Hip Bruising Due to Elbow "Plant"

[Ken B]

He had her change a simple thought, drive to the catcher and do not try to get open, let the arm circle open you naturally. I watched from behind and the left tilt was gone immediately, she has not hit her hip once, and bonus....her motion looks smoother and more powerful. Then he said to forget about the figure 4 finish the other PC had tried to drill into her and just let her rear hip do whatever she feels it needs to do to initiate the chain up the body.

I like these cues. Could be a keeper!

 

[starsnuffer]

Javasource-3256
JJ-0

We saw the new PC last night and he immediately keyed in on the fact that DD is getting open too soon i.e. she is shifting her weight at push off into a semi open position, then when she goes to pull the ball up from say 2 o clock to 10 o clock, the pulling motion OPENS her up TOO much and her arm ends up behind her. Hence the occasional hip hit and the Tilt to the left etc.

He had her change a simple thought, drive to the catcher and do not try to get open, let the arm circle open you naturally. I watched from behind and the left tilt was gone immediately, she has not hit her hip once, and bonus....her motion looks smoother and more powerful. Then he said to forget about the figure 4 finish the other PC had tried to drill into her and just let her rear hip do whatever she feels it needs to do to initiate the chain up the body. He had her do a sort of kick drill to the catcher to get the feel. End result of these two little adjustments is she did not hit her hip, she gets a little of that open/close hip wiggle I was referring to in another thread and her inside misses are literally GONE....everything is biased about a foot to the outside now, and she lands more naturally at 45. We'll see if this is a fluke or if such a small change can make such a huge difference, but I was impressed with him and with JS being to identify that something like a hip hit might be caused by something as early as the launch. I'll try to get some video, its a subtle change but I have been looking at it so closely now for a few weeks that it looks huge to me.


edit- Boomer's DD does not appear to have the same root cause as my hip hitter though. She definitely does not open up to much/ too early. in fact I really can't see any flaws in that second video.

edit edit- I wanted to post a pic of her bruise but I was afraid I would be reported to CPS.

Great cues, JJ. If you go and look at the http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/17300-kinematic-sequence-softball-pitching.html thread, you can see how the core interacts and helps pitchers who try to cheat and open early vs those who drive forward towards the catcher and open their shoulders independently of the hips. I think the cue here to drive towards the pitcher and let the arms work is excellent advice for initiating this hip/shoulder independence.

-W

 

[javasource]

Javasource-3256
JJ-0

We saw the new PC last night and he immediately keyed in on the fact that DD is getting open too soon i.e. she is shifting her weight at push off into a semi open position, then when she goes to pull the ball up from say 2 o clock to 10 o clock, the pulling motion OPENS her up TOO much and her arm ends up behind her. Hence the occasional hip hit and the Tilt to the left etc.

He had her change a simple thought, drive to the catcher and do not try to get open, let the arm circle open you naturally. I watched from behind and the left tilt was gone immediately, she has not hit her hip once, and bonus....her motion looks smoother and more powerful. Then he said to forget about the figure 4 finish the other PC had tried to drill into her and just let her rear hip do whatever she feels it needs to do to initiate the chain up the body. He had her do a sort of kick drill to the catcher to get the feel. End result of these two little adjustments is she did not hit her hip, she gets a little of that open/close hip wiggle I was referring to in another thread and her inside misses are literally GONE....everything is biased about a foot to the outside now, and she lands more naturally at 45. We'll see if this is a fluke or if such a small change can make such a huge difference, but I was impressed with him and with JS being to identify that something like a hip hit might be caused by something as early as the launch. I'll try to get some video, its a subtle change but I have been looking at it so closely now for a few weeks that it looks huge to me.


edit- Boomer's DD does not appear to have the same root cause as my hip hitter though. She definitely does not open up to much/ too early. in fact I really can't see any flaws in that second video.

edit edit- I wanted to post a pic of her bruise but I was afraid I would be reported to CPS.

This is great to hear. These little adjustments can yield some huge returns.

The real score is:

JJ's DD: +1

 

[Rick Pauly]

Boomers
Sorry, I just had a chance to watch your latest video clip.......I think I noticed a little excessive arching of her back which would take her shoulders back and throw her lower torso out.......a combination that could lead to more than the normal amount of elbow impact. Check around the 10 second mark.
Your DD has decent mechanics and a couple minor tweaks and the sky is the limit. Keep working hard.

Rick

 

[FrozenRope]

Boomers
Sorry, I just had a chance to watch your latest video clip.......I think I noticed a little excessive arching of her back which would take her shoulders back and throw her lower torso out.......a combination that could lead to more than the normal amount of elbow impact. Check around the 10 second mark.
Your DD has decent mechanics and a couple minor tweaks and the sky is the limit. Keep working hard.

Rick

I actually really like her posture in that second clip... shows how much I know. Rick...for the sake of making me feel better, can you at least admit that finding anything wrong with her posture is splitting hairs...lol

 

[Boomers2012]

[video=youtube_share;VwqMtOhgFgU]http://youtu.be/VwqMtOhgFgU[/video]

I asked her to just go out and pitch. Not to "focus" on anything other than being loose. I do know the drive phase needs some attention but other than that what does the board think? She is not complaining of soreness in the hip area and it is not red like it was a few days ago after we pitched.

 

[Boomers2012]

[video=youtube_share;BMrAqy3rRwY]http://youtu.be/BMrAqy3rRwY[/video]

Same pitch as above but full speed......

As always, we do appreciate all the input.

 

[corlay]

I think she looks pretty smooth and in control.

Question: on your "home turf" is she pitching downhill? Or is that just an illusion?

If I had to nit pick,
Maybe work on timing - getting that plant heel down just a hair sooner.
And start getting the glove arm confributing more, and more in synch w ball arm.

 

[Boomers2012]

I think its just an illusion. I always think the same thing when i look at these videos but its pretty level. We normally dont practice in that spot, just when we video.......for the lighting. Agree with you on the timing aspect......thanks for the input!

 

[Rick Pauly]

Believe me, I've seen some really poor mechanics in my day.........everything is relative so to say that this young lady has decent mechanics (for her age) is a compliment. If you look at the most recent slow motion post you can see there are still a few things to clean up before she wins a national championship. For example if you stop the video at release point it appears that she is a slight bit over closed both in hips and shoulders.......the deceleration of rotation could be better which would probably result in a less closed position at release and an even better transfer of energy.
Now having said that.....again, this young lady is doing very well. I know for a fact that my own DD was not at this level at the same age.

I actually really like her posture in that second clip... shows how much I know. Rick...for the sake of making me feel better, can you at least admit that finding anything wrong with her posture is splitting hairs...lol