Need some advice/drills on correcting some mechanical flaws

[hummingbird]

So there are two issues with my DD in her pitching mechanics.

1. She is having issues keeping her drag toe down throughout her stride. Basically she hops up and comes back down and then drags. I don't know what else I can do to help her stop doing this, other than telling her to get her toe down early. Its gotten better since I've identified this issue and told her to fix it, but it's not consistent yet.

2. She has this tendency to lean forward on her stride. In other words, she's not "staying tall" through the pitch. This is something that I should have fixed a long time ago as I didn't realize this was a bad thing.

What drills or techniques can I get her to work on to squash these bad habits early? She's 9yr old.

 

[Man10]

A video may help to see exactly what she’s doing but my guess is she’s driving more up than out, that usually pulls the back foot up. I’d talk to her about driving more out than up and have her try to drive her hips past her shoulders which should help with the lean. When one of my athletes struggle with that I talk to them about using the glute muscle to “pop” their hips out instead of just their leg muscles to push them out.
Video her, let her see herself then show her a video of Ueno driving and let her compare the two videos. Take the ball away and work on just the drive and drag focusing on those two areas at the beginning of every practice until it sticks.
Good luck! Hope this helps


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[Traps71]

My younger DD has a similar issue with leaping. I'll defer to the many more experienced voices here on the forum, but one thing that I've found effective is "dry pitching." Going through her motion without a ball and with nothing to worry about other than trying to improve her mechanics on her push out. My daughter was often able to do things near perfect without the ball. Put the ball back in her hand and start pitching and many times the same issue would recur. It just takes reps and patience. I'd recommend her doing, say, 20 reps at the start of practice without the ball. Then get into your regular practice. You could also end the practice with 20 more dry reps. The other good thing is that because there is very little stress with this, she can do it on her own outside of practice. While doing so, it might be helpful for her to look in a mirror because she will be able to see what her feet are doing. Showing her what she is doing, whether with a video from your phone or the mirror, may help her make the connection and really "see" it.

I still have the issue of some forward tilt with my older DD. We worked to fix her "zombie foot" some time ago, but she still has the habit of tilting several degrees past vertical at/just after release. I am still working on this with her, but there are some old threads on here where Sluggers recommended the so-called Carolina walk-through and, for the lack of a better term, the Flamingo drill. In both cases, one of the pitcher's legs is off the ground when she pitches, forcing her to maintain her balance, which you cannot do if you are tipping forward. I've also heard this can be accomplished by having them put their stride foot on a basketball (or something else unstable) while throwing into a tarp--likewise it is forcing them to maintain their balance and posture.

I think long-toss (though I am not sure I would do this with a 9 yr old) will also help correct posture and other mechanical flaws because you simply will not be able to throw the ball very far without the correct mechanics/posture.

Anyway, you are at the beginning. Have fun together. Pack your patience. There are going to be many frustrating days for her and you. But she will progress and, as a bucket dad, it is pretty awesome to see that and be part of it.

 

[hummingbird]

A video may help to see exactly what she’s doing but my guess is she’s driving more up than out, that usually pulls the back foot up. I’d talk to her about driving more out than up and have her try to drive her hips past her shoulders which should help with the lean. When one of my athletes struggle with that I talk to them about using the glute muscle to “pop” their hips out instead of just their leg muscles to push them out.
Video her, let her see herself then show her a video of Ueno driving and let her compare the two videos. Take the ball away and work on just the drive and drag focusing on those two areas at the beginning of every practice until it sticks.
Good luck! Hope this helps


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Pop the glute.. excellent advice. I think that should work.
I

 

[hummingbird]

My younger DD has a similar issue with leaping. I'll defer to the many more experienced voices here on the forum, but one thing that I've found effective is "dry pitching." Going through her motion without a ball and with nothing to worry about other than trying to improve her mechanics on her push out. My daughter was often able to do things near perfect without the ball. Put the ball back in her hand and start pitching and many times the same issue would recur. It just takes reps and patience. I'd recommend her doing, say, 20 reps at the start of practice without the ball. Then get into your regular practice. You could also end the practice with 20 more dry reps. The other good thing is that because there is very little stress with this, she can do it on her own outside of practice. While doing so, it might be helpful for her to look in a mirror because she will be able to see what her feet are doing. Showing her what she is doing, whether with a video from your phone or the mirror, may help her make the connection and really "see" it.

