DD Getting Frustrated with Speed

[dmaeganx2]

She has hit 49 about 10 times and 48 about 30-40 times but hovers mostly at 46. But I am starting to figure it out with all the nice people on here point the issues out to me that my eyes are not trained enough to see on my own. So I will be working on her posture, Drive and reworking some muscle memory issues in her 11-6 range of the pitch. She has phenominal arm speed the video on here is acutally slowed down a little but it will not matter if I do not get these few little items taken care of

 

[riseball]

She has hit 49 about 10 times and 48 about 30-40 times but hovers mostly at 46. But I am starting to figure it out with all the nice people on here point the issues out to me that my eyes are not trained enough to see on my own. So I will be working on her posture, Drive and reworking some muscle memory issues in her 11-6 range of the pitch. She has phenominal arm speed the video on here is acutally slowed down a little but it will not matter if I do not get these few little items taken care of

It is not about arm speed. It is all about the digits. Focus on the fingers.

 

[sutherlandfinch]

dmaeganx2,
I keep reading and rereading this thread.

I like java's suggestions for you. Good stuff.

I have several students that have come to me specifically because of this problem.
Mechanically fairly sound, good workers, and not much juice.
If you don't mind, I have a couple of questions for you.

When You've been training for speed, have you distinguished the difference between mechanical muscle memory reinforcement and the ballistic activity of pitching for speed gains?
In other words,Having your daughter jog around the block for an hour may teach good running form but will never make her a great sprinter. You must distinguish the difference to continually move up the mph. This is specifically true with smaller stature pitchers.
I'm curious how you spend your time.

2. Why does she not "drill well"?

This position requires the absolute love of Mundane mind numbing drills. What you're experiencing now is a process. The first time my daughter hit 55 the only thing she wanted to do was hit 56 and then 58 and so on and so on. This never stops. Drills are unavoidable and invaluable.

Last, throwing in my 2 cents on your daughters pitching.Winter is a perfect time to break down and reinvent. My suggestion to you is to reexamine the premotion and leg drive ( or lack there of). Happy to follow up but you're in good hands as it is.

Best of luck
Sutherlandfinch

Look for my book Dirty,Spiteful and Mean Softball Pitching Wizzardy available soon on amazon.com R.I.P HL

 

[dmaeganx2]

well she does not drill well because she over thinks and well some times becomes mechanical any drill she does do needs to be a larger part of the motion some of the and well quite frankly I am figuring that out right now she has some bad arm action in her muscle memory that I think she picked up while trying to gain speed. So for the off season She will be retaining Some muscle memory and then reworking some stride,drive andposture issues.

thanks

 

[dmaeganx2]

an easy way to explain is that my daughter is "Very athletic" but in the same sense thinks athleticism is something you have to understand how to be athletic but in her own mind struggles with confidence slightly and does not understand her self just how athletic she really is so when I will give you an example she could actually pitch before being able to do the "k drill" with fluidity she could pitch 45 mph but in the k could not get the ball to me at 35 feet she is getting a lot better at it though she is starting to think a lot less about how to do it versus just do it.

 

[SoGASoftball]

SoGASoftball My concerns are not her driving the eblow into her side my concerns are her rotating her upper arm before 9 o'clock which puts her in the position to push the ball from behind it and she loses the lag in her elbow to hand at brush her hand is in front of her elbow which diminishes the whip greatly and makes the spin very inconsistent.

Thanks

Gotcha. I knew you didn't complain about it yet, but I saw a lot of bend and knew your focus of pulling down with the elbow and was just giving you a possible result. It's how these two cues ended up with my DD driving her elbow into her hip. We changed the cue to "leading with the pinky and simply allowing the arm to fall naturally down the back side."

Also, have you charted her speeds with simply doing the k-drill? If she could whip right just one time, she would see the difference in the numbers. Sounds like she's basically throwing a change up. Best of luck.

