9 yo dd pitching

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b25ZuZs7VQM

This is a video I took Saturday at practice, it is against a live hitter. Things I notice are: not getting into a good sprinters posture-more of a reach, landing with her lead foot closed and then opening it up and she seems to stop her throwing arm a little short. I think she is stopping the arm in an effort to get ready for the ball being hit back at her. She doesn't have great brush or IR yet but we just started with lessons at the end of November, I think she is progressing pretty well. What else stands out? Any cues to help with the foot landing closed or is it really a problem? I feel like it is putting a strain on her knee but she says it doesn't bother her. Her speed is not great yet, her PC clocked her at 36/37 in December and 38/39 2 weeks ago. I'm not worried about speed so much, she is really doing well at hitting spots and her change up is coming along nicely. Her change up was coming in at 8-10 slower than her fastball. We try and work at home as much as possible since she only goes to PC once a week. PC had her start working drop ball recently and she does it ok but I really just want to focus on fast/change up and control of those 2 pitches. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Skip ahead to about the 20 sec. mark, I didn't mean to post the slo mo video.

Looks good.

I sound like a broken record today, but the shoulders look too closed at release.

... and I agree with you. Just fastball and change for my 9 year old DD. I don't plan on adding pitches anytime soon. We'll get those two down with good location and that will make her far more successful (and have more fun) than adding a 3rd pitch that she'll struggle with.

If you look at her stride foot angle when she lands it's at a pretty hard angle and then re-adjusts itself to an angle more pointed at the catcher. I think her ankle is telling her to keep the 2nd angle. It will allow for better posture as the more your toe turns in your butt wants to go out. It's also a safer landing for the knee but I can't seem to articulate my words as to why right now so maybe someone else can help with that.

MikeP said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b25ZuZs7VQM

This is a video I took Saturday at practice, it is against a live hitter. Things I notice are: not getting into a good sprinters posture-more of a reach, landing with her lead foot closed and then opening it up and she seems to stop her throwing arm a little short. I think she is stopping the arm in an effort to get ready for the ball being hit back at her. She doesn't have great brush or IR yet but we just started with lessons at the end of November, I think she is progressing pretty well. What else stands out? Any cues to help with the foot landing closed or is it really a problem? I feel like it is putting a strain on her knee but she says it doesn't bother her. Her speed is not great yet, her PC clocked her at 36/37 in December and 38/39 2 weeks ago. I'm not worried about speed so much, she is really doing well at hitting spots and her change up is coming along nicely. Her change up was coming in at 8-10 slower than her fastball. We try and work at home as much as possible since she only goes to PC once a week. PC had her start working drop ball recently and she does it ok but I really just want to focus on fast/change up and control of those 2 pitches. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Skip ahead to about the 20 sec. mark, I didn't mean to post the slo mo video.

Click to expand...

Not sure how to break the habit of landing with her foot closed, we talk about it during lessons and at practice but she cant seem to stop. Also she is now having a lot of pain in her drive leg knee, seems like what I've heard called jumpers knee. It hurts directly below the knee cap in the front. I notice she sometimes turns that foot when she pushes but not always, don't know if that contributes to it or not.

I'm not saying it's going to happen in one lesson. The first step is awareness. Not that she sees it on video (assuming you showed her), the next step is explaining why you would want to fix it, then getting her to feel it. It definitely takes time and patience.

I sat in on a lesson with Java and one of my best students (determined, willing to make changes, and usually makes quick/good adjustments) whose toe is also too far in. She barely could correct one from the 12:00 position going about half speed. That's all we worked on for 45 min. She went home worked on it. Came in for a lesson with me midweek and that's all we worked on, never throwing a full pitch. Next lesson she could get about 30%. Now we are up to succeeding more than she is failing on the mound. When she ramps it up and draws her attention away it comes back. But I have no doubt with a few more weeks of focusing on it in warm ups it will be permanent.

Bottom line, be patient and stick to one thing at a time. Put yourself in a drill that allows for success with it. Meaning shorten the distance, slow it down. When she succeeds more than she fails back it up. Before I saw this approach to changing it, I had a kid who I would tell to angle the toe more, and then show her, and then focus on it in a few drills and then go back and pitch and try to correct it. We failed at correcting for years. The student above corrected it in 3 weeks.