What do you think of this sequence of pitching photos

[dpstock27]

She is very good for her age. The main thing that I would work on, now, is the fact that in the first frames she is dragging the side of her right foot (and then, she goes to the toe.) Secondly, she has been taught to end in a 4 and she is kicking out too far, to the left of the power line. I have a 9 YO doing that right, now - and I know that it can get worse and develop into a donkey kick.

She appears to be a very nice athlete. Good job.

What suggestions do you have to correct the issue of “dragging the side of her right foot”?

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Hi, dpstick. Now, that she is already doing it and putting her ankle in that awkward position, pitch after pitch, I would have her do a lot of proper power Ks during practice. Then, every time she drags the side of the foot during lessons - go right back to the Power K drill.

Also, in the house, have her practice her foot work, using a mirror where she can see her feet.

You could put a piece of masking tape on the cleat, at the big toe of the right foot and have her drag it off - but she is hitting the toe, late, so that might not work.

As Hal Skinner often says, that drag toe is our rudder (think boat). If you are throwing an anchor down, think about what that does to pitch speed.

 

[ArmWhip]

This is very good for a 10U. To improve she needs to delay to the armwhip release, you are on the right track. Most HS pitchers get to this point and don't seem to be able to take the next step. They start to square the shoulders too early and muscle the ball instead of staying open, delaying the release and slinging the ball in there. My daughter never got past this point even though she saw herself doing it on video many times. I sometimes wonder if it is a strength thing. I have one girl who armwhips a Jugs Lite Flight ball beautifully, but give her a real ball and she uses the shoulder too early and loses the full effect of the armwhip. I call it early release.

 

[Ade's Dad]

My DD used to pitch just like yours. What really helped her with the swimming was to have her shoulders open by the time the ball got to 12 o'clock. Then keep them open until she released the ball .Made a big difference. She is about 3 years older than your DD. All I told her was to open sooner and remain open until she released the ball. Hope this helps. Watch Osterman,Finch,and Ueno on Siggy's web site,or better yet download them and watch them frame by frame and compare to your DD.

 

[wild man]

Here is my two cents. First she looks like a top notch athlete especially for so young. She also looks to be god awfull strong. I agree with most everyone but no one mentioned that at the top of her circle she looks a little what I call "far out". Meaning that her hand appears too far OUT She is able to correct it because of strength.

I may be wrong because of the angle of the shot. But if I am right she will gain some speed by reaching up straight above and releasing slightly more open. She will become a very good pitcher at some point I think. Great shots!!

 

[lhowser]

Thanks for taking the time for the good input. Yesterday we focused on the glove hand making sure it came out towards the target first to allow the shoulders more of a chance to open (If they are never open she can't stay open). When she started to the left so early with the glove (like in initial post) it seemed to fight opening the soulders. She had some good results but it was only one practice and one practice does not a habit make! We also discussed to concept of going "down" not "out" with the arm when the foot hit as discussed previously in this link to promote an earlier not out front release. She seemed to understand the concept. We'll see how these ideas help her move forward.

 

[fastpitch91]

Do you have a cue or is it just a feel based on discussion with dd?

As foot lands forward lean and shoulder roll stops??

i use the cue liek this. fott landing is boom, arm whipping down back to release is the boom #2 and what they want to get is boom boom, not boom.................boom



and mark was advertsign that power pivot foot thing will help correct the side foot drag. the cue i use for this is to tuck the back knee into the stride knee head it straight in. and work on wearing out the tip of their shoe!

 

[halskinner]

No push off the rubber

If she is dragging her entire foot at the point of pic #1, she is not pushing off or she would still be up on her toe.

Her shoulders are at ZERO degrees at release. They should be at around 45-degrees. halfway open and halfway closed.

Fix those two things and she will throw harder and do it alot more comfortably.

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