Strong drive vs quick drive Cue

[coachbubbles]

DD is what I would consider an advanced level pitcher at this point. After pitching for about 7 years she is 13u with a game speed cruise of 57-58mph (pocket) and very good command of a change, drop and rise. Of course as we wait on mother nature to inject size and strength into her body we are constantly tweaking mechanics to get the very most out of what she has to work with. One thing we have been working on alot is optimal drive mechanics, which has been a topic of conversation on here alot lately.

As I work with her and a few other pitchers I find myself constantly learning to use different terminology as different ladies take the same words differently and have “aha” moments with sometimes corny explanations or cues.

Sooo...my latest epiphany... we always talk about a powerful drive (both feet), using the Queen pretty regularly over the last 9 months or so. Of the 7 girls I work with - they all have the very same approach in their mind (after lots of questions and observations)....they have the drive as a strong movement verses a quick movement. I liken it to slow and strong verses quick. They associate quick with not “digging deep”. We push a sled alot...creates good drive posture in my opinion. And I think that has actually fooled their mind/body into that type of pitching drive.

So on experiment I started using a snap cue telling them I wanted them to rock into load and then as quickly as possible snap into the pitch as opposed to driving off as strong as possible. The results for 6 out of the 7 have been nothing short of mindblowing immediately. They all are seeing better brush/whip (video shows the “strong drive” mentality causes the hips to open more prematurely than the alternative). I have 3 that occasionally struggled with the back foot hop that we have tried very hard to fix with laces to the catcher drills....fixed that almost instantly also. And...every one of them immediately saw 1-3 mph gains. Makes sense...the faster the legs go the faster the arm goes to catchup. Thankfully all my girls have been drilled on FSR or we could have all kinds of other issues.

All over me asking questions, changing verbal cues. Its amazing how much this game can teach you about things other than softball and how our approach can’t ever be the same.

Comments about “strong/powerful” vs “quick” drive? Am I completely late on this or anyone have similar stories? Am I wrong?

 

[jdint]

I watched a Facebook live video from a Tincher instructor a few months ago, and this lines up with what he was teaching. He was much more interested in the quickness of the drive rather than the distance or power off the rubber.

 

[MightyMO]

It makes sense to me. DD's first couple of pitching coaches were really big on stride length. To the point of measuring and having her try and outdo her best. I have no doubt this helped her develop a strong push but it led to other things. Like her stride foot "floating" or staying in the air too long which threw off timing for everything. We still work on getting the foot down quickly.

The question I have is what would it look like to teach the "quick" drive from the start with a new pitcher? Can you still properly teach a strong push when focusing on quickness? I think the feedback of the Queen of the Hill would definitely help.

 

[Powerof9]

Get there fast! Its not how high but how fast you drive. The arms will match the speed of legs, so speed up the legs to speed up the arms

 

[efastball]

Sounds like you are on the most important path - measuring different techniques. Try something , if it's faster, keep doing it. That's what I did, It works.

 

[Sparky Guy]

Get there fast! Its not how high but how fast you drive. The arms will match the speed of legs, so speed up the legs to speed up the arms

One of the ques I use when trying to get a pitcher to visualize driving off the rubber is to equate their drive to the way a rabbit runs. Rabbits do not take high, bounding leaps when the run. They drive out fast and low. Another thing I do is draw two lines in the dirt. One is a low arc and the other is high arc. Then I ask them which is the quickest way to get from A to B.

One of the things that I see that cases the drive foot to come up when the girls are learning how to drive hard is the girls are slow getting their hips to the open position. The que I use for them getting open sooner is to imagine their body is a door. If it is hinged on one side the moving side takes a longer time to get where it needs to be. I tell them to imagine thay are a revolving door and both hips pivot/twist around their spine at the same time.

 

[Powerof9]

The que I use for them getting open sooner is to imagine their body is a door. If it is hinged on one side the moving side takes a longer time to get where it needs to be. I tell them to imagine thay are a revolving door and both hips pivot/twist around their spine at the same time.

Opening of shoulders and hips is a reaction of the arms separating overhead and down the backside of the circle.

 

[coachbubbles]

It makes sense to me. DD's first couple of pitching coaches were really big on stride length. To the point of measuring and having her try and outdo her best. I have no doubt this helped her develop a strong push but it led to other things. Like her stride foot "floating" or staying in the air too long which threw off timing for everything. We still work on getting the foot down quickly.

The question I have is what would it look like to teach the "quick" drive from the start with a new pitcher? Can you still properly teach a strong push when focusing on quickness? I think the feedback of the Queen of the Hill would definitely help.

Likewise— I think those PCs caused DD to “reach” with the front foot more than drive with the back foot. Never could seem to get closed because the backside was stretched so far open. So glad I was an educated “buyer” and found this board and was able to get the right info to DD. It’s definitely a learning process!

IMO I think you have to train both legs for “quick”. We use the Queen on both legs and once I got stuck on “quick” cues it only took the girls a few reps to realize they could make it click on their normal max out setting a little better than when they were focused on “strong”. I know I have a small sample size but I believe teach quick and strong comes. We will continue to do sled pushes, lunge jumps etc because I think the strength of the foundation is very important for balance and body control but anything we do pitch related is going to be focused around quick feet.

 

[cvsoftball]

One thing I noticed with my DD was her drive foot positioning as she began her push. She would turn it out, causing her to open way too soon and then too far. This seemed, to me, to cause her to close too slowly. So, we worked on keeping the drive foot facing the catcher longer and a quick openandclose and not open and close. Of course, now the stride would sometimes be lazy and the WhackAMole game continued.

 

[kibadbo]

I watched a Facebook live video from a Tincher instructor a few months ago, and this lines up with what he was teaching. He was much more interested in the quickness of the drive rather than the distance or power off the rubber.

Was it that guy from Chicago? I loved that video. I actually watched it twice. I appreciated how he incorporated physics in his explaination.