month of drills drills drills.. for what?

[HOF86]

Ok

Drills drills and more drills. I have not let my daughter pitch in quite a while. We are introducing the I/R that had been catching on as of late. I was very excited to see the sticky on here. My daughter works with myself and a Hillhouse protege for lack of a better term.

Here is my problem hopefully it's common and I can get some help. We have drilled lead with pinky , ball to sky, triceps to side to death.

Im letting her pitch full windup for the first time... And to my amazement the ball is spinning like a curve ball rotation. I have a crappy Camera for slo motion so I can't say for sure. I'm assuming she is getting behind the ball to soon and worrying about turning palm to the ground and turning the hand over to soon.. Thus the curve ball?????? Wth can we do? She does her drills nicely. Gets the spin we are looking for. But the spin is like a curve ball when we do full motion. She had to be turning hand to soon and over rotating before release? Need some help.

 

[HOF86]

Oilf have you ever trained a pitcher? If you have then i just plain old disagree, you get absolutely zero out of full pitching when elbo is locked, hand is behind the ball. I am of the opinion that i have train her arm and muscle memory first, yes im the idiot that taught her the common way at first, its much more difficult to unlearn something, i strongly believe that just letting her pitch is like pissing in the wind.

I think she is ready to move forward with full windup based upon her performance of the drills, we also introduced the footwork into these drills. The k drill is close to full dlivery. I do like the magic drill i think its called. I will read more on that and see exactly what the purpose of that drill is, i did steal the lock it in drill from here also. We have bypassed that drill all together until i saw this site, not sure that drill dies much at all seeing how she does just fine with whats called on here the unlock drill.

Anyway the question was why are we throwing curveballs. I have my theory, and i dang sure need a better camera for starters.

 

[HOF86]

Oilf

Make it clear that i agree with the statement , have to let her pitch. But in due time, in due time. Where i disagree is letting her loose with ir and it is nothing close to our goal, im simply saying i need to train the arm first and not be in a rush for full windup results.

 

[HOF86]

Lol, hardly. Im looking for suggestion that is correct. What was your suggestion? I took your one suggestion that didnt address the issue i posted about. I just simply did not agree, no big deal, i appreciate the response. I could be wrong. point is mute really, as i stated she has done really well with the drills and now im ready. Not even a discussion at this point. Why you even brought it up i guess i dont understand because i stated we are doing full windup now and throwing curve balls, so id like to move on. My concern is the curve balls. Im assuming she is rotating the hand to soon. I cant tell with my crappy camera or the naked eye, my instant feedback is the balls spin as a curve ball. Not good

I gotta get a camera, any suggestions?


Thanks and im not trying to be a jerk or argue.

 

[James Smith]

Do this to a couple balls and you (and her) will be able to see the spin right away.

The Fine Art of Creating a Striped Softball Great softball pitching hints and recommendations for girl softball pitchers

 

[HOF86]

Do this to a couple balls and you (and her) will be able to see the spin right away.

The Fine Art of Creating a Striped Softball Great softball pitching hints and recommendations for girl softball pitchers

James i didnt say i couldnt see the spin. I have the balls taped and i have a good enough eye that i can see spin with tape or not. Im saying i cant see what position her hand is in. There is no doubt the spin is curve ball spin.

Seeing spin isnt the problem. Seeing hand position at release is, im just asking if my diagnosis is correct? My video blows . Cant define hand location or at any point in the circle. Coaches eye doesnt work, regular camera doesnt worrk. Im gonna do some research.

Thanks for the link thats pretty cool.

 

[HOF86]

Good point. Never thought about her seeing the spin.

 

[Rick Pauly]

Try the drill without the "ball to the sky". This might be causing her to cup under the ball at release....similar to a palm-up curve. Have her just slice the hand down with the ball facing third base.

Ok

Drills drills and more drills. I have not let my daughter pitch in quite a while. We are introducing the I/R that had been catching on as of late. I was very excited to see the sticky on here. My daughter works with myself and a Hillhouse protege for lack of a better term.

Here is my problem hopefully it's common and I can get some help. We have drilled lead with pinky ,

ball to sky,

triceps to side to death.

Im letting her pitch full windup for the first time... And to my amazement the ball is spinning like a curve ball rotation. I have a crappy Camera for slo motion so I can't say for sure. I'm assuming she is getting behind the ball to soon and worrying about turning palm to the ground and turning the hand over to soon.. Thus the curve ball?????? Wth can we do? She does her drills nicely. Gets the spin we are looking for. But the spin is like a curve ball when we do full motion. She had to be turning hand to soon and over rotating before release? Need some help.

 

[Ken B]

I'm assuming she is getting behind the ball to soon and worrying about turning palm to the ground and turning the hand over to soon..

I think this might be the culprit. It sounds like either you or she are trying to force I/R ather than allow it to happen. Unlike Star Wars, we resist the force and allow I/R to happen. We're trying to whip the ball, not throw it. Keep pulling down, keeping the lower arm loose and lead with the pinky. OILF is spot on in that you may have over drilled instead of allowing it to happen. There needs to be a balance of drill and freedom. Drills can be torture--make sure they serve a purpose and try to keep it fun.

 

[slingnit]

I am thinking the opposite. Not behind the ball at all and possibly getting under the ball a little. That along with letting the arm finish across the body, like a lot of kids do, would definitely give you curve ball spin.

I also disagree that working drills with locked arm and staying behind the ball is totally worthless. That was the way my daughter was taught and practiced for most of her pitching career. But when you slowed down video you could see she was actually using IR unintentionally. Their body will almost force the arm to move in it's natural motion. It may not help every girl but whatever works, right? If you tell a kid to shut one eye, breath out the left nostril, and count backwards to help her understand how to do something, then use it. IMO