"Shove the Glove" to counter the distraction force

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halskinner

Banned
May 7, 2008
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SHOVE THE GLOVE

Question; My pitcher has a problem with her glove swimming out to the side. Why does she do this and how can it be fixed?

Her glove is swimming and she does that to try and get a better feeling of balance in her pitching motion. In other words, she is out of balance.

Ever see a tightrope walker? Remember the long balance pole he used to keep balanced so he did not fall off the line / cable he was walking on? It is exactly the same for a pitcher and their arms in the windmill motion. The glove arm is the counter-balance weight for their pitching arm and the windmill circle it makes.

When you make a windmill circle, that arm action produces a pulling force to the throwing side, it is referred to as a “Distraction force”.

You are trying to drive straight forward (straight down the power line) and that distraction force is pulling you to your glove side. Just like a tight rope walker using his balance pole, your glove goes out to the glove side so you can stay balanced and stay on the power line.

Here is the first thing I always recommend. I have always called it “Shove the Glove”.

As your stride foot just starts to go forward of the rubber, shove the glove straight at your catcher. Shove it out there and shove it hard, hard enough and far enough that it opens your shoulders during the upswing. Now that part of your balance pole is pointing straight down the power line as are your shoulders.

Now, as the ball starts into the downswing, quickly pull the glove straight back just to the glove side of where your belt buckle would be, the ‘Holster’ position. That glove arm action puts the counter-balance weight straight down the power line and pulls it straight back on the power line. The force created by that arm action will counter some of the distraction force on the other side happening with the arm circle. This also brings the glove back quickly to the mid-section for the best self-defense position of tyhe glove. Have the fingers spread wide and pointed slightly up.

The force of your forward momentum, as long as it is strong enough, is MUCH more than the distraction force trying to pull you off the power line. That distraction force will have zero effect because the forward momentum will overpower it.

Shove the glove with power, pull it back with power and have a strong push off and forward momentum and eliminate all the balance issues that pop up with weaker piotching forms and mechanics.

This has always worked for my students.

I hope you find this useful.
 
Jun 24, 2009
311
0
SHOVE THE GLOVE

Question; My pitcher has a problem with her glove swimming out to the side. Why does she do this and how can it be fixed?

Her glove is swimming and she does that to try and get a better feeling of balance in her pitching motion. In other words, she is out of balance.

Ever see a tightrope walker? Remember the long balance pole he used to keep balanced so he did not fall off the line / cable he was walking on? It is exactly the same for a pitcher and their arms in the windmill motion. The glove arm is the counter-balance weight for their pitching arm and the windmill circle it makes.

When you make a windmill circle, that arm action produces a pulling force to the throwing side, it is referred to as a “Distraction force”.

You are trying to drive straight forward (straight down the power line) and that distraction force is pulling you to your glove side. Just like a tight rope walker using his balance pole, your glove goes out to the glove side so you can stay balanced and stay on the power line.

Here is the first thing I always recommend. I have always called it “Shove the Glove”.

As your stride foot just starts to go forward of the rubber, shove the glove straight at your catcher. Shove it out there and shove it hard, hard enough and far enough that it opens your shoulders during the upswing. Now that part of your balance pole is pointing straight down the power line as are your shoulders.

Now, as the ball starts into the downswing, quickly pull the glove straight back just to the glove side of where your belt buckle would be, the ‘Holster’ position. That glove arm action puts the counter-balance weight straight down the power line and pulls it straight back on the power line. The force created by that arm action will counter some of the distraction force on the other side happening with the arm circle. This also brings the glove back quickly to the mid-section for the best self-defense position of tyhe glove. Have the fingers spread wide and pointed slightly up.

The force of your forward momentum, as long as it is strong enough, is MUCH more than the distraction force trying to pull you off the power line. That distraction force will have zero effect because the forward momentum will overpower it.

Shove the glove with power, pull it back with power and have a strong push off and forward momentum and eliminate all the balance issues that pop up with weaker piotching forms and mechanics.

This has always worked for my students.

I hope you find this useful.

Hal,thats strange,because I noticed on another thread some are telling a dad to teach his DD not to use her arms to help propel her forward.
 

halskinner

Banned
May 7, 2008
2,681
0
Hal,thats strange,because I noticed on another thread some are telling a dad to teach his DD not to use her arms to help propel her forward.

I too have always had to sit back and shake my head at some replies.

'Shove the glove' does not coontribute to speed, it contributes to balance.

If someone posted the question "How do I tie my shoes?", you would get 20 different answers, no doubt. Welcome to internet softball discussions.
 
