Drive leg

My DD has been asking me some questions and one of them I am unable to put it in the correct words or am explaining it wrong to her. She has been looking at videos of the best pitchers along with stills from their motion, and she can't seem to bring her drive leg to the proper position prior the toe touch. She is noticing that the drive leg need to be bent and loaded before toe touch, but she seems to get too stretched out. I give her advice like bringing her back side with her, but she has a hard time with this. I am sure I am being confusing so here is a pic of Cat prior to toe touch( and no Erin does not let her toe leave the dirt).

I don't think I understand the question. The drive leg (the right leg for a right hand pitcher) is bent and pushes off. It is straight after it pushes off.

sluggers if you look at this picture, Cat has already pushed off the rubber and is about to land with her stride leg, looking at her back back leg at this point shows it is bent, when my DD lands, her back leg is already straight. Hope I am explaining this correctly. Here is a picture of Erin, notice her back leg is straight at roughly the same place.

I don't see a problem with her leg. When you push off, the leg is straight. After you push off, the leg relaxes and bends. Both Pauly and Osterman in the attached pictures have fairly straight legs at 10.

Your DD's arm should be straighter, but I don't see a problem with her leg being bent.

As to the picture you attached of Cat, it is a little odd. Among other things, she is pitching illegally, since her left foot should be touching the ground.

thanks sluggers, guess I was seeing something that wasn't there, I have a have a still of Tincher and also Finch that look the same as Cat, I won't worry about it, actually it never was something I saw until my DD mentioned it. As Far as her arm being straighter, she is much better with that, this was a picture from last spring I found to compare. Thanks again.

I thought I would try this again. I am not sure I explained what I was looking at very well. I realize that the drive leg straightens, but doesn't it also bend or (load before foot plant)? any way My DD's drive leg at the same point is straight while the best pitchers are bent. The only reason I bring this up is that she seems to get too stretched out if you will. Her stride seems to be too long at times and she feels that she is not bringing her drive with her as she drives out. Still not sure I explained it correctly but lets see.

I think I get it now. Do you have a picture of your DD at 12, 9 and 6? The critical points are 12, 9 and 6.

The right leg extends fully after push-off. After push-off, it bends in order to assist the right shoulder in dropping below the left shoulder.

try these sluggers, these are from this past June in a game, we have corrected some of the hand positions(show it and throw it) but her foot position is pretty close to the same. Let me know what you think. The problem she is having is getting the back knee bent, but we are working on it.

Your DD isn't keeping her upper body back. She is also tilting her upper body to her left rather than her right.



The reason Finch's drive leg is bent is because her upper body is back and her front leg is straight. What your DD is doing is bending her plant leg and shifting her upper body forward, resulting in her drive leg being straight.

For your DD:

Her body is ahead of her arm. The picture you labeled as "12" is more like "1". At 1, her foot is just barely off the ground, meaning at 12 her left foot has landed. It should be several inches off the ground at 12.

Also, she is stretching toward 1B not *UP* toward the sky. She is leaning backward and curving her back to stretch. She should be trying to get the ball as high as possible.

At 9, your DD has already started moving her upper body over her front foot. That is why your DD's leg is straight--her upper body is over her front foot, so her front leg is bending, and her back leg is straight.

At 6, your DD's lean toward 1B is pretty evident. She should be leaning toward 3B, not 1B.

sluggers thanks for the honest opinion I appreciate it. I am hoping she has improved some since I took these pictures. We have been working on the things you mentioned. Would the leaning back you see from Finch be exaggerated because she is throwing a riseball? The leaning to the left has been a major battle for my DD but she is working on it. I am going to try and post a new video I shot today with a new HD camcorder, mostly to see what everything thinks of the camera. Thanks again.