Looking for input

[parrot]

I'm looking for input on these stills of my daughter's motion. She has a pretty obvious forward lean and bowling follow-through at release. My understanding is that two of the main culprits here are generally too soft a front leg or a bad angle on the plant foot, but these look pretty good to my admittedly untrained eye. I've started her doing some stork drills to try and address it. Any other ideas or comments on other aspects of her motion would be appreciated.

 

[starsnuffer]

Her main issue is her follow through. She's releasing with a forward lean because she is using her back foot as an anchor instead of following through with her back toe. I can't tell what she was taught from this video, so I'm not sure if she's supposed to be using a calf-to-calf figure 4 follow through or a more closed style, as she isn't doing either.

Fix the anchor and make sure she finishes her pitching motion. Her arm whip needs a lot of work, make sure she's pulling the ball down, elbow first, rather then pushing it down. There are a lot of threads on that here so I won't go into detail.

-W

 

[parrot]

Starsnuffer, I've tried to teach her a more closed style of finish ala Hillhouse. She used to have a nasty habit of walking out of the pitch so we we're really just getting that addressed and working on keeping that front leg resistance. I knew her follow-through was a problem but was so focused on her arm that I didn't really notice how the back leg was not coming up at all. Thanks for your input.

Here's the actual video

 

[Amy in AZ.]

She looks like every student that comes to me, that hasn't had lessons. I would do the stork drill prior to the lesson and every time that she bends forward on release. Things that have helped my students with their core strength is swimming, horseback riding, dance and gymnastics. She needs to feel her shoulders back over her heels.

 

[parrot]

Thanks Amy. Like I say we have made the stork drill a part of our regimen now but it's too soon to see any results.

One question, is "try to feel your shoulders back over your heels" something you tell your students to actively attempt to do, or do you just count on the drills to create the necessary muscle memory? I've told her before to try to keep her nose behind her belly button - as Finch describes it - and she looks at me like I've just asked her to grow a third arm or something.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I tell them that, but they can't think of it (it seems) during the pitch. They get so used to leaning over, that it is a hard habit to break. So, now, I address it from day 1. First lesson is on the knees, so that there is no way to lean forward. I don't let the bending at the waist creep in, because it takes months to break. A straighter front leg, helps too.

I assign homework and tell them to go through the pitching motion at home, w/o a ball while looking at themselves in a mirror or window. It also helps to show them video or pictures of themselves.

 

[sluggers]

Yep...stork drill and Carolina walkthroughs again and again and again...