Don’t know any of them who are 8 either. Don’t make stylistic decisions today worried about college in 10 years.
Is this a bad idea? Starting motion
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She's 8. Not matter what you try, she's not going to be explosive off the rubber right now. If she's a prodigy or extremely physically gifted, she'll start seeing explosiveness around 12, though most don't until at least 14 or even older.
Focusing on explosiveness off the rubber is naturally going to lead to a crow hop since she'll lack the core and glute strength to explosively drive out instead of up.
From the clip you posted:
Not only is she getting considerable air (driving up instead of out), she's already starting the dreaded "twist to open" rather than "drive to open", probably because she doesn't yet have the core strength to maintain her body position through the drive force.
My suggestion would mirror Sluggers....focus on the upper body much, much more than the lower body.
As was mentioned, don't worry about what college kids do. Your DDs entire mechanics are likely to experience an extreme shift once the first growth spurt hits anyway.
Focusing on explosiveness off the rubber is naturally going to lead to a crow hop since she'll lack the core and glute strength to explosively drive out instead of up.
From the clip you posted:
Not only is she getting considerable air (driving up instead of out), she's already starting the dreaded "twist to open" rather than "drive to open", probably because she doesn't yet have the core strength to maintain her body position through the drive force.
My suggestion would mirror Sluggers....focus on the upper body much, much more than the lower body.
As was mentioned, don't worry about what college kids do. Your DDs entire mechanics are likely to experience an extreme shift once the first growth spurt hits anyway.
Focusing on getting out a long way or being 'explosive' can create issues, especially in younger pitchers. Crow hopping is one of them. Dial it back and go to a shorter leap. I never worry about how far my pitchers are getting off the rubber unless I see a real issue at about 14U. Arm action is much more important. It's interesting how 95% of the men crow hop. Sometimes I think it's a way of dissipating landing force so the front leg doesn't take a beating.
I've never understood how newbies get so transfixed on the legs in pitching, throwing and batting.
I've seen decent pitchers with terrible lower body mechanics...I've yet to see even a marginal pitcher with poor upper body mechanics.
Interesting. I'm a relative newb and luckily came to the same conclusion last year.
What's #2? FSR?
IMHO, I think brush Interference and posture are next because you want the kid to throw strikes. If a kid has good BI and posture, she will be able to "just throw strikes". Which leads to more circle time and more fun.
At the same, make sure she has no fatal flaws in her motion. E.g., if she is leaning forward when she throws, you have to fix it.
You want a good foundation so as she gets bigger and stronger, she can throw better.
- Oct 26, 2019
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This really resonated with me. I think I have been guilty of being one of those dads who has asked and asked my daughter to push off harder, faster, and farther and every time it seems to create more issues than it helps. I realized just recently that I am asking her to do something that she may not be physically ready to do yet at 10 years old.
I didn't ask because I'm worried about college. I mean she is 8 years old. I asked so I could have a visual...someone to reference.
My first thought was Gabbie Plain, then I remembered, she crow hops!
