She is a poster girl for strike-n-GO! Soooooooo many young pitchers have a stride-dominant leg-drive, which means they don't have a THRUST dominant one (ideal). An explosive thrust is much harder to do than the stride action, thus we seldom see the ideal of thrust-dominant leg-drives.
 
Feb 3, 2010
5,752
113
Pac NW
I don't believe I've seen that gal in the second clip. She is a poster girl for strike-n-GO! Soooooooo many young pitchers have a stride-dominant leg-drive, which means they don't have a THRUST dominant one (ideal). An explosive thrust is much harder to do than the stride action, thus we seldom see the ideal of thrust-dominant leg-drives.

That's KK ( [MENTION=8690]txnick[/MENTION] )
 
Aug 12, 2014
112
28
Buffalo, NY
Two noticeable things in the beginning are lack of sprinter pose (see Java's Drive Mechanics mentioned above) and also the arm path up to 3:00 isn't very straight/long. Most pitchers will have an extended but loose arm at the 3:00 position pointing toward the plate.straight.jpg
 
Mar 28, 2016
164
18
https://photos.app.goo.gl/UWyboDArvthkCh3n7
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Txp45Xr4kPhdQArc9

She's going to be 13 in January. Accuracy is ok, but cant seem to find the speed. Was at 46, now stuck at 43, not sure where the speed went. Any advice would be great. Works with a pitching coach, so we know some of the things that she needs to fix, but wanted to see what you all had to say. Thanks in advance.

I am wondering if she is pushing her arm through instead of torquing with the hips and allowing her body to pull her arm through. The IR looks decent right up to the point where the ball is almost at 6:00 oclock. Then right shoulder comes up and she finishes poorly (with the right shoulder way higher than the left shoulder).

I may be wrong, but there seems to be something off with her finish.
 
May 25, 2018
43
8
Wanted to thank everyone for helping out. I've spoken to her about some of the techniques and we have started working on it. Hopefully it will all start to click soon. I hope to be able to post some updates on here soon to see how she is progressing.
 

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