9 yr old pitcher - advice

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Aug 1, 2014
73
6
Man, am I glad that I found this site. I have been working with my little girl (looks like ppl would call her my DD) for about 6 months on pitching. Lots of bucket time. I have tried to teach her the basics and I think she has advanced to the point where She needs more help than I currently know to give her. This site has a ton of useful information.
A little about what we have done. I use Ubersense to slow down her pitching motion on video so I can study her mechanics. She plays on a travel team and recreation. She threw 48% strikes during her rec season. I used a 1/8 second slow motion setting to calculate her speed which I got to be 38 mph. I have started calling locations with her, up down in and out. She plays SS for the travel team but she will have to be one of the pitchers next year.
I was reading about IR. It looks like she does this naturally but I don't know of she does it enough. A video is linked below. Thanks in advance for any advice.
Lee

Lily James - Pitching - YouTube
 
Jun 19, 2013
753
28
Welcome to the site! You have definitely found the right place. I won't try to give advice because I have slow eyes and there are people MUCH more qualified than me. But I just wanted to say welcome and it looks like she is off to a great start at 9 :)
 
May 7, 2008
8,506
48
Tucson
I find that she is right where most other her age are. She ends up with her "nose over her toes," which is correctable. She wants to have her weight pull back, instead of falling forward. Also, see how her glove arm disappears? I like to have her lead with that glove staying right at her target.

But, she is pretty good and will be great, with the work that she is putting into it.
 
Feb 3, 2010
5,752
113
Pac NW
Capture.JPG

I think she's getting some whip, but like Amy recommends, her posture is another key area to work on.
 
May 29, 2013
226
0
Oh boy! She looks pretty good. Welcome to discuss fastpitch addiction.

My .02$ would be working on the glove arm. Using them both together will give her better balance and that translates to power and consistancy.
 
Mar 31, 2014
51
0
There may be an easier way but creating an account on youtube is the easiest way i have found to upload, slomo and share videos. If someone has a better one, id love to hear it.
 
Aug 1, 2014
73
6
Thank you so much for your help. I understand the "nose over toes" error, i believe. I hope to work on it in the coming weeks. I will investigate the error before changing her mechanics. Oddly enough, I've been working on aligning her chin hips and feet with a backward lean at impact in her batting. Maybe i can address both at the same time. Of course they are not the same, but the concept is similar.

As for the glove hand, i will work on that as well. It seems like she is encouraging rotation or correcting balance with that hand. I plan on finding the cause and addressing that as well. I will probably work on this first. It seems easier.

The good thing is that she loves the game and really wants to pitch. I wont let her do that until she is ready to win. This desire has been the driving force for improvement. She found a bit of success in all stars. One game, she struck out 12 through a complete 5 inning game scattering three hits ... but travel is a whole different game.

Like any great coach, all of your comments were informative and inspiring. Its time to get to work armed with enough info to get in trouble. ;)
Back on the bucket i go. More vids to come.

Thank you again.
Lee
 
Feb 3, 2010
5,752
113
Pac NW
You have an above average handle on the motion. The glove hand does what it does to balance out the rest of the body. Find out how to improve the entire motion and the glove hand will automatically perform differently. Check out the Drive Mechanics thread for some ideas on this. For whip, check out the I/R in the Classroom Thread for a good progression on learning to whip.
 

javasource

6-4-3 = 2
May 6, 2013
1,347
48
Western NY
Just based on the stills Ken posted, it's very evident that she is trying to avoid avoid contact through release.

You mentioned working on hitting, here's a couple of hitting thoughts...

If a batter bends over too much at the waist.. they limit their ability to bring the bat up to speed early in the swing... and they also eliminate a large degree of rotation from occurring in the swing. And if you really watch many great batters... their rear foot never pins to the ground, it will often lift and always get drawn in. Point being... a good swing utilizes the entire body... and draws its energy from movements close to the power source (the body). Each part of the body should be an adder, not left behind.

So... in pitching, there are many parallels.
  1. We want to stay behind the pitch... just like batting. If we get too far forward... we move our release point forward, and miss the whip, per se.
  2. We don't want to bend forward at the waist (towards 3rd)... as this distances our arms from the power source (the core)... and makes consistently controlling the whip more difficult. As you can see... your dd's upper arm is blasting by her side... as it's so far away from it.
  3. Her rear leg doesn't move at all in those pics, and her foot is pointing towards second... exactly opposite the direction the pitch is headed... try swinging a bat with your legs like hers... you'll see what I mean.

Lastly, combining bend at the waist and rotation at the waist... is a recipe for injury as she progresses through the years, as the lower 5 (L5) vertebrae aren't designed for this... vertebrae higher up can handle that.

So... point being... I'd make posture a "must do" for your daughter. She needs to become comfortable with the concept and feel of keeping the circle close to her body, where control and power originate. Pitch like you walk... upright... with feet moving in the direction of your intended location.

If it helps her understand... get her in the bent over position she gets in when she comes into release.... and tell her to just let her arms fall. Note how far the arms are away from the body. From this position... straighten her up and have her watch how her arm drifts inward towards her body and rests at/against her side. This is the position we should pitch from... as it's natural and very powerful. Yes, our arms really should be that close to the body. We DFPers often allude to it as brush...

I would also suspect that Lily is pushing 'late' in her stride. A back foot that gets turned out like hers (towards 2nd base) is almost always a result of a late push from the rubber. It may look powerful... and if it is, it's most likely too late. Of great importance, don't let her push from a flat foot, either... never let her push foot heel touch the ground. Get the knee out quickly... with less emphasis on jumping a great distance... and more emphasis on getting out and down quickly. If she jumps too far (think split)... getting to a tall position (drawing the rear leg in) gets really difficult, if not impossible... and releasing the ball from the back leg (where she should), is impossible to do when her rear leg is pinned to the ground.

I really agree with Ken on the glove arm... it will.do what it must as a counter-balance... correcting her posture will indirectly fix that issue.

Get her in a static position... nice and tall, legs spread a little more than shoulder width... both feet turned in at 45 degree angles. Maybe put her back/butt against a wall and just let her toss that ball (from 9 or 11) until she gets comfortable staying upright, maintaining a light degree of contact with the wall (butt AND shoulder). If her arm lightly brushes her side... perfect. The idea is to have her do this relaxed upright throwing motion with perfect posture at a low speed. Let her rear leg come forward a little, too. Then... have her add a little speed to it (a LITTLE)... while maintaing the correct posture and feel. If her form goes back to bent over, take her down some speed. Build slowly...to a point where she's firing that ball, but don't sacrifice posture. Lastly, don't let the throwing arm shoulder see the target too much, too early. We don't want to throw around her body, more across it... if you know what I mean (stay open more, close less) when doing this drill. As always... keep her palm-up.

I know that's a lot of instruction... for one drill. The idea is to work/focus on one instruction at a time (make a list and verify each with video, if you can't see it in real-time). Make one item a focus in that drill, regardless of the rest... then another, then another. This concept is one I use called, shaping and chaining. Perfect one motion at a time, add another... and before you know it, she'll have chained the whole motion together. As an add-on, you can also start at the end of the toss (where she should finish the motion)... and slowly perform the motion backwards (reverse chaining), perfectly... until she reaches the starting spot. From here have her toss the ball. If you need illistrations, refer to BM's I/R drills (liberty)... and use his posture as a reference for your DD... just add a wall.

You've a very athletic DD, loosen her up a little and get her finishing in a vertical posture. Best, ~JS
 
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