Correct stride length?

[Hillhouse]

I have heard it on the forum. He said basically the pitcher was slowing her arm down in order sync up with her extra long stride. If I remember correctly he said the pitcher gained 3 or 4 mph in one lesson by doing so. ??????

Interesting. Obviously having not seen this pitcher or know anything about her, my immediate reaction was to say: why not speed up the arm instead of slowing it down? Usually when timing is off its because the arm is slow. Not always. Just usually.

 

[4Martini]

That's impressive if she is making it to 8 ft. at 13. I don't care how tall she is. You'll see very few college pitchers make it that far.
It is possible that it's affecting her mechanics but we'd need a video to see. Sometimes pitchers cannot get their weight to their front foot when striding that far.

So this was my concern and after reading here and watching some videos and reviewing her video- It seems like she (in her first tournament with a new team) wanted it so bad she went for it- but lost her mechanics doing it. It was an impressive flying star- but from what I’m seeing she opened too soon- got both feet sideways to the catcher and ended up leaning forward. In her lesson this week she was slower than she had been - so we just need to back up a little to some basics. I found some good videos on Fastpitch power on Reach then Drive and Drive foot collapse- so she can see the differences. Her coach had some drills for her to work on. Any other good resources for a 13yo who is new to pitching but very athletic and wants it bad?

She would not approve my posting a video publicly- but I know it’s hard to respond without that. I appreciate everyone’s help.

 

[PJR202]

reducing the stride will help with velocity? I'd be curious to hear why the coach thinks that way.

I don't think I've ever heard that striding too far causes a pitcher to lean.

My guess is she's getting out too slowly, losing thrust early in the process and dropping instead of landing with forward momentum/arc. Then a collapse and lack of FSR. Maybe that's the thought process behind shortening the stride? Or maybe I'm out in LF.

I've been following a facebook page for pitching advice--which seems to be heavy with people who earn money teaching lessons--and I'm seeing that 90% of the time, efficient drive and FSR is lacking.

And I'm also seeing that it's hardly being addressed by whomever is in charge of these kids' instruction. Some of the videos are even being posted by the person being paid to teach, and they're almost always asking the wrong question. We don't know until we know, but I can't help but think how much these parents are spending on lessons with a coach that has no real understanding of the basics.

I see so many issues that are only being addressed at the surface level.

"Why does she fall forward?"

"Tell her to stand tall. Put a paper plate on her head."


"How do I fix her anchor drag??"

"Tell her to drag on her toe! Put two cupcakes outside her foot. If she squishes them she has to eat them off the floor! My kids love this drill!"


It seems like people spend far too much time chasing symptoms and doing silly drills. Or maybe I'm just totally wrong and it's ME wasting time.

 

[Northball]

"Tell her to drag on her toe! Put two cupcakes outside her foot. If she squishes them she has to eat them off the floor! My kids love this drill!"

The only thing that would teach me is to wear clean shoes. Yum!

 

[PJR202]

The only thing that would teach me is to wear clean shoes. Yum!

And if you launch with good power the cupcakes really dig in the treads and you can lick on it like a popsicle.

 

[LW23]

We tapped a golf ball to the inside of DD's drag foot years ago when she would boat anchor as we called it. She fixed it real quick. We still laugh about it every time we see a golf ball. Foot box helped as well.