DD Needs More Power - Is a Backswing needed?

Good evening, I'm new to the board as a poster, but have been reading many threads as a guest for awhile. My DD is 12 and has been pitching for about 2 years. We haven't used a PC, it's been myself watching Bill Hillhouse seminars and buying his DVD, and then translating that info to my DD as we practice together.

With my pocket radar, she has pitched 47-48 consistently since last summer, but has seemed to max out there. We've recently been putting more focus on I/R and fine-tuning mechanics (she has hit 50 a few times). I downloaded the Hudl Techniques app on my phone to try to use video as a tool and it's definitely raised many questions for both her and I.

This is her at a scrimmage (she has a sweatshirt on, which of course is not ideal, but the wind chill was freezing cold yesterday in the Northeast!) What I noticed is that she really doesn't leap off the rubber, more of just a step. (this is a normal speed video. The Hudl app is a great app, but using it with my phone I don't really get good slow motion. It's difficult to see)
[video]https://youtu.be/vly_CfviGYk[/video]

And this was this afternoon trying to figure out how we can get a better push off. She was getting a little frustrated with me because it seems to be throwing all her timing off and I really couldn't figure out what we needed to do.
[video]https://youtu.be/KEVhZtn-cQk[/video]

She knows I have been visiting this forum and said to me after our practice today (when I ran out of ideas) "Can you send this to someone on there who KNOWS what they are doing and can tell me what to do!?" And I have to agree, I'm at a loss. Does she need a backswing to be able to generate a more powerful push off?? It seems all of the drills I found incorporate a backswing as a method to generate a rhythm for more power. But adding a backswing now seems like a major overhaul. I want to help her as opposed to messing her up! But she is also frustrated that she has seemed to plateau. Can anyone give me some pointers of where to begin?

Thank you for your time.
Randy

Working on drive mechanics will give her more power.

She's leaning at release. It's a speed killer.

Its her forward lean much more than her drive mechanics that are holding her back right now. Pause the video when she is at about 9:00 with the ball and note the forward angle of her shoulders.

She is also missing upper arm stability so she isn't truly whipping the ball, but just muscling it.

All this combined forces her release point slightly forward and she is missing a majority of the whipping action.

Check the gifs HERE at this link and note how the upper arm stabilizes against the side in brush interference and allows the ball to truly whip through.

Thank you for the feedback. After reviewing those gifs (and other ones on the forum), I think her problem is she can't seem to get to that upright position with her push off. Doing the I/R warm up drills she looks much better, but going full motion she can't seem to get to that same straight up position. I also notice that many videos state that the push off foot should detach from the rubber while the ball is at 3:00, but her hand is at 11:00 before it detaches.

Maybe we should worry less about a further push off and more about an upright landing?

cbombdad said:

Thank you for the feedback. After reviewing those gifs (and other ones on the forum), I think her problem is she can't seem to get to that upright position with her push off. Doing the I/R warm up drills she looks much better, but going full motion she can't seem to get to that same straight up position. I also notice that many videos state that the push off foot should detach from the rubber while the ball is at 3:00, but her hand is at 11:00 before it detaches.

Maybe we should worry less about a further push off and more about an upright landing?

Click to expand...

Actually, the landing needs a slight backward tilt to help stop and transfer all the forward drive energy. Additionally, her landing leg needs to firm up/not collapse.

Ahh, now I really see the leaning forward in her pitch. WAY forward in comparison to where she should be. That gives us a good direction for practice this week. She doesn't have another game until this weekend so we really need to spend some time on this in the hopes she will be comfortable with it before then!

Thank you all for pointing out what seems to be so obvious (except for me!). Once we have this aspect down we'll work on a better drive.

Just to give you another point of reference for her to visualize what's happening just after release as a result of not having good mechanics/posture.

The lean is obvious but as others mentioned she is not truly getting a whip she is muscling the ball, focus on the elbow notice how it is up and sticking out and not flowing naturally with her follow through. The two do go hand in hand because if you are standing tall it is harder to stick your elbow out like that but also if have a good natural underhand throwing motion it is hard to bend over and maintain form.

cbombdad said:

Ahh, now I really see the leaning forward in her pitch. WAY forward in comparison to where she should be. That gives us a good direction for practice this week. She doesn't have another game until this weekend so we really need to spend some time on this in the hopes she will be comfortable with it before then!

Thank you all for pointing out what seems to be so obvious (except for me!). Once we have this aspect down we'll work on a better drive.

Click to expand...

Focus on the process, not next week's tourney result. You may end up taking 2 steps back before you get the next 5 forward. Takes time to groove new muscle memory. This is true whether it's pitching, hitting or whatever.

It takes time to make the slightest of corrections. Just when you think that you have corrected a flaw it creeps back up in a game as they start to get tired. Just relax and work hard...it will come together. To this day, my dd can go out and practice in the yard and be looking great then we start imaginary game situations and she sometimes looses it.

I think a good cue for fixing the lean at release is keep the nose up....Its really uncomfortable to lean forward with your nose up...