Any tips or advice for a new pitcher(video posted)?

I am asking to get other perception in order to for her to get better. As far as her tb team and PC, she likes both.

Out in Left Field said:

She has no load at the beginning, she is crow hopping, she lacks a wall at the end, and her follow through looks forced. What the arm is doing is not important and can't happen without the rest of it. In fact, it can cause arm issues. She should be further along at this point after 8 months.

But her PC should be on this, not you fishing on a board for help. I think she may be getting too many messages and losing the basics.


PS. Most of our players (JV-TB, Varsity-Rec softball) who are on outside softball teams during our season decide to play one or the other. We never bench them. But sometimes the performance or attitude suffers at games on Monday (from Sunday) and Friday (thinking ahead to Rec game), so we have to pull them. I let them decide what to do.

One of ours 2 years ago went with travel Volleyball instead of softball and quit from being tired. We have others ALSO on travel cheer, basketball and soccer that have stayed on both. The soccer kids are never tired....

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So you pointed out the flaws...then told her to go ask someone else for help. I'm interested what YOU would suggest Coach. What would you do if this athletic young lady tried out for your team?

FrozenRope said:

So you pointed out the flaws...then told her to go ask someone else for help. I'm interested what YOU would suggest Coach. What would you do if this athletic young lady tried out for your team?

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I am curious to know what are the things my daughter can do to correct her flaws? It is good to identify the flaws but how to fix them is the issue...pretty much the whole purpose of going to a softball pitching forum and asking for input.

By her own admission OLIF knows nothing about pitching so it is ludicrous to expect any real help or useful post from her.

This young lady has some good things going on but she obviously has some flaws that must be corrected for her to become successful. That said I would work on this from the ground up. I would start here:

http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/18135-drive-mechanics.html

Go through the entire thread until YOU understand it so you can provide her with guidance. Get her feet and lower body corrected and then start addressing issues a very patient and methodical manner. Fix one thing at a time. Do not worry about game performance, throwing strikes or anything like that. In fact if I was her PC I would not have her throw to a location for at least a week or two. At this point I would have her throwing into a BowNet or backstop at close range so she can focus on her lower body and not one where the ball is going. For that matter start with no ball. Fix the foundation and success will follow.

Quick add on to Riseball, the arm whip is the easiest thing to fix. You can spend literally years on the drive mechanics. You'll hear some parrot that you'll get a marginal speed increase with good drive mechanics...this may or may not be true. But I can promise you this, you'll never have accuracy until the drive mechanics are both correct and, equally important, consistently repeatable.

Agree with "riseball", fix her drive mechanics and leap and drag now. The longer you let her pitch with the "hop" the harder it will be to change later on. This is her first year pitching so do it correctly now and 6 months from now she (and you) will be happy you worked on these areas.

Look at Amanda's pivot foot when she drives off the rubber (laces are down and toe is dragging along the ground, bearing very little weight, if any. Contrast that with your DD who turns her foot outward (in fact the toe is pointing to third base) on the hop and then she pushes off again driving her hips closed to home plate.

Good luck. It takes a lot of practice using good mechanics to become a proficient pitcher.

riseball said:

http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/18135-drive-mechanics.html

Go through the entire thread until YOU understand it so you can provide her with guidance. Get her feet and lower body corrected and then start addressing issues a very patient and methodical manner. Fix one thing at a time. Do not worry about game performance, throwing strikes or anything like that. In fact if I was her PC I would not have her throw to a location for at least a week or two. At this point I would have her throwing into a BowNet or backstop at close range so she can focus on her lower body and not one where the ball is going. For that matter start with no ball. Fix the foundation and success will follow.

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Thank you for the input, I will definitely have her look over the drive mechanics. We will start working on improving this area after tomorrows game, I have a feeling it may overwhelm her this close to playing. Varsity may or may not need her tomorrow, if not, she will still be playing JV.

I agree with Rocket.. Your DD needs lots of walk-throughs with someone correcting each one over and over until she gets it right.
Then she will need to repeat it over and over until it's consistent.
Break down each step of the stride. This will make it more manageable. She will need to get set on the rubber. Show her where each foot must be. The first time a pitcher steps on the rubber with her feet in the wrong spots the coaches know.
Once she is set on the rubber have her take a breath. Look at the sign and start her stride. We had DD step on the rubber over and over until she got that small part down. Then we moved on to the next step.
Use Youtube and the videos on here to break down every step of the process and teach em in small steps.
The first year is SO hard.. Let your DD know that. Even though she had 8 months in she will need a new PC if her current PC is happy with what we see here. Our PC is a crusty old salt but he is good. You need to shop around until you find the one who will be hard on your daughter. We had two before our current guy who made our kid feel nice and they were sweet and others liked them but they did NOTHING for our kid. Every kid is different and every PC is skilled in a different way.
I would not want to spend the 12 months I just spent getting my kid to a good place again. It's hard work and a ton of effort, blood, sweat and tears. But... tonight DD shined in the circle playing REC with her friends. One year ago she had trouble finding the strike zone, tonight she dominated. The payoff was worth it for her and will be for your DD too.

Crystal Brown said:

Thank you for the input, I will definitely have her look over the drive mechanics. We will start working on improving this area after tomorrows game, I have a feeling it may overwhelm her this close to playing. Varsity may or may not need her tomorrow, if not, she will still be playing JV.

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FYI the drive mechanics thread is extremely detailed so I would not have her read it unless she is a genius child. My suggestion would be for you to read it and take out a few key concepts and areas to work on. If you can get her to load properly and have her drag her pivot along the ground, you will be half way there. Btw, I think your DD is athletic and looks good for 6 months. Can't wait to see the new video in the fall!

Crystal Brown said:

Thank you for the input, I will definitely have her look over the drive mechanics. We will start working on improving this area after tomorrows game, I have a feeling it may overwhelm her this close to playing. Varsity may or may not need her tomorrow, if not, she will still be playing JV.

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That is great but make sure that YOU also understand it. This is a team effort and you both need to get it. An athlete cannot become successful in a vacuum. Someone must be there for them to instruct, motivate, and hold them accountable. Like it or not, and I think you do, that is your role. You need to make sure she understands and executes the mechanics properly. Despite what OLIF may say, leaving an athlete to their own devices to figure it out is the path to failure.