I still have the issue of some forward tilt with my older DD. We worked to fix her "zombie foot" some time ago, but she still has the habit of tilting several degrees past vertical at/just after release. I am still working on this with her, but there are some old threads on here where Sluggers recommended the so-called Carolina walk-through and, for the lack of a better term, the Flamingo drill. In both cases, one of the pitcher's legs is off the ground when she pitches, forcing her to maintain her balance, which you cannot do if you are tipping forward. I've also heard this can be accomplished by having them put their stride foot on a basketball (or something else unstable) while throwing into a tarp--likewise it is forcing them to maintain their balance and posture.

I think long-toss (though I am not sure I would do this with a 9 yr old) will also help correct posture and other mechanical flaws because you simply will not be able to throw the ball very far without the correct mechanics/posture.

Anyway, you are at the beginning. Have fun together. Pack your patience. There are going to be many frustrating days for her and you. But she will progress and, as a bucket dad, it is pretty awesome to see that and be part of it.

Thanks for the feedback and encouragement. I think the idea of more dry pitching is a great idea, and something I wish I had done more of before with her.

 

[DrRiello]

My daughter still does it sometimes.

Dry throw yes. A drill we do is is to drive off the mound and end with arms straight out from. The key is to push the hips our forward, and head in center of legs or you can say head on rear hip. Depends.
This drill just keeps them BACK and helps keep foot on the ground.
Lmk how it works.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[hummingbird]

My daughter still does it sometimes.

Dry throw yes. A drill we do is is to drive off the mound and end with arms straight out from. The key is to push the hips our forward, and head in center of legs or you can say head on rear hip. Depends.
This drill just keeps them BACK and helps keep foot on the ground.
Lmk how it works.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Interesting. I did kind of have this feeling that the lean forward was attributing to her toe not staying down initially on the stride.. I think you just confirmed that.

 

[djcarter1966]

agree with @DrRiello dry throw drills, pick an amount of time maybe 10 minutes or so at beginning of practice sesions and she doesn't get to even hold the ball. At 9 yrs old this will be hard for her but explain that once she gets this down she doesn't need to keep doing this drill once it's ingrained into her mechanics but until she gets it she has to do the drill.

At the field you can even watch for the mark in the dirt and wipe away her mark after every pitch make it a little game. Be forwarned this will probably result in you investing in good quality shoes after she wears a hole in the ones she has. Also make sure she is not digging a trench or she doesn't have her foot sideways...the only thing that counts as correct is a light gliding mark that is mostly laces to catcher (there will will a slight foot turn with most pitcher but the heel should never drag).

Now after all that...I know you might be hesitant but a video would help alot...it's all constructive critique on the board and at 9 she probably has several other typical issues like the bend over and not being tall issue you are describing

 

[uncdrew]

So there are two issues with my DD in her pitching mechanics.

1. She is having issues keeping her drag toe down throughout her stride. Basically she hops up and comes back down and then drags. I don't know what else I can do to help her stop doing this, other than telling her to get her toe down early. Its gotten better since I've identified this issue and told her to fix it, but it's not consistent yet.

2. She has this tendency to lean forward on her stride. In other words, she's not "staying tall" through the pitch. This is something that I should have fixed a long time ago as I didn't realize this was a bad thing.

What drills or techniques can I get her to work on to squash these bad habits early? She's 9yr old.

Not sure how "long time ago" this really is. She's 9, it can be corrected. And might not take too long.

We do "air drill" (with no ball) to check on that lean. But it's mostly with her pitching coach. She has a much better eye than I do.

 

[djcarter1966]

and if your eye isn't good take video...it doesn't lie and she can see for herself what we are talking about