My dd has a bad habit of leaning forward a little while pitching. What tips or drills does anyone have to help get rid of this? She is 12, moving up to 14u next year and has been injured alot the last couple years but hopefully has turned the corner from that.
Honestly, there aren't any drills because leaning forward is typically caused by some other lack of correct form. Once the form is fixed, the leaning over issue resolves. When my daughter first started pitching that was what I told the instructor (she leans over too much). He started working on her feet placement and form never once addressing leaning over. Within a few lessons she was throwing upright and that's when I knew we found the right pitching coach.
It will help to stand her up. Kick it out and then suck it back underneath Hard(landing out front), trying to bring it back underneath all the way through the pitch. Most push the foot away. Heel hitting first is better than toes hitting first.
Interesting that Manley lands on a bent front leg (like all hitters and baseball pitchers). I know this will pick up abt 2-3 mph in a baseball pitcher.
The idea is to land bent and straighten fully at release/contact.
Without seeing her pitch it's difficult to know what the issue is. Many HE pitchers will lean forward into release as a way to compensate for throwing high pitches. Using an HE motion and trying to snap the wrist into release is the issue. If she has a good solid IR motion then one way to address a posture issue is work backwards. Many times a pitcher will lean too far forward at launch and never recover to a stacked position at landing. Having a pitcher stay upright and not lean forward at launch will promote landing with better posture. Once they get familiar with better landing posture then you can go back and add some lean at launch, a little at a time until you get to where you want to be.
Interesting that Manley lands on a bent front leg (like all hitters and baseball pitchers). I know this will pick up abt 2-3 mph in a baseball pitcher.
The idea is to land bent and straighten fully at release/contact.
Indeed. I think the important thing to note is how/why the leg straightens. He's not pushing his foot away, instead he's snapping his foot back under his body.
Pushing the foot away can straighten the knee. It's knee extension but it actually contributes to bending at the hip.
Snapping the foot down is all hammies and glutes and hip extension. When his foot hits the ground his leg stops moving but his hammies help keep his pelvis/torso extending. Helps him stand/keep him up. Same with Abbot.
One of the tendons of the hamstring attached below the knee. So the hammies can actually extend the knee if the foot is on the ground.
My daughter was doing this as well, her pitching coach told her that her arm and leg speed were not matching so she was trying to force it through faster at the end causing a lean and too much shoulder. She worked with her on speeding up her circle all the way through and matching her drive timing.
Saw a dad on social media he pushed his daughter in the back just before they land. They will naturally try to resist the push. Did this for my daughter it helped. Do not know if I can recommend or if it could cause other problems.
There's good advice in here. I would also recommend checking to see if she has proper front side resistance. A slo-mo video would help. If you aren't aware, most modern smartphones will do it.