Problems with drag foot.

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Jun 14, 2016
270
0
DD has been collapsing her drag foot instead of keeping her heel up with laces pointing to catcher. Her pc has been working with her in practice by using a box that forces her to drag her foot straight up or she will drag the box with her. Any ideas where this could be purchased or any other drills that could help correct this? Her pc can't remember where she got it from. Here is a picture of her and a picture of the box.
34a6637cd3a329d66707091cccfbe534.jpg
f49e94486b53e2f68d440c2486611a91.jpg
box
34a6637cd3a329d66707091cccfbe534.jpg



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Jun 18, 2012
3,183
48
Utah
Boy, wouldn't there be bigger fish to fry than the drag foot? Besides, I quite like your DD's orientation, including drag foot, in the picture above.
 
Jun 14, 2016
270
0
Yeah, there is other things to work on. This is just 1 of them. I mainly was just curious if anybody knew where I could get that box to help with it. I don't think it's a huge problem just something we are working on.


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Jun 12, 2015
3,848
83
To add onto this, for all the experts here...is this a minor issue? My DD does it too. I'm less concerned with it from a "right or wrong" perspective, and more from an injury perspective. It seems like the sideways orientation of the foot would put extra, unnecessary strain the knee. We're working to break our DD of this but it's not easy, and like Doug said, it feels kind of small potatoes for a young pitcher. Just wondering about the knee issue, mostly.
 
Feb 7, 2013
3,188
48
FWIW - I don't like those boxes for a couple of reasons a) most elite pitchers will rotate the pivot 25 - 40% right before push off, why would you want to constrict this movement with blocks?; and b) many pitchers will slide the pivot foot along the pitching plate as they shift their weight right before the push off, again why constrict this movement?

One of the misnomers in pitching is that a pitcher needs to explode out of the "starters box" just like sprinters; what they don't tell you is sprinters are trying to keep their hips and shoulders parallel to the finish line while pitchers are trying to get OPEN with their hips and shoulders (i.e. perpendicular to home plate (the finish line). These are two distinct and different moves that pitchers and sprinters perform that require a different technique when exploding out of the starters box or off of the pitching plate.
 
Jun 14, 2016
270
0
And actually that picture doesn't show how much she's been collapsing to the side since she was actually working on it there. I agree with the above post, I worry about it from an injury perspective.


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Feb 3, 2010
5,752
113
Pac NW
I think her drag looks great and wouldn't address a thing based on the picture.

drag.JPG

I'm not a fan of boxes, noodles, bricks, razor blades or most other devices to force a body part into doing something. Teach the sequence and mechanics then use repetition and feedback to make it permanent.
 
Last edited:
Feb 3, 2010
5,752
113
Pac NW
One of the misnomers in pitching is that a pitcher needs to explode out of the "starters box" just like sprinters; what they don't tell you is sprinters are trying to keep their hips and shoulders parallel to the finish line while pitchers are trying to get OPEN with their hips and shoulders (i.e. perpendicular to home plate (the finish line). These are two distinct and different moves that pitchers and sprinters perform that require a different technique when exploding out of the starters box or off of the pitching plate.

Interestingly, I teach kids to explode squarely, but allow extension to open the body naturally.
 
Feb 3, 2010
5,752
113
Pac NW
I don't think there is any concern about injury. My focus would be on a strong drive that flows nicely into good release posture.

Dragside.JPG
 

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