Help Guys

[sluggers]

Thank JC...he is the one who spotted something. I couldn't figure out what it was...she has her body set up when her arm is at 3 just like Osterman. It was driving me crazy trying to understand why the ball wasn't exploding out of her hand. Hal is right that she needs to work on pushing off, too. You need to fix both of these problems.

She needs to focus on touching the left heel down. It isn't a violent motion down. It is the same motion as when you take a stride and swing. You touch the toe down, and lower the heel quickly.

Have her take a look at these videos and tell her to focus on the left foot. I think your DD may be trying to do the little bounce that Finch does after she releases, but she didn't pick up on Finch bringing her whole foot down. In this video, Finch buries her right foot in the carpet in front of the mound.

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[Amy in AZ.]

I find it is very hard to pitch in tennis shoes on the mat. I bet we would see something else with the push off and landing, if she was in the dirt.

 

[mkral]

Thank you to all of you. I went over old video's and she has done this all along. I have one of her in the yard but none in a game.....BAD DAD, to busy coaching I guess. not a good excuse. But even in the yard she is doing it. In fact it is an old one that Slugger had commented on a long time ago. It is hard to see through the grass but it is there.
Ray can you put a link to those video's? For some reason they don't show up on my computer just empty boxes.

 

[sluggers]

I sent you a private message with the links.

Amy is right about pitching indoors. It might help to have your DD pitch in some old shoes with the tread worn down. She'll be able to slide a little better.

 

[mkral]

Got it, will do. Again gang thank you. We will keep you posted on progress. She has always seemed to be little off balance to me as well. That could be the problem to. She is always on her toes. I have to believe it is hard to get a good base of balance off her toes.
Dog gone it you guys are the best!! I can't wait to get her back in the gym now.

 

[Mike]

It looks to me like she is striding 4 to 6 inches to the left of the power line. And I think it is because she closes to much to early. If she closed the same amount, but strided straight, her arm would not make it around her hip, so she is compensating by striding left to make room for her arm to pass, IME. Have her focus on opening up more, striding straight down the power line and staying open until her arm passes her hip. We have a piece of duct tape right down the middle of our mat for a visual cue.

Mike

 

[halskinner]

MKRAL, is that her instructor in the picture with her? I dont know what you have been told about her pitching style, ie: no push off and standing tall through the entire arm circle. That equals an exaggerated step style. Just because a pitcher drags her pivot foot up to her stride foot in her motions, that does NOT mean she is throwing as a leap and drag pitcher.

Your daughter is at the point of what I have always called 'PITCHING STYLE LIMBO'. Her mechanics are too strong to be considered step style anymore. However, she is trying to get a little more aggressive with everything and those step style mechanics just dont work for her anymore. They are holding her back and I am sure she feels it.

She needs to switch over to leap and drag before she gets too frustrated. I am guessing she is a little frustrated with it right now.

She needs to come down on the ball of her foot, not on her toes, just to clarify what others have said.

If you have my book, use 'COACH HALS FOUNDATION METHOD' . Have her increase that forward drive like I recommended. Do those and she will self-correct a whole lot of little things she is doing right now. Until she does those two things and is consistent, DONT DO ANY DRILLS! You will only be re-inforcing bad mechanics.

 

[mkral]

Hal I have your book. I will read that section over. I can see exactly what all of you guys are saying.
Oh yeah that fat guy in the video is me. She does not have a PC. She never really has. She saw Ernie Parker once and I took her to a "Pitching Coach" in Iowa City for a little bit but that was a disaster. It was one of those "I will take your money and she is great" kind of thing. But she never was taught anything there. So I figured I would try to learn what I could and get her as far as I could and we would go from there. I know that is not the way to do this but at this point we dont have to many options. Our high school coach is helping her too and Chelsea really likes her. She was a pitcher at Iowa. Gottcha on the drills!!