Looking for Advice

[b3player]

Hey everyone! First post, but I've been reading the forum for a while now, and have learned allot thanks to all of the awesome members. I'm looking for some advice for my 12 year old DD. As with most, she was initially taught HE. We've been working on converting her to IR. One problem that I recognize is that she lets her arm get straight instead of keeping a bend to get whip. It's a habit that we're really struggling to break. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[video]https://youtu.be/HzYXAASGVec[/video]

 

[WillyT812]

She needs to work on her drive mechanics as well. No knee or ball side drive with her legs. Watch her head go down, then up and then back down. All of her linear motion needs to go straight forward. It's her leg drive that's betraying her. There's a pretty famous clip of Jenny Finch on ESPN from the side. Find it and watch how level her motion is going forward.

Second, posted this drill yesterday, using it to help develop a smooth rotational whip. Restrict the motion so that it's pure forearm rotation zipping the ball. As she learns to rotate and whip start giving her a bit more room on the backside. Backward chain is the key.

 

[WillyT812]

Have your daughter watch this clip I built some time back.

 

[GoCaboNow]

Interesting that as her upper arm brushes the side of her head there is some bend in the elbow and then immediately it straightens. A lot of kids I see bring the arm up straight and that starts them off on the straight arm path. So, I think she has a very good start.

When dd did 9 oclocks to warm up, I had her start with her upper arm parallel to the ground but her forearm straight up to the sky. 90 degree bend so she has to whip when she throws. First thing that moves is the elbow to start the motion. 12 oclocks is the same concept with the ball right over her head and bent elbow. As was mentioned earlier, back chaining.

The other thing that is a pet peeve of mine is leaning. Leaning sideways or forwards at release drives me nuts. You can see her balance is off at the end, but the bigger thing to me is you can't brush if you create space away from the hip by leaning, sticking the butt away from the throwing hand. If you don't brush it is easier to release late and then the kid is leaning forward to try to keep the ball down. Very normal issues.

I do really like how she brings her back knee with her and has a nice stacked knee, hip, shoulder at release. Good luck!!

 

[Fastpitch_Dad]

B3,
My DD has been working on the same problem this fall (thanks to knightsb for providing the direction!) so I will tell you what worked for her. She struggled to really understand or more importantly to TRUST what the whip should feel like.
All of the suggested drills and back-chaining with softballs into nets was great but for her it wasn't quite clicking and the progress stalled out because she was hitting her elbow on her hip and not relaxing.
What finally helped for her was to throw something lighter from 9:00 like TCB whiffles outside into the net and then a ball of socks in the house into a mirror watching herself. She just focused on bending the arm and getting the arm to roll/brush around the hip and find the whip with the shoulder staying back.

Once that clicked for her the progress using softballs has been going well with her doing self-corrections as she works on full motion!!!!!
I'm a big fan of the advice to focus less on "pitching" and instead just relax and "throw" underhand.

Good luck
John

 

[Ken B]

B3,
My DD has been working on the same problem this fall (thanks to knightsb for providing the direction!) so I will tell you what worked for her. She struggled to really understand or more importantly to TRUST what the whip should feel like.
All of the suggested drills and back-chaining with softballs into nets was great but for her it wasn't quite clicking and the progress stalled out because she was hitting her elbow on her hip and not relaxing.
What finally helped for her was to throw something lighter from 9:00 like TCB whiffles outside into the net and then a ball of socks in the house into a mirror watching herself. She just focused on bending the arm and getting the arm to roll/brush around the hip and find the whip with the shoulder staying back.

Once that clicked for her the progress using softballs has been going well with her doing self-corrections as she works on full motion!!!!!
I'm a big fan of the advice to focus less on "pitching" and instead just relax and "throw" underhand.

Good luck
John

Awesome advice! knightsb comes through again!!!