Help with DD's release - video included.

[marriard]

Agree - swimming glove hand and stride off to the side.

Draw a powerline when she is full pitching so you can both see where her stride is going.

For the glove 'swim', have her do full pitch motion but at the release, pitch the ball into her glove. If you are swimming the arm you can't do this or it is very, very difficult. My DD had this issue and did 50 of these each night for a week and it went away. She still does this once a week to make sure the glove arm is in tight.

It will look like a whole different pitch when she makes these two changes.

 

[rdbass]

Watch Bill Hillhouse video on FastpitchTV.Shows leaning against wall gloves side. Impossible for glove to swim/fly off.Watch the video and you will see what I mean.Start there.

 

[BoardMember]

I wouldn't worry about the glove arm swimming off the power line........

He problem is her shoulder line is inhibiting her ability to create an arm circle. Her shoulder opens toward 1st WAY too late in the sequence. Infact......Her throwing arm is "forcing" her shoulders to open to "relieve stress"........When infact, her shoulders should be opening starting half way up the circle to CREATE an un-inhibited path of travel for her throwing arm.........

This young lady needs some basic work involving the lead arm/shoulder.

Swinging both arms back is fine........As long as both arm swing forward as well.

A simple "point the glove to the target on the way up the circle" practice session with have her glove arm/shoulder getting infront of her throwing arm/shoulder MUCH earlier in the sequence and get those shoulders opening sooner so the arm can travel up and around the circle with being the "force" that opens the shoulders away from the target.........

I'd prefer a little "reach for the target" with the glove hand practice to get those shoulders opening and in position on time.......To allow for a better stress free circle.......

Her I/R looks pretty good for a beginer........

But because her glove arm never moves forward of her body....Never reaches for the target.........Her glove shoulder is actually behind her throwing shoulder......And infact......Her throwing shoulder should never be infront of the glove shoulder at all........Until well after release anyway..........It should be "even to open to even".......

Her shoulder line is actually opening toward 3rd......vs. opening toward first at the start of the upswing.......So there is WAY TOO MUCH torso rotation going on here to allow an unimpeded whipping loop/circle..........

Anyway........Just get her to reach for the target with her glove arm/hand on the way up the circle..........Then pull it back down......Letting it do what it does to provide balance for the throwing side.......

Cat Reaching and pulling it down:

Abbott reaching and pulling it down:

Lisa reaching and pulling it down:

Ueno reaching and pulling it down:

Your DD is missing this part of the sequence........

Teach her to reach and pull it down...............

 

[jryan15]

Very nice observation! Following this series of videos, we had worked on explosion off the rubber. I did not even think to check her upper torso as I would instantly key in on her deviating from the power line and blame it on a lower body issue.

One thing that was driving me nuts was that her powerline was very crooked and moved diagonally from the 1st base side across to the 3rd base side. I knew that she was driving off of the rubber straighter than that, but I didn't understand where it was coming from. Now it seems clear that it was because her lower torso was following her upper torso as it opened up way too late in the sequence!

One other problem that I was noticing was that her lead leg would occasionally appear to start to turn in towards home plate but would pull back as she would drive forward (this can be seen in the 9th second of the video). Somehow she would still end up landing close to the power line. I just couldn't understand why until now (it's acutally the very reason that I pulled the trigger on a used Casio EX-FH20). It is now apparent that as her leg starts to turn in, it finds resistance against the upper torso and pulls back! Also while she is in the air, her upper body opens and allows her lower body to follow thus letting her lead foot come in enough to land just short of the power line.

Very keen observation, thank you!

 

[jryan15]

When my daughter was starting out, I was all concerned about the backside use of the arm. Arm circle, IR, the whole schmear of things. Then it was her leap. Getting her out there looking like Cat. Problem was, she couldn't truly "finish" and I didn't realize that she wasn't. No back leg drive. A skinny version of Whitney Canion without the hipsnap. She was leaving about half her pitch on the rubber no matter how far she drove out. Took along time to figure out that the front side wasn't doing it's fair share of the work. Somewhere in here there is a post about shoulder articulations by Boardmember. Read it, study it, and try and wrap your head around it. It goes hand in hand with the IR thread even tho it is separate. It only took me two years to realize it was a natural fit with the IR thread.

IMO (and I'm nowhere near a pitching coach) your daughters IR is fine for the moment and her front side is what is messing with everything.

Get her BALANCED and get BOTH shoulders working together in unison and you will increase the speed of her (and your) learning curve. I've come to believe that the front shoulder has a lot to do with rear leg drive. Remember, Just my opinion. I wish I would have worried more about the front side early on. Now I know better.

Abbygale you were right on it, but it took Board's post to bring it home before I could fully envision the problem. I've searched and searched, but struck out looking for Boardmember's post on shoulder articulation. If anyone has it bookmarked, I'd appreciate taking a look at it.