Steve,
I wanted to touch on this before the thread got too much longer.
The video Greenmonsters pointed out was the blocking technique that we teach out of the "No-body On-base" receiving position. The purpose of which it to make sure our umpires don't take unnecessary shots even on pitches in the dirt WITHOUT a runner on base.
Because this catcher is in a low, compact stance, her hips are below her knees and thus will be forced to go up first before getting back down to the ground. Again, with nobody on base, I could care less where the ball goes, just as long as it doesn't hit my umpire.
I will also have to respectfully disagree with your assessment that this catcher is "flat-footed". Her entire foot might be touching the ground, but I can assure you that the weight of her body rest on the balls of her feet, toes pointed up the baselines for clear lateral movement capabilities. Because of this she is able to move in any direction, powerfully. When you rest on the insides of your feet, it forces the knees slightly forward, thus locking off your hips to a certain extent. Depending on the flexibility and athleticism of the catcher, the level to which that negatively limits a catcher's movement behind the plate can vary, but with the weight on the inside of the feet, the body actually is quite often forced to turn the hips away from the direction of the block before actually firing to the side. This costs us time and the ability to deflect the ball directly in front of us.
What is going to allow a fast kick backwards with the feet is a proper "Runners-On Base" position, where the hips are in line with the knees. When the hips are up, no lower than the height of the knees, the catcher does not need to go up first.
We also teach bringing the feet together in the back, but emphasize that while a product of doing that might be keeping a few balls from going behind you if you are late with your glove to the ground, the purpose for bringing them together has virtually nothing to do with creating a back up plan for a bad block. The feet need to come together on a block down the middle because all that force from the upper body is being directed forward. We need a third point of contact on the ground (2 knees + both feet together in back) to anchor us to the ground, while still allowing us to stay over top of the ball with our chest to prevent the ball from kicking off to our side or being redirected too far out in front of us. Our goal is to get to the ground as soon as we can read that the pitch is in the dirt.
I will put up a video shortly once I get a chance to rip the the video off of our DVD, but I can assure you that what you will see is the quickest and most efficient way to get to the ground for a block.
As far as the blocks to the side go...it is very tough to determine what their range actually was in those videos from ACC. A catcher only havs to go as far as the ball thrown. There is one simple rule to live by when it comes to blocking. If I can get my hands to the ball, I can get my body around it as long as I read the pitch in the dirt correctly and early enough. It is as simple as that. Our brain has an incredible ability to reset our middle upon where our hands rest together in front of us. The second those hands move off-center to the side of our body for a ball to our left or right, our brain will do everything it can to re-align. Yes, there are sequence logistics that can be broken down further, but hands to the ball (no matter how far to the side it is) - body around hands, is the key to a successful block.
I'll get those videos up in a short while.
I wanted to touch on this before the thread got too much longer.
The video Greenmonsters pointed out was the blocking technique that we teach out of the "No-body On-base" receiving position. The purpose of which it to make sure our umpires don't take unnecessary shots even on pitches in the dirt WITHOUT a runner on base.
Because this catcher is in a low, compact stance, her hips are below her knees and thus will be forced to go up first before getting back down to the ground. Again, with nobody on base, I could care less where the ball goes, just as long as it doesn't hit my umpire.
I will also have to respectfully disagree with your assessment that this catcher is "flat-footed". Her entire foot might be touching the ground, but I can assure you that the weight of her body rest on the balls of her feet, toes pointed up the baselines for clear lateral movement capabilities. Because of this she is able to move in any direction, powerfully. When you rest on the insides of your feet, it forces the knees slightly forward, thus locking off your hips to a certain extent. Depending on the flexibility and athleticism of the catcher, the level to which that negatively limits a catcher's movement behind the plate can vary, but with the weight on the inside of the feet, the body actually is quite often forced to turn the hips away from the direction of the block before actually firing to the side. This costs us time and the ability to deflect the ball directly in front of us.
What is going to allow a fast kick backwards with the feet is a proper "Runners-On Base" position, where the hips are in line with the knees. When the hips are up, no lower than the height of the knees, the catcher does not need to go up first.
We also teach bringing the feet together in the back, but emphasize that while a product of doing that might be keeping a few balls from going behind you if you are late with your glove to the ground, the purpose for bringing them together has virtually nothing to do with creating a back up plan for a bad block. The feet need to come together on a block down the middle because all that force from the upper body is being directed forward. We need a third point of contact on the ground (2 knees + both feet together in back) to anchor us to the ground, while still allowing us to stay over top of the ball with our chest to prevent the ball from kicking off to our side or being redirected too far out in front of us. Our goal is to get to the ground as soon as we can read that the pitch is in the dirt.
I will put up a video shortly once I get a chance to rip the the video off of our DVD, but I can assure you that what you will see is the quickest and most efficient way to get to the ground for a block.
As far as the blocks to the side go...it is very tough to determine what their range actually was in those videos from ACC. A catcher only havs to go as far as the ball thrown. There is one simple rule to live by when it comes to blocking. If I can get my hands to the ball, I can get my body around it as long as I read the pitch in the dirt correctly and early enough. It is as simple as that. Our brain has an incredible ability to reset our middle upon where our hands rest together in front of us. The second those hands move off-center to the side of our body for a ball to our left or right, our brain will do everything it can to re-align. Yes, there are sequence logistics that can be broken down further, but hands to the ball (no matter how far to the side it is) - body around hands, is the key to a successful block.
I'll get those videos up in a short while.
