Opening Early Driving Off Rubber

[NVfishing]

In an attempt to get my girls to drive off the rubber we do a drill where I stand in front of them, put our hands together and I have them push off with their drive foot/leg. The goal is to get for a full straight leg drive along with foot extension. We do this up and down the gym a few times once a week. That being said, I've noticed some of the elite pitchers also have an ever so slight twitch off their drive foot in an attempt to set the hips up for early open. A smidge of an angle on the drive foot shouldn't be a deal breaker, too many of the top pitchers do it. Strong drive, full extension of the leg and foot is what your looking for. Watch Monica's drive leg and foot. Both achieve full extension (explosion) off the "rubber" while still having a bit of an angle. Someone mentioned a while back that if they don't do that (full extension) they're just stepping off the rubber not exploding. Explode off that rubber.

She took a six inch step off the rubber prior to the start of the drive. She ever get called for it?

 

[Dial]

She does every once in a while. According to rule as long as the feet are over the pitching plate its legal. At least this is what I have been told by umpires and my DD PC.

 

[Classof2020]

She took a six inch step off the rubber prior to the start of the drive. She ever get called for it?

It is legal when she is playing internationally and I think also in the NPF.

 

[WillyT812]

I knew when I posted this clip of Monica it would become lost about the drive foot twitch to prepare to open the hips and it would also be lost about the plant foot shock wave/front side resistance. It's one of the maddening things about DFP, within five post to a thread it goes completely off axis. Such is life.

 

[djcarter1966]

So since we are talking about drive from her foot, am I imagining things or if you look closely at the first frames of 1:03 it looks like she is getting drive from her right foot as her left foot is off the ground and then for a split second drive from both feet as she replants and pushes off the left foot. Obviously you would normally be off balance if your feet were so close together but since she has some separation it is what it looks like, almost like a really short walk through drill.

 

[WillyT812]

As we work the two-step drill one of the things we're focusing on is a slight lift of the drive foot to ensure complete weight transfer. Over here in Europe they won't call it as long as it's not too dramatic and there's no true replant out in front of the rubber. Again, the reason I posted this clip was to show the thread initiator that one of the top pitchers in the world has an ever-so-slight angle on her drive foot in an attempt to open up early. It's acceptable. And, she's not the only top pitcher that does it.

 

[FastPitchCat]

bump.

how important is it to keep the shoulders square to the plate when doing the backswing to avoid opening early?

 

[shaker1]

bump.

how important is it to keep the shoulders square to the plate when doing the backswing to avoid opening early?

All these gals look fairly square.

 

[FastPitchCat]

All these gals look fairly square.

DD has a tendency to turn her shoulders during backswing and ends up opening early and over-rotating. i'm not sure if these 2 are related, but it sure looks like a cause and effect.
During a tournament 2 years ago, we were warming up and a man walking his dog stopped, looked and commented right away. "she's opening early".

back then, I didn't know what he was talking about and wasn't able to get his name.

 

[Ken B]

I'm ok with some turn during back swing, but want the feel to be driving squarely and allowing extension to open the body naturally. The Two Step sequence alone can help.