Drills to help this girl

[JJsqueeze]

absolutely a second push. The rear foot goes from moving to still, then the rear knee drives in while the foot is still planted for three frames (a quarter of the arm circle) before moving again. These are the frames with the foot planted and her pushing against it to power the pitch before releasing the rear foot again. As I said before, not being critical, lots of pitchers go far with this type of motion, but we gotta be real and call a skip a skip. That rear knee and foot action looks a lot like three frames at the beginning of a swing.

 

[coach james]

JJ, I see your point and it makes some sense. However I believe what is actually happening here is the body's weight and momentum being shifted into the front leg, and it's at that moment of shift that the back leg moves a bit.

 

[JJsqueeze]

I am having trouble seeing why some don't see the replant. maybe I am missing something. I see a lot of evidence of a replant and nothing to suggest she isn't replanting. What is it that makes some others think there is not a replant? Is it that her feet land simultaneously and the thought is that for a crow hop the rear foot has to land first?

 

[Perfect Circle]

 

[dmaeganx2]

I see a replant per say but the subsequent push to me appears to be caused not by her replant but her forward hip and torso movement that appears to be because she is trying to add power to the pitch by to much forward hand movement and to much forward upper torso movement.

 

[Doug Romrell]

I am having trouble seeing why some don't see the replant. maybe I am missing something. I see a lot of evidence of a replant and nothing to suggest she isn't replanting. What is it that makes some others think there is not a replant? Is it that her feet land simultaneously and the thought is that for a crow hop the rear foot has to land first?

JJ, I guess it depends on how one defines "replant." Like you, I want to call that hiccup in that leg a "replant." However, if a "replant" is seen as a skip where there is a second push, I'm not sure she's doing that second push as much as she's using it as sort of a stabilization. Regardless, are we not all in agreement that it would be best to get rid of it?

 

[JJsqueeze]

Doug-getting rid of it is intimately tied to whether or not it is a repush. here is my thinking, the kid is 15. If she is skipping then getting rid of it also gets rid of her power. It is an entirely different set of mechanics. If it is not a repush being used to power the pitch then getting rid of it is probably far easier.

At 15 I am assuming she has been pitching like this for years, that is a lot of muscle memory to overcome. So depending on her goals I think a pragmatic decision needs to be made about how to approach helping her. If she just wants to pitch in HS. Then I say roll with it. Use Carda as a model and try to maximize her current motion. If she wants to play on college and is willing to take possibly a year of retraining her entire motion themaybe go back to square one and retrain using the DFP method. Java drive+IR+brush.

So on one path you get rid of it, the other you try to maximize the efficiency of the push and disguise it as best you can.

I know this is not popular advice, but I am not one to toe the party line when it doesn't make sense. And if the kid only has 2 years left on her career why spend 1 of them going through a rebuild?

 

[Perfect Circle]

Back to feet first....

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iVn8bgCPGzU?rel=0&showinfo=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This is how we do it...

 

[JJsqueeze]

I'd love to hear Rick's advice on this. He has been in a time limited situation with pitchers that have similar issues. He could probably speak to how best to help her.

 

[Doug Romrell]

Boy, Pauly sure makes pitching look easy (that second clip of him). He clearly generates great velocity making it look near effortless.

Okay, would we all generally agree that the following posture would be a great improvement, even if she uses her replant?