How do I find the perfect release point????

[JJsqueeze]

I'm game. I'll ask DD if she wants to respond when she wakes up. I think she'll go for it, she's cool that way.

Dad taking dictation- Daughter speaking-

"I base the release on the feeling of my elbow hitting my side. I also feel my hand come down with the weight of the ball and it just feels right. I don't really know how I do it. I can just kind of feel it. Can I watch TV now dad?"

and there you have it...straight from the horses (pony's) mouth.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

I agree with this once your pitcher is established. 4 days of pitching per week is quite a bit. RB, would you take the same stance if the pitcher is just in the very beginning stages, before they are actually throwing full pitches the full workout? In my opinion, if the 5-6 d/w is a lot of partial circle breakdown drills......I would say feel free to do it daily if you want. I cant image an overuse injury from that level of activity. Your thoughts? I know you speak from experience, so I value your opinion.

Good clarification FR - 5x to 6x a week having a softball in your hand is fine. I just envision all the ambitious dads out there, like I was, telling their DD's that she needs to pitch "full-out" those 5x-6x a week. Just please don't do that!!.....

So to reiterate my plea to all you ambitious families out there - limit the full torso-tourque workouts to max every-other day (This INCLUDES batting or any other ballistic torso-twist) There will be enough injuries you can't control that happen to your DD throughout her sb career so grab onto this one that you CAN.

 

[Rick Pauly]

Couple comments about release point. There has been a lot of suggestions here related to brush interference....IMHO it is the #1 key to location accuracy. Many have explained the details of how to achieve B/I so I won't go into that. So in addition to that my suggestions are:

1. Explain to your pitcher in your simplest words....that a significantly high percentage of location is determined by the fingers and wrist. So isolating her thoughts to just what actions those two perform during release is important. Don't over complicate things by introducing a lot of other body actions for her to focus on.

2. Do not attempt to learn or correct location accuracy from full distance/full motion!! Break the motion down and start up close to the catcher. Typical progressions would be: arm at 8 o'clock/8 feet away; arm at 9 o'clock/12 feet away; arm at 12 o'clock/20 feet away; parallel powerline with full arm circle/25 feet away; parallel powerline with full arm circle/30 feet away; 80% effort full motion/30 feet away; 90% effort full motion/35 feet away; 90% effort full motion/full distance; 100% effort full motion/full distance. DO NOT BE IN A HURRY TO GET TO FULL MOTION/FULL DISTANCE!!!!!!!! At any point in this progression a pitcher is having difficulty, do not hesitate to move them back to the previous successful progression. Always encourage them to make any location corrections with their fingers and wrist action before attempting any other corrective movement.

Especially for younger/less developed pitchers, when they get to full motion/full distance they compromise their mechanics 'cause they are not strong enough or coordinated enough. One of my many heart aches is when we move a girl from 10U softball (11"ball/35 ft.) up to 12U softball (12"ball/40 ft.) and expect them to have pinpoint accuracy......many are not ready for this "double dip" increase. Their mechanics suffer and they groove in poor mechanics that will take a long time to correct.

As a parent or coach you really need to reinforce a progression similar to what I suggested above to set your kid up for success.

 

[Mike]

Thanks Rick!


I have waited a long time for perfect circle to say something worth while.....

Keep glove... index finger in glove pointed to target... for R-L issues

simple but good advice......like shooting a bow and arrow.

Thanks PC!

 

[Doug Romrell]

Rick said, "Do not attempt to learn or correct location accuracy from full distance/full motion!! Break the motion down and start up close..."

We've been "up close" for the past 4 weeks. Why? If there's a time to really break things down, it's now, in the off-season. Further, it's easier up close to get lots of reps and lots of feed-back.

I've really proud of this almost 15-year-old! She's only pitched 3-4 innings in her not-so-long softball life, but she's got the right stuff in terms of desire. She's also got darned long and lanky fingers. Her fingers are very long. I think she's well on her way, even if she's awful late.

[video]http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=i69fkz%3E&s=5#.UpofEcTW6So[/video]

 

[GatorGirl]

Awesome! Got our bownet yesterday and am eager to put it up and start working on this. BUT, we both said a week off. Chomping at the bit!

 

[JJsqueeze]

Rick said, "Do not attempt to learn or correct location accuracy from full distance/full motion!! Break the motion down and start up close..."

We've been "up close" for the past 4 weeks. Why? If there's a time to really break things down, it's now, in the off-season. Further, it's easier up close to get lots of reps and lots of feed-back.

I've really proud of this almost 15-year-old! She's only pitched 3-4 innings in her not-so-long softball life, but she's got the right stuff in terms of desire. She's also got darned long and lanky fingers. Her fingers are very long. I think she's well on her way, even if she's awful late.

[video]http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=i69fkz%3E&s=5#.UpofEcTW6So[/video]

She looks like an athlete. I had a hard time watching the video, when you press pause it puts the play button right in the middle of the image. If you can post this on youtube I can download it and slow motion it for you if you want.

 

[Perfect Circle]

Thanks Rick! I have waited a long time for perfect circle to say something worth while..... simple but good advice......like shooting a bow and arrow. Thanks PC!

Hey Mike...thx... You might want to review... I have said this many times... from the beginning. Where I create the separation is when I continue as I always have to say hold that finger, pointed right at the umps chest until he makes the call.

Figuring out all the fixes for not doing so, slapping leg & swimming & missing to left, but mostly to the right...compounded by not dragging tongue (of cleat) or if I my borrow ( (c)TTT...Toe2Target ).

 

[GatorGirl]

We worked on this yesterday and today and it seems to help. I had her doing circles to feel the brushing with her eyes closed to feel the brushing and she was hitting a soccer ball off the tee really well.

My questions are this. What part of the arm is supposed to brush what part of the body? I have heard forearm brush their belly and have just heard others refer to this as brushing their hip. Can someone clarify? Also, this might just be semantics, but why is it called interference? It really shouldn't interfere with the pitch right? I really think if we can get this, this will help us come a long way with accuracy. So I am just really trying to understand this to make sure I am explaining it correctly and how it should feel.

Thanks in advance.

GG

 

[Rick Pauly]

Here is a representative set of pics of various movement pitches. Brush Interference should be in the same place regardless of pitch....this will give you a consistent release point. Several studies have suggested that Brush Interference actually reduces the distraction forces on the shoulder....haven't seen any studies counter to this.

We worked on this yesterday and today and it seems to help. I had her doing circles to feel the brushing with her eyes closed to feel the brushing and she was hitting a soccer ball off the tee really well.

My questions are this. What part of the arm is supposed to brush what part of the body? I have heard forearm brush their belly and have just heard others refer to this as brushing their hip. Can someone clarify? Also, this might just be semantics, but why is it called interference? It really shouldn't interfere with the pitch right? I really think if we can get this, this will help us come a long way with accuracy. So I am just really trying to understand this to make sure I am explaining it correctly and how it should feel.

Thanks in advance.

GG