Another 10 yo video

[ddose]

Hi,
We've been reading the site a while and my daughter has been pitching 9 months or so with a few lessons last summer and fall. She is just trying out a new backswing which seems to help getting her glove arm involved (but it is swimming). She tends to rotate her foot on take off, should be more straight ahead?

One thing she tends to do is finish over her right shoulder (she was taught that at the beginning). In the last pitch she was trying to see where she was finishing (not admiring her bicep).

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. We are really working on the k drills (up together, down together) right now. Would throwing into her glove help her, or are there other issues causing her to swim? Thanks

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nMwPf8o27tg?hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nMwPf8o27tg?hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

 

[dbias]

The finish over the shoulder is what's killing her right now. Move the finish to the other side of her head.....have her touch her left ear for starters. Emphasis keeping left hand on target longer to avoid the swim motion. I put a little neon sticker in palm of my dd glove and let her know when I didn't see it. Also works for mirror drill where she should see it when going through motion. Good things..... I like she hides ball and this helps to prevent a lockout of elbow and she has a good firm front leg. Work on drag foot coming in line behind front foot... And working on floor with no rubber is showing a little crow hop. Pretty explosive for her size... Keep working!

 

[tomzpc]

Not an expert by any means, just a bucket dad, but first thing I would do is to get her to eliminate the lean to the glove side when loading because the lean looks to be carrying forward through delivery. Seems to be a common issue with girls first trying to switch to the hands together backswing (ala Hillhouse). She should be able to do her backswing while keeping her shoulders closer to square. Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm off base here. =) Like the aggression off of the mound. That is something my 10yo is lacking.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

She is good for her age and better than most.

The next thing that I would have her do, is lower the right shoulder, as she comes around to release. Her shoulders are square at this time. Relax the shoulders, drop the right one. Then, relax that shoulder at release and let the hand follow through.

Don't try to change too much. Just enforce good mechanics with her.

 

[Jojo]

After your DD releases the ball, her follow through goes behind her back. Her glove is down along her hip, leaving her chest and face fully exposed to a hard hit batted ball.

I think the first thing you should work on is getting her follow through more relaxed and out in front of her then she can work on replacing the follow through with the glove hand for protection.
It just makes me cringe when I see a young pitcher in that position after a pitch.

 

[ddose]

I didn't realize her follow through was so high and behind until watching the video (should have taken videos much earlier). I remember her PC telling her to try to reach out like you are going to pick the catcher's nose on the follow through. She doesn't really "get" the relax and lower the shoulder part, maybe just have her visualize long and loose toward the catcher might help. I'm worried it might make her start to lunge, maybe have her work on that from one knee to start?

Thanks for all the help.

 

[fastpitch91]

I would be interested in others opinion on this but.....

She is taking a "crow hop step" to start the pitch. Not a good habit to learn. Also it seem to me that she is closing her hips before her hand passes her thigh ( last still) . With her shoulders in this position almost impossible to follow thorugh anywhere but to the right shoulder and send the pitch anywhere near the plate.

So if she was more open at release with her left shoulder aligned in the direction of the plate(rather than both shoulders square ot the plate) she could follw through across the body to her left shoulder and still throw to the plate.

But maybe somebody else sees it different.............

 

[ddose]

On the little step, I think I need to force-feed her lots of stork drills, she feels she needs to point her toe toward third to get open. When she has a rubber to push from it is a bit better.

She tends to close early when throwing over-hand as well, throws the glove hand towards first and closes prematurely. I'm always on her about that, she still manages to somehow throw hard and accurate despite that flaw.

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

On the little step, I think I need to force-feed her lots of stork drills, she feels she needs to point her toe toward third to get open. When she has a rubber to push from it is a bit better.

She tends to close early when throwing over-hand as well, throws the glove hand towards first and closes prematurely. I'm always on her about that, she still manages to somehow throw hard and accurate despite that flaw.

If she is going to take pitching seriously, than I would suggest a few things about practice. If you have to pitch in the garage because of the weather, than get her a pitching plate, 1 x 4, or something similar so she can drive hard off the "plate". Second, never have her pitch in tennis shoes and on cement. If you need to put down a rug, piece of carpeting that is better than nothing. To the best of your ability, try to replicate the conditions she will face outdoors. Whenever the weather gets better, pitch outdoors exclusively. This way she does not change her mechanics from indoors to outdoors. Also, make sure you measure out the pitching distance to the same distance she will be pitching from in the game.

Good luck, she is started in the right direction.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

That is very good advice about putting down a pitcher's plate. She may not be moving the front foot enough for it to be losing contact. But it is hard to say. She may just be sliding it, to get to her power line.