Could anatomy hinder I/R???

[Ken2]

DD says it strains her shoulder area to get the ball palm up at 3, with her pitching posture. She says she just can’t do it. When she’s not trying to get the palm up, It seems to naturally be pointed to third base at 3. We are in experimental stages, so mechanics are all over the place in the videos below. We are not doing sustained pitching. We only experimented once or twice with what it feels like to have the palm up at 3. Is it possible that I/R won’t work for certain kids? It takes her body a loooong time to muscle memory anything. She’s just not a natural born athlete, which is fine. But, I don’t want to beat a dead horse if one thing or another just won’t work. We know pitching is a marathon. She’s game.

I totally know the mechanics are not pretty. She can only think about one thing at a time, so palm up was the focus, which made everything else suffer. I/R is just not natural to her at this point.

Trying to get palm up

Head on view of attempting palm up

 

[DNeeld]

Do this about a thousand times. She'll get comfortable with it.

 

[Lozza]

For a kid who’s ‘not athletic’ she looks pretty good to me!

So I’ll go blunt cause that’s who I am. Are you asking if her chest area will get in the way of her doing IR?

 

[Gags]

It looks like her shoulders are uneven.

In the sideways view, she tucks her chin in and hunches her shoulder up - I think this may be tensing up her shoulder during the armcircle, which in turns is restricting her ability to get to palm up.

See the Balswick videos (4 part series, I think) - he emphasizes in one of them, along with Java’s videos, the need to maintain the “box” of the shoulders and hips. When the throwing shoulder comes up, you lose the box.


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[Laphoneman]

Since you’re in the transition stage get her to relax a little she needs some bend in her elbow. IR pitching is not supposed to be musceled or forced or pushed. Shoulder has to drop elbow bend and whip. Its as much of a mental transition as it is a physical transition.

 

[efastball]

Pitching and hitting is technique. Purely technique. You can be skinny, fat, muscular, big, short, smart, or dumb..

So, if there's a strain on her shoulder while pitching, either she has hurt her shoulder, or she is using the wrong technique, or both.

 

[efastball]

Does it matter if her hand is bent here?

 

[Ken B]

I’m seeing what appears to be a very long and straight arm circle. I would worry about shoulder pain if she continued like this. The arm circle should be loose and relaxed. The result of this is that the lower arm is allowed to lag. When it’s loose and lagged, another result is palm up.

To work on this, The key is to maximize good reps and try to eliminate bad reps. You will almost always need to decrease effort, distance and the distraction of control.

Start close with quarter or half whips. Unlock the lower half and allow it the add to your posture. If you leave your feet planted and stand sideways, it’s impossible to get your hip and thigh stacked directly under the throwing shoulder.

Keep both arms flowing—up together, down together. Allow the lower arm to swing up naturally into a lagged/palm up position. In some cases, this might be slightly forced at first, but the goal is to feel loose snap/whip.

The person in front of you needs to be a “fetcher” and not a “catcher!” Have extra balls on hand.

Increase distance and effort gradually. One large step back at a time. (I’ll try to shoot a video of this later today.) If you have more than two bad reps in a row, you don’t always need to step closer. Do several reps without a ball then go back to the ball. Close your eyes and get feedback from someone. Always use video to double check.

Allow whip to happen, don’t make it happen.

 

[Ken B]

I like the arm to be slightly hidden at 9 o'clock. The torso has begun to close to about 45 leaving the arm behind with a bit of a stretch.

 

[corlay]

its not unreasonable to keep the ball outside of the shoulder joint for the entire arm circle, right into release. and may help with her perceived “anatomical limitations”

search “Ellen Renfroe” ex-Tennesee pitcher for an extreme example of this.