Pitching Drills Help

Pitching .

Coach CJ said:

Hi Everyone,

Does any one have any suggestions for drills to have a pitcher use more of her legs and hips to generate velocity instead of using all arm?

Thanks,
Coach CJ

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Hello Coach;You can teach them a way to use legs more by asking them to jump up to get the feel of bending at the knees first then pushing off the ground with toes.As high as they jump is a minimum of how far and hard they should push off.I measure from waist down is the distance they should stride.
The other one to use hips is have her stand facing catcher and bend at the knees.point non pitching hand at target and pitch.If she throws stright and with some power she will clear the hip then snap it. Steve of The Diamond Girls of Alb.N.M

Progress points

If you could show us photos of the following progress points... 6 o'clock arm position as well as 3, 12, stride foot touch, pre-release, release, and 3 frames after release, this would help evaluate the sync between the arm and other body parts. For example, although in photo 4 and 6 she is not at the 12 o'clock progress point, I don't believe she will reach a sideways position by the actual 12 o'clock arm position. Her shoulder is not really in a good position to start the downswing without causing stress on her shoulder. What is her hand/finger position on the ball during her upswing. This can cause the shoulder to be in a less than ideal position and can cause shoulder pain. Also, her upper body is probably leaning forward at release (no photo). I'm also wondering what her 6 o'clock position is like. Is her stride knee up high enough, foot still back, etc.

Not sure what the issue would be here but this girl sounds like she's done before she's done warming up, if she's able to warm up at all.

What is her warm up routine ?

Have you talked with her parents ? They must know what's going on with her pain. If they're letting her continue throwing like that personally I wouldn't let her pitch without a medical release from a doctor to at least confirm they brought her to a doctor.

I find that a lot of times when pitchers have pain in the back of the shoulder it's because they're not opening up enough, especially in the back half of the circle. From your original description, and sort of from the photos you posted, it seems like that might be the case.

The shoulder is designed to work in a certain way. You can take the arm forward with your shoulders square to the target, and you can raise it up until it's straight overhead that way. After that, you either have to move the hand off-line to get the arm around, or you have to turn your body sideways so the hand/ball can stay online. If you try to keep the ball on the power line without opening you will impinge the shoulder, which will cause pain after constant repetition.

Without video tough to know for sure, but that's where I'd start.

Bump... One of the very first DPF pitching threads. '08 was about the same time I started working with pitchers and at that time I thought I had a pretty good grasp on the basics! As I look back at my material and history of posts on this site, I can see that I really didn't have half a clue until around '13. Curious to know what I'll think of my stuff in 3-4 years!


Thanks to all who stop by this site to learn, share and discuss fastpitch.

Ken

Ken B said:

Bump... One of the very first DPF pitching threads. '08 was about the same time I started working with pitchers and thought I had a pretty good grasp on the basics! As I look back at my material and history of posts on this site, I can see that I really didn't have half a clue until around '13. Curious to know what I'll think of my stuff in 3-4 years!


Thanks to all who stop by this site to learn, share and discuss fastpitch.

Ken

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Great bump on the old thread!