A little scared to post this...

[Slappers]

But I want to get better and for her to get better so here it goes...we are just over a year removed from spinal surgery and just got back into pitching this past Fall in little doses. Sorry I can't slow it down from coaches eye.

[video]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jzLRewieeeo[/video]

It was a bad pitch and she had been struggling all workout so her reaction is funny...to me anyway!

 

[Ken B]

I'm guessing the batters are a little scared to face her! From what I can see in this video, this kid knows how to bring on the heat!. Clean up that overall motion and you've got a serious force to reckon with!

 

[Slappers]

She is a big 13 year old. 5'8" and a little heavier than we would like but she likes working out and can just now get back into weights. She will hit the upper mid 50's (56-57) here and there but lives around 52 (according to radar but as we all know those could be inaccurate).

She is hung up on velocity right now. I can't tell her enough that location is more important than velocity at this point. I just found the Amanda Scarborough "around the world" drill which I really like. I painted a plate with the red, green and yellow markings to work on that but never thought of doing Amanda's drill. She doesn't like to go inside because a girl in 10u attempted to bunt by straddling the plate and nailed her right in the gut. She is an emotional kid. Very smart too (not sure where that came from but I ain't complaining!)

Thanks Cannonball. It is great to see her throw that glove down on a few different levels. Having her surgery, though not uncommon, things could have gone differently. She has two titanium rods from C3 down to L3 (just below the neck to just above the waist) so I am just thankful she can still do what she wants to do. Also, she needs to have an edge when she pitches and I personally think softball pitchers need to have that edge.

Ken....cleaning up that overall motion can mean a lot of different things from start over to minor tweeks. Any suggestions? I will say that brush interference is not easy for her for two reasons. One is her size/weight and the other is that her spine and hips have to move together.

 

[Ken B]

She's doing a lot well. If her control is good, I'd bet she does well at her position.

I'm not sure her size or the spine limitations will keep her from taking advantage of brush. Hopefully Coach Pauly will pop in on this one.

I like the way she uses her glove. It looks like she has good whip. A little high quality video would help confirm this. Also, a video from either the front or back would be helpful. I'd like to see her get a little better front side resistance. See the placard on the wall behind her? I'd like for her to shoot for keeping her posture somewhere between photos 2 and 3, so her head would stop moving (or move less) through release.



I'd also like to see her work on adding a drive.


Good stuff!

 

[Slappers]

I have video from behind her from the same day. I am only guessing on the brush interference. From what I have deduced from reading this mountain of information and watching slow mo video, I gather the hips should be a little more closed to create resistance on the upper body so when the shoulders come through you get the brush interference? If that is the case, she can't do that. Everything has to come at the same time because everything is connected.

She definitely needs more drive and we have been working on that. This video was from over the winter. That picture sequence is great for showing the need for more FSR. Thankfully Coach Pauly has sent me some stuff to work on for that.

I'll post that video when I get home from work.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Ken B]

I'd ask her to play with brush: Walk around the house, swinging her arm back and forth; finding the spot where her forearm wraps/rolls/brushes the hip. She'll feel what is does to her hand. Do this every chance she gets. Then play some very easy/close catch trying to get the same feel. It might be good to start this in a net. Gradually move back and increase the armspeed. Add a circle and continue to increase intensity until she can feel it in walkthroughs, and finally, full motion. It helps to use javasource's cue of keeping the follow through low and minimal.

Coach Pauly is a really-great-guy. I sing his praises regularly!

 

[Slappers]

Her arm motion is almost exactly like this....

http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/5208-model-pitchers-11.html

Tried to load the gif but kept coming in as a jpeg but it is the gif of Ueno from "stv's" post about halfway down.

Maybe a little more pronounced. So I guess she never throws a "fastball", they are all curve balls.

 

[Jojo]

Aww the glove throw down, gotta love it.

When my DD was in college she'd had the stomach flu and been sick for a couple of weeks. During a game her coach wanted to know if she could go in. You really couldn't keep my DD from going in so of course she said. "Yes, I've eaten a cracker today, I'm good!"

A few innings in she looked like death warmed over on the mound. Coach called, TIME!
I was sitting out on the outfield berm and said, uh OH!

Hell hath no fury like my DD being pulled from a game. So I said, "Wait for it.....wait for it... and as she drug herself to the dugout, the glove was coming off and SLAM! Yup, you could've heard that throw down into the next county!

I blame it on too much major league as a kid.

 

[Jojo]

And Slappers if it's possible while she's working out her mechanics try to explain that the target is the size of a backstop and as long as she's keeping it in the room she's doing okay if she working on mechanics. Try to ease the frustrations of worrying about where the ball goes so she can focus on mechanics.

 

[Slappers]

Here is the back view. You can really see her arm circle in this one.

[video=youtube_share;XZnY4OPzmBc]http://youtu.be/XZnY4OPzmBc[/video]