Glove Action Important

[Rick Pauly]

Stand
One of the keys to being fluid is that the glove performs a non-stop whirling action so that it doesn't just raise straight out/up---then stop---change direction---then pull down. Note that the glove arm has a bend in it similar to the pitching arm....it is also performing a whipping action. The glove should pull down with the same energy that you pull the ball down......this way the glove position as it advances down will be balanced with the ball position.
Hope this answers your question.

Do you want the glove hand to loosly fall down, is it pulled down, or is it something else? In that video it looks like her entire glove side rotates from thumb up/bicep in to a palm up/ bicep up. Is that a style thing or does that have purpose?

Thanks

 

[FastPitchCat]

rick,

how far to the left side (for RHP) would the glove have to be to consider that swimming? i know there have been several discussions about the swimming glove hand. some say it's important to not swim, some say to not have too much emphasis on it.

my DD raises her glove to around head high, but i asked her to go around 2 o'clock. she also has a tendency to pull the glove to the left, hence - swim. pitching arm timing with glove arm - up together and down together.

any thoughts?

 

[Rick Pauly]

FPC
Just about all top pitchers perform some degree of a swim move...similar to Sarah's. The swim move actually helps with the shoulder rotation; the key is to not let it cause over rotation. I would not suggest going much farther out than what you see Sarah doing here. I have seen pitchers who swim the glove out 90 degrees and yet maintain a reasonable shoulder rotation......but I have to tell you that it looks painful to the shoulder joint.

rick,

how far to the left side (for RHP) would the glove have to be to consider that swimming? i know there have been several discussions about the swimming glove hand. some say it's important to not swim, some say to not have too much emphasis on it.

my DD raises her glove to around head high, but i asked her to go around 2 o'clock. she also has a tendency to pull the glove to the left, hence - swim. pitching arm timing with glove arm - up together and down together.

any thoughts?

 

[Doug Romrell]

Rick, Why does Sarah point the ball AWAY when she raises it above her head in the K/slingshot drill???

Shouldn't the ball be pointed sort of like this when it's over her head? (Note the very long fingers.)

NOTE: Make sure to move your cursor off the clip to be able to see the orientation above her head (along with those LONG fingers).

 

[JJsqueeze]

The fourth progression is from what I term "Parallel Powerline", similar starting position as this drill(not the crossfire/cannonball part of the drill though). Many pitchers skip over this progression, but I think it is important...another link in the whole backward chaining type teaching.

JJ
I am going to post two videos I have put up previously. To train the glove whirl needs to be a repeated action in warm up drills. These two videos are similar to the warm up positions I have all my students perform at. In the case of your DD's you may have to exaggerate the height of the glove whirl to get it to where you really want it to be when they throw off the mound.
This glove whirl up to 2 o'clock is very integral to getting a backward spine tilt at landing (about 8 degrees behind vertical). So when you go to the mound for your warm ups encourage both the glove whirl and landing with tilt.
It is not easy to modify an ingrained movement so be patient with this.

Thanks Rick. I'll add the parallel powerline to the practice, we don't currently do anything in between Ks and full pitch, maybe by adding this intermediate step it will help her groove it into the full pitch.

 

[Stand an]

"Parallel power line" forgive my ignorance, that's referring to the feet correct?

 

[Rick Pauly]

Yes, feet, hips, shoulders all start parallel with the powerline. Of course the hips and shoulders will rotate as will the back foot.

"Parallel power line" forgive my ignorance, that's referring to the feet correct?