Last edited:
Feb 3, 2010
5,752
113
Pac NW
Hal,thats strange,because I noticed on another thread some are telling a dad to teach his DD not to use her arms to help propel her forward.

Which thread? Use of both arms to help propel the body is very important. I'd guess one could add half a foot to their leap by making better use of the arms if they didn't before.
 

halskinner

Banned
May 7, 2008
2,681
0
Which thread? Use of both arms to help propel the body is very important. I'd guess one could add half a foot to their leap by making better use of the arms if they didn't before.[/QUOTE

Ken,

Just this old pitcher's opinion again. As I mentioned, if the forward momentum and leg drive is as strong as it should be, what little bit the arms can contribute to stride length will be dwarfed by the little bit the arms might contribute to stride length. One has to remember you have to brin g the ball back and then, bring it forward. Bringing the ball down behind and then forward places some resistance to the forward momentum. Pulling the glove back to the belt area with some force couteracts some of that force against the forward momentum.

Using the glove arm for balance m akes the overall motions smoother. The smoother the motion the easier it is to pitch, tyhe easier it is to pitch faster. ]
 

halskinner

Banned
May 7, 2008
2,681
0
Maybe I should put it like this;

I don’t believe the glove arm can contribute to stride length.

I DO believe, however, that the glove arm AND the throwing arm can do things that can impede stride length.

Thus my statement about balance improving smoothness and overall speed.. If anything either arm is doing is 'not quite right', that can certainly impede forward progress by putting the pitcher out of good balance.

Does that make sense?


Believ e it or not, shove the glove fixxed her!

 
Last edited:
Feb 3, 2010
5,752
113
Pac NW
I truly believe a good glove shove will add measurable power to the pitch.
 
Last edited:
Jun 24, 2009
311
0
Which thread? Use of both arms to help propel the body is very important. I'd guess one could add half a foot to their leap by making better use of the arms if they didn't before.
It got edited out. I agree with both of you.
 
Aug 21, 2008
2,359
113
Oh no!!! I use the term "Shove the glove" too (and have for a long time). I didn't realize I had "once again" plagiarized.

First it was my riseball grip that I've used nearly all my life (which I never claimed to have invented in the first place). Of course, now I realize that I used material that someone else was also using. I didn't realize that the grip I was taught when I was 17 years old or so was actually invented by someone in today's softball era!! Imagine my surprise to have learned I "stole" the grip from someone who invented it and passed it on to pitchers from USA to New Zealand to South Africa to Taiwan to Europe. I mean, literally everywhere in the world I went to either play or coach, the guys I was with/against were using almost the same exact grip for the riseball!! And all this time, the "inventor" of that grip was right under my nose. Apparently it was someone who I had never heard of before the internet existed, and someone I had never emailed or "met" online since I got into softball pitching coaching in 2003. Don't worry, the math doesn't add up for me either: started using my riseball grip in 1988 (approx). Started playing internationally in 1990. Started coaching pitchers in 2003. But apparently I "stole" this grip of the pitch in 2012.

Now it's this expression. I feel like such a failure. And to think, here I was thinking I was smart enough to have thought of that rhyming phrase all by myself!!! Now I have something else to be ashamed of.

Bill
 
Aug 21, 2008
2,359
113
Oh no!!! I use the term "Shove the glove" too (and have for a long time). I didn't realize I had "once again" plagiarized.

First it was my riseball grip that I've used nearly all my life (which I never claimed to have invented in the first place). Of course, now I realize that I used material that someone else was also using. I didn't realize that the grip I was taught when I was 17 years old or so was actually invented by someone in today's softball era!! Imagine my surprise to have learned I "stole" the grip from someone who invented it and passed it on to pitchers from USA to New Zealand to South Africa to Taiwan to Europe. I mean, literally everywhere in the world I went to either play or coach, the guys I was with/against were using almost the same exact grip for the riseball!! And all this time, the "inventor" of that grip was right under my nose. Apparently it was someone who I had never heard of before the internet existed, and someone I had never emailed or "met" online since I got into softball pitching coaching in 2003. Don't worry, the math doesn't add up for me either: started using my riseball grip in 1988 (approx). Started playing internationally in 1990. Started coaching pitchers in 2003. But apparently I "stole" this grip of the pitch in 2012.

Now it's this expression. I feel like such a failure. And to think, here I was thinking I was smart enough to have thought of that rhyming phrase all by myself!!! Now I have something else to be ashamed of.

Bill
 

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