 

[javasource]

well she does not drill well because she over thinks and well some times becomes mechanical any drill she does do needs to be a larger part of the motion some of the and well quite frankly I am figuring that out right now she has some bad arm action in her muscle memory that I think she picked up while trying to gain speed. So for the off season She will be retaining Some muscle memory and then reworking some stride,drive andposture issues.

thanks

Sutherland... nice post.

Dmaegan... the drills BM posted are a progression... or as you said all part of the larger motion. They give you that opportunity to identify in a full pitch the point where your dd is coming unglued... so that you can start at that point and correct her mechanics. This is why setting up in proper position is so vital when doing these drills. One other thing that really helps is that they all incorporate backchaining... and doing so properly. Heck, there's even the magician drill that is entirely backchaining. Backchaining the motion properly and smoothly... without a huge pause at the highest point, gives your DD a two for one repetition.

Regarding speed... perhaps this is the wrong focus for her at the time. When you're correcting mechanics, it's the quality of the motion... and positive reps that lead to the correction... perhaps your daughter is muscling through. Speed in fastpitch has zero correlation as to the rate of the arm circle... but the quality of movement... as proven by the study of olympic pitchers years ago (those that had the fastest circles, had slower pitches).

Learning mechanics that create speed, properly and as slow as needed... is not the same thing as trying to simply get faster. Then, as sutherland suggests, you can take those proper mechanics and learn to ballistically perform them. The last video in the living room you posted (looks like show it, not 9) was really promising. I'd recommend fixing that back foot so it's a little less than 90... transferring weight rearward during the backchain, then transferring it forward during the pitch, and utilizing that glovearm a little... as it's just sitting there. All of those finer points are in his original threads. Also, don't skip over the earlier progressions either... lock-it-in, 9, and liberty all have great value. Once she gets these down perfectly... it's time to start adding some juice to the effort at which she performs them. You can always post video, too... if you feel like you need another set of eyes.

Your daughter had great drill form in that last video... I think this motion is much more natural for her than many... so make sure she continually progresses.

 

[dmaeganx2]

Java I am not so much worried about the speed as much as I am wanting her with a ball in her hand to use the correct mechanics.
She is a natural with the movement BUT once she goes to pitch it she abandons what she is a natural at and seems to rush her delivery. I am starting to figure out why though So right now I am taking a ball out of her hand and using the reverse chain drill you suggested from BM's Post I am pretty sure when she goes to pitch the ball it is in her muscle memory. I am aware it takes 2000 reps doing things the right way to break muscle memory, So for right now she has no ball in her hand or really lets say she is not actually pitching. she is reverse chaining with the ball "Its a good exercise for her shoulder with the ball in her hand also" . Java I will be posting lots of videos hope you do not mind seeing them all. The key word I like to use is to just let her arm fall down the back side but in her mind I thinks she is interpreting as throw the ball down the backside and Yes I also believe she is muscling through because she holds the bend in her arm when she pitches. The only way to do that is with the use of to many muscles.

Thank you guys so very much.

by the way she can swing her arm through the reverse chain drill from 12 to release and back up correctly with very good fluidity So she will get it very quickly after doing it the first five times she got a pretty quick rhythm with it actually flowing is a good word

 

[dmaeganx2]

SoutherlandFinch I use a pocket radar the coaches version and I am very curious what you mean "Ballistic Activity" I am not a pitching coach I am trying to teach her just because I well honestly can not afford it with my current and always situation and there is only 1 IR coach in the area and he has over 150 kids HUGE waiting list. We have got to this point with a lot of trial and error and we are both athletic I can naturally pitch with IR mechanics. I can not control it greatly and could not do it in a game but for some reason my body all the way to correct posture and arm motion was good. I just do not know why or how I do it so its very hard for me to explain it to her.

 

[dmaeganx2]

By the way java The point her arm action goes bad is at 11 o'clock when her upper arm is at 9 she doesn't do it it begins at about 11.