Hey Guys,
Been looking at this forum for over a year now, and finally got the nerve to post a video of my DD pitching and see what may need to be worked on the most.
Some background
Started with an instructor at 7 and half, had what I would call a natural ability to throw underhand with some straightness right away. Her and another girl on her 8U team (REC) were the best of the whole league in terms of getting it over the plate in a straight manner, and looked the part. So we have been developing ever since. She now plays 10U B ball, and to the dismay of many teams she gets a lot of grounders and dink hits, which lets our defense get the outs. Of course when she throws it down the middle they usually get a good piece of it. So she does work on hitting spots and can do that pretty consistently.
Now havnt been to a lesson in over a year because I found this forum and it took a little while for us to figure out that IR is the way we want to proceed. I have always thought that she had a little bit of it already in her, but never isolated it to find out. Needless to say there are no IR instructors around, so its been all on me to make sure she keeps growing and not getting into any bad habits. She has always been real consistent around the plate, and sometimes that hurts her now because teams are on the first pitch knowing she is going to be close.
Over the offseason we worked on throwing harder and getting more speed on the ball, and went from averaging 38, to about 43 with her top speed of 45. This by just mentioning the little things I could obtain and grasp of IR without really breaking down her mechanics, and she seemed to understand. We have watched 2 of the BH videos, and she understands I think of what we are trying to accomplish, but as always its a work in progress. I think drive mechanics are really going to be the worst of what she does now.
I was finally able to capture her pitching, this is practice to another team, but she was working on her stuff as she would in a game. I noticed some things I thought looked good and of course some things to work on. She just played a game a few days before that she threw hard and I guess it must of been straight cause they teed off on it pretty bad, so I mentioned we need to work on spinning the ball to make it move more and adjusting speeds, and keep away from a straight arm on the pitch. So this practice I think she actually was trying all of that, and looks a little off to me.
Things I notice that maybe you can help with.
1. She has always turned her push off foot, and depending on the day it can be a lot or a little. We do work on keeping it straight, but as you can see its still in her to do it.
2. Working on stride mechanics, she still has lot of work to do with understanding the loading portion of her body, she is awkward with running, so this may get better as she grows into her body, but she was trying to at least start it off right, but I dont think she gets into it as much. She just pitched a game this weekend where she looked as though she was really using her legs to drive, and did well, so maybe she is getting it the more she pitches. This video doesnt show that unfortunatly.
3. From what I can tell, the IR portion looks good, but she didnt have a lot of speed on the ball, but again she was really concentrating on spin and using index fingers and such to make it move a certain way.
4. I noticed the back foot coming up a little high, and she has had to deal with that occasionally, but usually I can let her know and she keeps it down, so that for sure is something we need to address constantly.
5. her drag foot when she does do that, I think hurts her momentum as it seems like she digs her foot in the dirt rather than glides it.
6. Faster arm circle may help some of this?
Thank you in advance for any constructive critiques
Anyway, I am sure there may be some comments and thats what I am looking for to help her grow. So please if you got a second. I got the full speed and then a slow mo clip
Been looking at this forum for over a year now, and finally got the nerve to post a video of my DD pitching and see what may need to be worked on the most.
Some background
Started with an instructor at 7 and half, had what I would call a natural ability to throw underhand with some straightness right away. Her and another girl on her 8U team (REC) were the best of the whole league in terms of getting it over the plate in a straight manner, and looked the part. So we have been developing ever since. She now plays 10U B ball, and to the dismay of many teams she gets a lot of grounders and dink hits, which lets our defense get the outs. Of course when she throws it down the middle they usually get a good piece of it. So she does work on hitting spots and can do that pretty consistently.
Now havnt been to a lesson in over a year because I found this forum and it took a little while for us to figure out that IR is the way we want to proceed. I have always thought that she had a little bit of it already in her, but never isolated it to find out. Needless to say there are no IR instructors around, so its been all on me to make sure she keeps growing and not getting into any bad habits. She has always been real consistent around the plate, and sometimes that hurts her now because teams are on the first pitch knowing she is going to be close.
Over the offseason we worked on throwing harder and getting more speed on the ball, and went from averaging 38, to about 43 with her top speed of 45. This by just mentioning the little things I could obtain and grasp of IR without really breaking down her mechanics, and she seemed to understand. We have watched 2 of the BH videos, and she understands I think of what we are trying to accomplish, but as always its a work in progress. I think drive mechanics are really going to be the worst of what she does now.
I was finally able to capture her pitching, this is practice to another team, but she was working on her stuff as she would in a game. I noticed some things I thought looked good and of course some things to work on. She just played a game a few days before that she threw hard and I guess it must of been straight cause they teed off on it pretty bad, so I mentioned we need to work on spinning the ball to make it move more and adjusting speeds, and keep away from a straight arm on the pitch. So this practice I think she actually was trying all of that, and looks a little off to me.
Things I notice that maybe you can help with.
1. She has always turned her push off foot, and depending on the day it can be a lot or a little. We do work on keeping it straight, but as you can see its still in her to do it.
2. Working on stride mechanics, she still has lot of work to do with understanding the loading portion of her body, she is awkward with running, so this may get better as she grows into her body, but she was trying to at least start it off right, but I dont think she gets into it as much. She just pitched a game this weekend where she looked as though she was really using her legs to drive, and did well, so maybe she is getting it the more she pitches. This video doesnt show that unfortunatly.
3. From what I can tell, the IR portion looks good, but she didnt have a lot of speed on the ball, but again she was really concentrating on spin and using index fingers and such to make it move a certain way.
4. I noticed the back foot coming up a little high, and she has had to deal with that occasionally, but usually I can let her know and she keeps it down, so that for sure is something we need to address constantly.
5. her drag foot when she does do that, I think hurts her momentum as it seems like she digs her foot in the dirt rather than glides it.
6. Faster arm circle may help some of this?
Thank you in advance for any constructive critiques
Anyway, I am sure there may be some comments and thats what I am looking for to help her grow. So please if you got a second. I got the full speed and then a slow mo clip
