Fix DD Now or Wait Until Season's End?

[tomzpc]

Here's the situation. My 9 YO DD first started pitching last year in our local Fallball 10U team. She has attended some local clinics but we have not been able to find a pitching coach in the area that is worth the hefty fees that they are getting, and we've tried a few. Flash forward to now and she has become one of the top 3 or 4 pitchers in our local 10U LL, which has only 3 teams. Our local pitching "guru" who won't do private lessons (he admirably will only do group clinics/lessons for the LL a several times a year and won't take money for indiv. lessons) pointed out to me that she is landing heel first and at not enough of an angle. After watching her he is right. She is striding out and landing on her heal first and also her foot is landing at only maybe 25-30% to the power line as opposed to 45% or more, which in turn means that she is more open to the catcher than she should be on release. Her velocity and location however are right up there with the best in our league.

Now, we have local playoffs starting in less than two weeks and all-stars (she'll be the #1 or #2 pitcher on the team since 2 girls are older and moving up) starting right after that. She is currently throwing harder and with more control than at any time and loving pitching. I've been harping on her landing in our practices but when I stop reminding her she goes right back to where she was and has MUCH better control pitching with her "bad habit" that I obviously let go too far by not seeing it. Now, keep in mind that my goal isn't too develop a D1 pitcher but for my DD to have fun and enjoy herself. On top of that, I've been asked to coach the AS team so will be working with the whole team and won't have as much time to focus on just my girl.

So, after this VERY lengthy discourse which I apologize for ahead of time, do you good folks think that I should absolutely make sure she fixes her landing now, or do I let it go and wait until after our local playoffs and then all-stars (we could very well be out in 2 games) is over? After that we have no softball until fallball starts up in late August. Thanks for reading!!!!

Tom

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Change her now. To wait, is only going to instill the bad habit.

She can change this easily enough, by walking around the house at night, "pitching" and landing toe first, with the hips open.

What you are describing, is indicative of other mechanical problems and she could very well be developing a timing issue with her arm circle.

Have her try this. Stand with the toes of both feet on the power line. Rock back and rock forward, touch out with the toe. Repeat. Rock back and reach forward and pitch. It is "touch, touch, touch and pitch."

 

[SoftSocDad]

Not being a softball guy, I'm going to say 'leave it alone' until after the season. Another 6-8 weeks of play before tweaking her motion won't do any harm.

Sure, do the proper drills and try to work on bringing her to where she should be, but don't harp on it...she's throwing strikes and going into AS play, I wouldn't give her too much more to think about. It'll give you a nice goal for the upcoming off-season. Good luck!

 

[splinterpicker]

Had the same problem and still it shows up. The only mechanical things that we would correct during season are the ones that could cause injury. Most pitchers basically use same mechanics but look different doing it.

 

[sluggers]

It would be preferable to fix her now, but realistically, it is going to be impossible.

As soon as she gets in a tough spot on the mound, she will go back to what she has been doing all season. So, she'll get on the mound, and do the right way for a couple of batters, walk someone, and then go back to what she is comfortable with.

If it were me, I wouldn't waste my time trying to fix it now.

 

[Ken Krause]

The stride foot positioning doesn't bother me too much. I don't see an injury risk there. She loses some resistance, and therefore velocity, but little risk of injury there. I wouldn't sweat that too much on its own.

But if she's too face-forward at release there is a risk of shoulder injury. Without seeing her it's tough to know for sure how much risk is there so tough to say whether it should be changed.

With so little of the season left, my inclination sight unseen is to leave her alone for now. But that would change if injury risk was a factor.

 

[Madsdad]

If we were going to play you I would say make the change today LOL. DD had things that needed changing last year and we started right after All Stars and continued all winter long with good success.
I think Amy does have a good point in that you can bring it to her attention and have her work on it at home and see if it carries over for her. The change could happen quick and easy for your DD without throwing her off at all. With most changes you must step back before moving ahead, so when you deside to make the change, keep that the focus so that you can correct it for good and then move forward.

 

[tomzpc]

Thanks for all of the responses everyone. One of these days I'll try and get some video and learn how to slow it down and post it. If anyone has any good tips on that by all means share it with me!

My only concern right now is possible injury risk. I don't think that there's much of one because she has never once complained of pain or irritation, but obviously not all injuries come with warning signs.

I think that I'll keep reminding her in practice but when she's in a game I'll leave it alone. We only have maybe 6 games left (reg. season and playoffs combined) that she'll throw 3 innings per and honestly don't expect my girls to play more than 3 or 4 games (she'll prob. throw between 3 and 6 innings per game) in the all star tournament because we will be a young team for the age group and we lack a dominant pitcher.

In other words, our season is winding down. After that I'll drill it into her a little harder. LOL.

Thanks folks. I LOVE this board.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Tom, see if she is landing that same way with her overhand throws. If you tape her, I want to see her throw OH, too. She shouldn't be changing her front foot too much, between either one. (There will be a variance to a slight degree.)

You know, local guru is going to be saying " I told him to change that, last month."

I also, emphasize the front foot, when they are pitching with a knee down, during warm ups.

 

[tomzpc]

Hadn't thought about that Amy, how she is landing when throwing OH that is.

By the way, you mentioned about her working on her landing while just walking around the house and she has actually begun doing that on her own without me even suggesting it. The pitching motion invariably always happens every so often when she's walking around from room to room (do all girls do this? LOL). She's a ballet dancer too and she is always doing incorporating ballet moves into her walking as well. It's kind of funny to see her walk from the living room to the kitchen with a pause in the middle into a air-windmill pitch and then 10 second later doing a twirl before reaching her destination. =)