Correcting a cow hop

redhawkridge said:

Just to be sure you're addressing the problem, is she actually crow-hopping or jumping? A crow-hop is when the pivot or push-off foot is brought forward to a point where it is replanted and provides for an additional drive forward. A jump is when both feet leave the ground in an effort to maximize effort and minimize distance to the plate -- it's what was being called IP during the College championships -- the guilty were leaving the ground with the pushoff foot.
I've found most of my pitchers who jump also tend to be forward leaners. Getting them upright or a slight back lean at the K point helps to keep the foot in contact with the ground.
jim

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Thanks for the response redhawkridge. She is definitely replanting and pushing from the spot. She does keep her weight back on the pitches that require it so leaning is not a problem. Coach Stan's suggestion of using a rag under her push foot is a good idea, but I am not sure that simply moving it forward will correct the crow hop. She currently drags with the side of her right toe ( she is right handed ) in contact with the ground. I know that Michele Smith has said that if you roll your foot over onto the tip of the toe it will prevent a crow hop. I think that the 2 x 4 exercise that Sanchosj suggested is designed to train the foot to do that. I will be working with her later this week and will begin to try these suggestions. Thanks

Have you worked on Hillhouse's thought about the hesitation in the windmill? He's onto something. Most every crowhopper I've ever seen has a hitch that allows the arm to get in sync with the secondary drive off the replanted foot. It sorta makes them a slingshotter, whipping the arm down timed with the weight driving onto the front foot.
Tell her to visualize and execute the beginning of the windmill as a strong sweep FORWARD and NOT a swing up. Work on getting the pitching arm to accelerate smoothly over the top then down and thru to the release point.
jim

Crow Hop

RMGC said:

Thanks Sanchosj for the response. Do you anchor the 2" x 4" to the ground so it is not kicked backwards when the push and leap occurs? I understand how you explained it and I know that the object is to get her to roll her toe over on the leap. Thanks for the advice.

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Hello;You use the 2 by 4 as the pitching rubber and you use 6 inch screws to ancor it.Remember that she puts her arch of her foot on it and pushes off forward to toe which drags as she leaps so that the push is straight forward with the front leg/foot at a 45% angle.

This is 7 years later I'm seeing this thread but very helpful! I have a student that has an extreme replant. I've been working on arm speed and also found that keeping her right toe up until the last millisecond to roll down and drive off the tip of toe is helping. By keeping the toe up until the last second, it keeps her from settling her weight back on the left foot. When she puts her toe down early, it allows her to stabilize her weight on the right foot and she just hops out on it again for the replant... if that makes sense. I'm going to try the ribbon and the rag to drag toe. Thanks!

I believe the hitch at the top of the circle is the bodies way to synchronize the upper body with the lower body. With the pause at top of the circle, it is allowing the slower bottom half to catch up to the faster arm circle… Just my two cents.

redhawkridge said:

Have you worked on Hillhouse's thought about the hesitation in the windmill? He's onto something.
jim

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Hell yea he is!!!!

If you can keep her heel off the ground and her on her tip toe on the ground it should make it really hard to replant, she might still hop but then you can start looking at up versus out component of her drive not that we want to do away with the up component we just need to find the happy medium where her up is just enough to keep her toe gliding on the ground... [MENTION=15267]TalyaDig[/MENTION] Good luck and always feel free to post videos (with students permission) we won't bite and it is usually really helpful, consider it getting an outside consultation but its free