Looking for opinions on what to work on at this point.

[lostcreek1]

The issue isn't that she's not driving out far enough. It's that's not really driving out at all. Right now she steps high, her momentum tips her far forward, then she does a bit of push that primarily comes from the foot because she's gone so far forward. She doesn't even need to be as far out as she's currently going. An advanced pitcher usually doesn't land much father than their own height. At 8 years old, she doesn't even need to be that far. She just needs to get where she's going, quickly. You see plenty of competent young pitchers doing little more than a step, but they do it with a burst of speed. It's about the momentum.

The fact that she's not driving out is going to put her into a situation where she either doesn't open at all (which she really isn't) or she will develop or be instructed to do a forced opening, which you also don't want because she'll lose power with the drive leg bring out of position. If she gets to driving off the rubber correctly, she'll open up naturally and with all the speed and momentum her body is capable of producing.

I don't like glove swim. It's fighting against correct position of the upper body. In my daughter's case, she's got a posture issue that I don't think she can even truly correct until the swim is gone. I did see a fairly advanced pitcher with a swim on a facebook post last week, but she was forcing the shoulder into the correct position while the arm just flailed out. Most of the time that's not what's happening, as is the case here.

I'll add also...I obviously don't know what exactly her pitching coach teaches, but if she or he is doing the catching or isn't taking slo-mo video, they can't see everything. There's just too little time between the start of the pitch and when you have to look for the ball to catch it. I think my daughter could be a lot farther along if I had done the catching at her lessons, but he never really took me up on my offer.

So what you are saying is not to be concerned so much about how har the front foot drives out, but how fast it gets there.

 

[_MIA_]

Does she play a sport which puts a premium on explosiveness? Some kids are naturally explosive and some aren’t..Looks like posters who know a lot more about pitching have suggested some drills aimed toward this but I am coming at this from somebody who knows what athletic looks like and I think , if she is not already, playing something like soccer or basketball would be a fun (and healthy) way of “training” it without it actually feeling like training at 8 YO…

 

[PJR202]

So what you are saying is not to be concerned so much about how har the front foot drives out, but how fast it gets there.

Right. She just needs to get out far enough to allow natural opening, and get there explosively. I would just shoot for whatever her height is. But she needs to drive out. Right now she steps and falls. There are plenty of videos for it out there. I just don't want to recommend any specific one on drive mechanics because the ones I use aren't public.

It's not always about strength, though. Some of it is just muscle recruitment. My daughter couldn't get very far out. To be fair, she had been taught a "turn twice" style for a long time, then transitioned to a stride after I asked about it. But she wasn't able to really grasp the concept of driving the knee out while also pushing with the right leg. We did two drills that got her brain to start firing the right muscles at the right times. Both are on Amanda Scarborough's youtube page. One was the bucket drill (I believe she uses a road cone in it) and the other was jump-up drill. It only took a few sessions with those to get her driving pretty well. She loved the jump-up but HATED the bucket drill. It took quite a while for her to get brain and body to come together. Once they did, though, it felt natural.

 

[PJR202]

Does she play a sport which puts a premium on explosiveness? Some kids are naturally explosive and some aren’t..Looks like posters who know a lot more about pitching have suggested some drills aimed toward this but I am coming at this from somebody who knows what athletic looks like and I think , if she is not already, playing something like soccer or basketball would be a fun (and healthy) way of “training” it without it actually feeling like training at 8 YO…

I think you said something about this in my personal thread a few days ago, and it really got me thinking. I'm gonna get one of our softball girls who plays soccer to start acting as a "mole" and recruit some of the best soccer athletes. A few choice words. A bit of subterfuge. Some psy ops techniques....

 

[_MIA_]

I think you said something about this in my personal thread a few days ago, and it really got me thinking. I'm gonna get one of our softball girls who plays soccer to start acting as a "mole" and recruit some of the best soccer athletes. A few choice words. A bit of subterfuge. Some psy ops techniques....

I don’t think that was me. At the HS age you could probably train soccer players to be decent IF (footwork) but hitting is a different story..

25 years ago I don’t know if I would have had to say what I said but in today’s world I find that so many kids don’t know their body eg cannot run, jump etc because at recess they are not allowed to do anything and then they get home and play on the IPad for 3 hours..You don’t need organized sports to develop the ability to use your body but in today’s world that is often the option which is the best easiest..

 

[lostcreek1]

Does she play a sport which puts a premium on explosiveness? Some kids are naturally explosive and some aren’t..Looks like posters who know a lot more about pitching have suggested some drills aimed toward this but I am coming at this from somebody who knows what athletic looks like and I think , if she is not already, playing something like soccer or basketball would be a fun (and healthy) way of “training” it without it actually feeling like training at 8 YO…

She is going to play basketball this winter, which I think will help her leg strength and explosiveness. We don’t do much of what I would call training. We pitch a lot that is fun to her, don’t want it to fill like a job at 8. Explosiveness usually equals speed. Don’t see many girls her size at 8 that are fast.

 

[_MIA_]

She is going to play basketball this winter, which I think will help her leg strength and explosiveness. We don’t do much of what I would call training. We pitch a lot that is fun to her, don’t want it to fill like a job at 8. Explosiveness usually equals speed. Don’t see many girls her size at 8 that are fast.

Good , DD plays basketball. It is also something they can do on their own when you get sick of them and kick them out of the house

I am not saying that she should be explosive at 8, only that playing other sports would be a fun and healthy way of perhaps developing it.

 

[lostcreek1]

Right. She just needs to get out far enough to allow natural opening, and get there explosively. I would just shoot for whatever her height is. But she needs to drive out. Right now she steps and falls. There are plenty of videos for it out there. I just don't want to recommend any specific one on drive mechanics because the ones I use aren't public.

It's not always about strength, though. Some of it is just muscle recruitment. My daughter couldn't get very far out. To be fair, she had been taught a "turn twice" style for a long time, then transitioned to a stride after I asked about it. But she wasn't able to really grasp the concept of driving the knee out while also pushing with the right leg. We did two drills that got her brain to start firing the right muscles at the right times. Both are on Amanda Scarborough's youtube page. One was the bucket drill (I believe she uses a road cone in it) and the other was jump-up drill. It only took a few sessions with those to get her driving pretty well. She loved the jump-up but HATED the bucket drill. It took quite a while for her to get brain and body to come together. Once they did, though, it felt natural.

We have done the bucket drill several times. Never seen the other one.

 

[lostcreek1]

Good , DD plays basketball. It is also something they can do on their own when you get sick of them and kick them out of the house

I am not saying that she should be explosive at 8, only that playing other sports would be a fun and healthy way of perhaps developing it.

I agree especially other sports that require a lot of use of the legs.

 

[PJR202]

I don’t think that was me. At the HS age you could probably train soccer players to be decent IF (footwork) but hitting is a different story..

25 years ago I don’t know if I would have had to say what I said but in today’s world I find that so many kids don’t know their body eg cannot run, jump etc because at recess they are not allowed to do anything and then they get home and play on the IPad for 3 hours..You don’t need organized sports to develop the ability to use your body but in today’s world that is often the option which is the best easiest..

My daughter's pitching coach regularly would say "I don't understand it. So many of these girls have no idea how to control their body."

Last season the top two HS hitters went back and forth all season. A volleyball player and cheerleader, both in their second year of softball. Cheerleader put 7 OTF. Granted, there was one higher level soccer player with the same level of softball experience who didn't get a single hit all season.