leaning and guiding

[eddie]

DD is pirtcher on our league team and has pickup habit of learning and trying to guide ballbto hlove and is losing soeed. Have trid to get her out of it but I am at the end and dont know ehst to do. Any ideas . I get her to stand up straight. And just eirj on her stride off mond snd she is still doing it. Try not to over work her on it but. Just a little frustrated.

 

[James Smith]

Yeah, I am not the worst speller on the board.

DD goes thru this, she is under a lot of pressure. It doesn’t come from us but from other players/ parents. See if you can find out where the pressure to throw strikes is coming from.

 

[GatorGirl]

Can you take a vid of her and share. I have discovered there is more than one reason for leaning while trying to correct my daughters lean. First it was that her landing foot wasn't hitting at 45 degrees(landing foward) and she was bending forward(Bill Hillhouse pointed this out). Correct that and it was much better but still leaning and trying to bowl it in. Our PC right now only has us doing the knee drill and K drill focusing on standing nice and tall until we fix it and we are getting there. Another thing thing I tell her is too keep her chin up as it is almost impossible to bend over with your chin up. Def. search "leaning" and you will find tons of threads and advice as this is such a common thing. Throwing harder into a net or fence so that she isn't focusing on the strike zone can help too. Best of luck!!

GG

 

[eddie]

Okay I will try that. I say she is not under pressure but now that you point that out I have noticed that she is think 2 or 3 pitch's ahead.

 

[Ken B]

eddie,
For kids in this situation, I think it's best to take away the distraction of the catcher, game, etc, until they have the basic form dialed. This is can be tough for a kid who's mid-season and is needed by the team to pitch, but this generally makes the fix take much longer.

She needs to have whip down. There is no aiming in whip. Like the Force, you learn to trust it and blast at the target. With practice, the ball goes right where you will it to go.

Using the progression in the I/R in the Classroom thread, start the process into a net, backstop, tarp, old mattress, etc. Work on elbow leading, back of the hand leading, elbow pausing at the ribs and allowing the rest to happen. I tell kids who are learning that I don't care if the ball hits the ground or goes over the net, as long as they are loose and whipping. Early on, I have them whip several balls with their eyes closed and note where the ball is hitting the net. We adjust the feet until she's consistently hitting the middle of the net.

As she gains some control, start to move her back. Later, add a target (rectangle) and have her try to whip into the corners. When she's got that, start playing Step Back, where she earns a step back every time she hits 3 out of four corners.

While this is going on, focus on staying tall, with a slight rearward lean. She can practice this without, then with a ball, by taking a small step and thinking "nose behind the toes." Sometimes it helps to lift the rear foot, let it drift towards the plant foot, then set it back down.

Meanwhile, work on drive without a ball. Make sure she's using the hands to help explode forward. If she's still leaning or bending, make sure she's landing with her stride toe on (or close to) a powerline (drawn from the inside of the drive foot to the target.) Have her take the small step back. Also, check to see if the stride foot is landing at no less than 45 degrees. I encourage kids to think “point straight" from start to plant, which almost always results in an actual angle of around 45-50.

When she has both drive and whip nailed, put them together. Go back to the net and from up close (and making it clear you don't care where the ball goes,) have her blast into the net. As she gains control, start moving back. If anything breaks down, go back and work on the issue.


Hope that helps,
Ken

 

[eddie]

Thank good advice. Will try it and will try and make video of her.

 

[Ken B]

GG,
Chin up like this?

Just kidding!

I do like that cue of chin up. I also use "Stay tall and proper."


Ken

 

[GatorGirl]

Thanks Ken. I needed a laugh.

 

[coachdan]

When performing ir drills try adding something under her front foot like a cinder block or anything to elevate the front side it will prevent her from leaning.

 

[Dave619]

Yeah, I am not the worst speller on the board.

James, you cannot post stuff like this! I'm reading all of this while in one of those "serious" meetings at work and I'm acting like I'm looking at some important figures, etc. on my ipad...I laughed out loud and got busted! Thanks a lot man!