My daughter is 11 and is throwing quite hard. She has received conflicting advice on the length of her stride coming off the mound. A pitching "expert" in our community tells her she should be taking a shorter stride off the mound, while nearly every other coach she's had wants her to take a longer stride off the mound. Who is right?
Question on length of stride
- Thread starter Mama B
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- May 7, 2008
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Here is what I think. The longer the better to a point. The longer the stride the closer to the batter and the higher the effective speed regardless of the ball speed. So from that point of view longer is better. I also find that longer is in genral more explosive so the body is moving faster the arm faster and these all make the ball go faster.
Now at some point if the stride is realllllllly long her foot will be in the air when her hand begins the downward movement in the arm circle. AT THAT POINT HER STRIDE IS TOO LONG. stride foots hits at 2 oclock ( just past vertical) seems to be the consensus on the optimal timing ( i asked people opinion on the optimal landing relative to arm position once and thats what the consensus was)
Now if she is striding so far she looses body control and falls over and loses good mechanics well thats not good but I figure thats kind of obvious.
Now at some point if the stride is realllllllly long her foot will be in the air when her hand begins the downward movement in the arm circle. AT THAT POINT HER STRIDE IS TOO LONG. stride foots hits at 2 oclock ( just past vertical) seems to be the consensus on the optimal timing ( i asked people opinion on the optimal landing relative to arm position once and thats what the consensus was)
Now if she is striding so far she looses body control and falls over and loses good mechanics well thats not good but I figure thats kind of obvious.
halskinner
Banned
- May 7, 2008
- 2,637
- 0
Is she a leap and drag pitcher? If so, try a stride length 3 inches less than her height. That is where I started all my students.
sneakysoftballpitching.com
sneakysoftballpitching.com
12u DD is working on shortening her stride which has been further than her height this season. I believe it is healthier for her stride leg knee and it helps her finish in more of a defensive position rather than falling back onto her pivot foot.
We have not seen a gain or a loss in speed by shortening her stride a bit. The leg drive is still the same, but she is just landing a bit sooner to allow her momentum to carry her up onto her stride leg so that after her drag foot drags it isn't necessary to step back to catch herself.
I believe that perhaps the shorter stride speeds up her arm circle and thus far I like the results. Plenty of girls step or 'drive' very non-chalantly in comparision to my DD who 'explodes' yet they throw with more velocity. This has me questioning the role that a powerful leap/drag of the legs plays in velocity. I'm no PC but numbers don't lie.
VW
We have not seen a gain or a loss in speed by shortening her stride a bit. The leg drive is still the same, but she is just landing a bit sooner to allow her momentum to carry her up onto her stride leg so that after her drag foot drags it isn't necessary to step back to catch herself.
I believe that perhaps the shorter stride speeds up her arm circle and thus far I like the results. Plenty of girls step or 'drive' very non-chalantly in comparision to my DD who 'explodes' yet they throw with more velocity. This has me questioning the role that a powerful leap/drag of the legs plays in velocity. I'm no PC but numbers don't lie.
VW
- Feb 5, 2010
- 222
- 16
I'm no coach but I started six of my daughters feet end to end from the rubber which in her case translates to her hight minus about an inch. As far as comparing to others, I would first look at mechanics. I see a great deal of girls in our area at the 10U and 12U level pitch with pretty good velocity. What I see and this is something that my own daughter did in the beginning, most of the girls are just muscling the ball over with poor mechanics. Sure they are throwing pretty hard for their age NOW but what is going to happen down the road. IF I was going to compare, I would find the girl with great machanics and better then average speed.
