Ueno is very open and reaches way back yet her stride foot lands almost pointing directly at the catcher. This creates tension between her left hip and her right shoulder that initiates the whip of her arm. This leads and pull on the arm unlike HE which is pushing the arm.
Separation between hips and shoulders
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This is how it works when you throw a baseball, the foot lands pointing at the target, the hips turn the shoulders which loads the arm. The softball motion is significantly different, the arm is pulled down into brush interference, there is less shoulder turn, no need for a lot of tension between the hips and shoulders. In IR the shoulder should be stable but it doesn't drive the arm like it does in HE.
BigSkyHi
All I know is I don't know
- Jan 13, 2020
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Pitching coach Rich Balswick made the observation that the shoulder disengages at the peak and gravity will take the elbow to the brush interference slot and the forearm snaps the hand and ball to the release point.
Wasn’t trying to hijack this post into personal review. But since we are on the subject. the route we took to get to hip shoulder separation is in the drive leg form. The only way we could drive keeping the knee and laces to the catcher was to try to keep the hip closed. If you stop the video I posted on page 1 at 11 sec the hips knee and laces are all facing the catcher. Now I also see ball up and good extension at 9 in this frame. At 12 sec shoulder has dropped and pull starts towards BI. I agree there is room for improvement (why I’m asking) would she be in a better position if she left her glove pointing at catcher longer which would create more hip shoulder separation (seems like she adducts glove arm before pitching arm) or do I need to abandon the hip Shoulder separation theory and try to get open more it just seems like the more open her hip goes the more her knee Goes out and anchor foot shows up with loss of control. Since there are no games this would be an opportunity to make changes if we need to
BigSkyHi
All I know is I don't know
- Jan 13, 2020
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Ueno's glove hand palm is pointed down until she twists it to up. DD is back of hand to 1st base line at the beginning. Had a coach say that the back of the hand to the baseline will cause the glove and should to fly out. Maybe if she tries to keep the glove palm pointed down until she turns that front should will remain facing the target.
I think her hips are in great position for a powerful delivery.
Thanks so much you two
I think her hips are in great position for a powerful delivery.
Thanks so much you two
I would not compare it to an overhand throw but more like a professional golf swing where the first move of the down swing is an initiation by the left hip. Not all pitchers do this but you can clearly see it in Ueno and also the Scarborough video.
Interesting...if I've ever heard that or run across that advice before I've forgotten it! We've had folks say before that the glove swim isn't an issue at all and others seem to consider it a big no no. My DD has settled in to a relatively small glove whirl (rather than a full swimming breast stroke) and her shoulder flying out isn't really a problem. My concern is that she may be leaving some adduction power out of her pitch by bringing that left arm (she's a RHP) down too soon to her thigh and not always pulling both arms together simultaneously. I also believe that there could be some accuracy and sequence timing improvements from having that glove arm controlled a bit more?
BigSkyHi
All I know is I don't know
- Jan 13, 2020
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Does that picture of Ueno offer some help to the sequencing of the arm?
It's interesting how many frames there are in that one second (11 seconds in) and how much takes place. I feel that your daughter closes too fast and is losing some velocity. If the shoulders close too early you can't fully utilize arm adduction. Ueno stays open long enough to take full advantage of adduction. Don't be fooled by the fact that her laces are pointing forward, if you look at her hips you will see that they are still very much open as are her shoulders. Keep in mind that there are individual physical differences between athletes and a direct one to one comparison is not always applicable. Hip-shoulder separation is not a big factor because arm adduction is a major source source of velocity and shoulder rotation contributes very little. Turn the shoulders prematurely and you stunt adduction. At release your daughter is too 'square'. It also looks like she might be swimming the glove a bit too much, something which promotes turning the shoulders too early.
Very early in this thread I mentioned the efficient Kinematic sequence of the transfer from the opening movement into the closing movement is that the hips transition first and then the shoulders. In an efficient pitch the hips will create a stretching of muscles (and fascia) which will subsequently accelerate the rotational velocity of the chest (shoulders). So this is key number 1. Key number two is the efficient Kinematic sequence of deceleration (in a digression, deceleration is what transfers energy, so it is extremely important), the hips should decelerate first, followed by chest (shoulders) decelerating, followed by the arm decelerating.
So, the question is; "how do I know for certain if my kid is performing an efficient Kinematic sequence?". Well, there are a lot of instructors/people that will tell you they can visually see it...............I would suggest that they are probably correct only about 50% of the time.....and probably only in very obvious out of sequence pitches. When observing a relatively high level pitcher the difference between which transitions first or decelerates first can be microscopic. High speed video (600-1000 fps) will definitely help with the accuracy of the analysis but can still fool you or will really not provide the intricate measurements to tell you how far off the sequence is......or if/ how much your corrective drills may be helping.
To get the detail really needed to be confident of your analysis of a pitcher, you probably need to use a 3 dimensional sensing program. I have been using 4D Motion's product..........it can really open your eyes up. The measurements can show you detail down to ten thousands of a second or maybe 1 degree per second when and arm may be moving at 3000 degrees per second. I've said this many times since using a product like this: "just when I thought I knew it all....I found out how little I really new". The morale of this story is to keep exploring, keep digging, and keep an open mind.
So, the question is; "how do I know for certain if my kid is performing an efficient Kinematic sequence?". Well, there are a lot of instructors/people that will tell you they can visually see it...............I would suggest that they are probably correct only about 50% of the time.....and probably only in very obvious out of sequence pitches. When observing a relatively high level pitcher the difference between which transitions first or decelerates first can be microscopic. High speed video (600-1000 fps) will definitely help with the accuracy of the analysis but can still fool you or will really not provide the intricate measurements to tell you how far off the sequence is......or if/ how much your corrective drills may be helping.
To get the detail really needed to be confident of your analysis of a pitcher, you probably need to use a 3 dimensional sensing program. I have been using 4D Motion's product..........it can really open your eyes up. The measurements can show you detail down to ten thousands of a second or maybe 1 degree per second when and arm may be moving at 3000 degrees per second. I've said this many times since using a product like this: "just when I thought I knew it all....I found out how little I really new". The morale of this story is to keep exploring, keep digging, and keep an open mind.
