12 year old DD critique

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Jun 29, 2014
53
8
Wow, great looking mechanics. One thing is see is she appears to be a little tight in the arm from 9:00 through release. Be loose. Looser the arm the more whip there is, the more whip there is the higher the MPH. Perhaps a little more bend in the arm from 12 to 6 may help with that. Some are saying her posture and front side wall are not as good as they could be. In my opinion, I think that is one of the best aspects of her mechanics. I think she looks great, just remind her to be as loose as a goose.

Thanks Boomers! I was actually wondering about that.
 
Nov 8, 2018
774
63
The past year and a half has been one giant growth spurt. She was 5'4" a year and half ago and is now standing 5'9".

Growing that much that fast changes her physiology big time. My dd has been fighting g this for over a year as well. With every growth spurt comes weakness and loss of proprioception. Not knowing where her body is in space and time. Because the body is bigger she thinks her body is in one position but it’s now in another due to the bones being longer and bigger. It all works itself out but takes time.


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SB45

Dad, Coach, Chauffeur
Sep 2, 2016
150
28
Western NY
The past year and a half has been one giant growth spurt. She was 5'4" a year and half ago and is now standing 5'9".

My only question after seeing the video is...does she work on driving both arms in towards her side prior to release? Her glove arm looks comfortable. Maybe driving both arms in towards her core together would create a little more energy?
 
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
Was the drop in speed measured with the same "gun", in the same facility and such? I'm mostly being silly, but I'd be questioning that first.

She looks great. From my relatively novice eye, I notice:

1. Feet don't seem to both start on rubber -- EDIT - looks like they start fine, but then her front/plant foot steps forward. Is that allowed?
2. No pausing - we get called on that in our leagues
3. More arm whip would be nice
 
Last edited:
Jun 29, 2014
53
8
Growing that much that fast changes her physiology big time. My dd has been fighting g this for over a year as well. With every growth spurt comes weakness and loss of proprioception. Not knowing where her body is in space and time. Because the body is bigger she thinks her body is in one position but it’s now in another due to the bones being longer and bigger. It all works itself out but takes time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was actually wondering if the sudden increase in growth had something to do with it. What you said makes total sense.


My only question after seeing the video is...does she work on driving both arms in towards her side prior to release? Her glove arm looks comfortable. Maybe driving both arms in towards her core together would create a little more energy?

Great observation! I think we'll give that a go next time out.

Was the drop in speed measured with the same "gun", in the same facility and such? I'm mostly being silly, but I'd be questioning that first.

She looks great. From my relatively novice eye, I notice:

1. Feet don't seem to both start on rubber -- EDIT - looks like they start fine, but then her front/plant foot steps forward. Is that allowed?
2. No pausing - we get called on that in our leagues
3. More arm whip would be nice

LOL. Same pocket radar. The false step only seems to rear it's ugly head when there's no rubber to push off. Plus we've been working on some of Java's 2 step drive stuff so that might have something to do with it. I'll have to look at the no pausing thing. The only illegal pitch stuff she's ever been called on was stepping outside of the pitching lane. Not sure how the guy made that call with no lines being drawn from the rubber but he did. After the 4th time I told her to draw her own line and he stopped calling it. Probably the weirdest call we've ever seen in her 6 years of playing softball. I'll have to get her to work on the whip. Now I have to figure out how to coach that. If anyone has any good feel cues for generating more whip/arm bend please let me know.

Once again what a great community! I can't thank everyone enough for the insight. It's truly appreciated.
 
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
And thank you for giving my 9 year old daughter something to shoot for. T minus 365 x 3 days... :)
 
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
I'm a pretty smart guy, played baseball, sat through many lessons for my girls with professional coaches.

But for the life of me I can't make heads or tails of that IR sticky thread.
 
Jun 29, 2014
53
8
I'm a pretty smart guy, played baseball, sat through many lessons for my girls with professional coaches.

But for the life of me I can't make heads or tails of that IR sticky thread.

Palm up at 9 with brush assisted adduction are the key points IMHO. Basically it's saying if I put both hands out to my side with my palms facing the sky and let them drop my arm will adduct so that my thumbs face the middle of my body. So essentially they rotate internally. Another thing i associate with IR is being a puller vs a pusher. The hello elbow method is a pushing with the bicep and shoulder while the IR is a pulling with the back and core. Way bigger muscles in play with the pull. The big thing for me was the hanson principal that everyone refers to on here. What commonalities do all the elite pitchers have on film. Some one mentioned the < and > acting as a frame by frame scrolling mechanism on youtube once u pause the video. I swear I spent hours looking at the elites frame by frame to see what they all had in common. Keep in mind I'm by no means an expert on this stuff. Just a bucket dad trying to help his kid.
 
Apr 12, 2015
792
93
Growing that much that fast changes her physiology big time. My dd has been fighting g this for over a year as well. With every growth spurt comes weakness and loss of proprioception. Not knowing where her body is in space and time. Because the body is bigger she thinks her body is in one position but it’s now in another due to the bones being longer and bigger. It all works itself out but takes time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Exactly why I asked. A brief breakdown in mechanics, power, velocity, etc can be expected during and following a rapid growth spurt. It takes sometime for the brain to fully catch up with the body.

You've obviously done a great job with her. I'd just stick to your program and not worry about the short term loss of speed. If she hasn't recovered and progressed in the next few months I'd start to look for causes. But for now just let her figure her new body out and keep her encouraged.

My opinion of course.

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