Wrapping head

[Cornbread]

Watch this video. Take notes. Get her to perform it just as Java’s dd does. This drill will be a gamechanger for her. Stick to doing it. Takes some time for them to feel the timing of this drill but commit to it.

 

[HunterMO]

I’ve read through the thread and watched OP’s videos. Here’s my two cents. Use what makes sense. Or ignore it. Just sharing from the time and work spent with my DD.

Forward lean at launch is fine. I actually wouldn’t mind if she got even more into an sprinters position. “Knee and nose over toes” was DD’s cue.

Hip opens too early. This is why her drag foot turns inside almost immediately. It can cause a couple problems. The foot turns into a boat anchor. Which then holds the whole lower half back. Not allowing her to “fire the booty muscles” and get herself stacked. Have her concentrate on a laces forward drag foot position start to finish. Or to drag her big toe. Not the inside of her foot. This can be a singular drill/focus. And will take doing it 10k times. But this keeps the hips square and not open too early. Think of it this way. If throwing over hand (or even hitting), would you allow the lower half to act like hers does in the video? No, because too much is left behind. Hip can’t get through.

Push her to drive the stride knee up and out more. Get the stride thigh perpendicular to the ground. This will help her get the hips under the torso and get her stacked. This will be uncomfortable to her but that’s ok.

In terms of the arm circle she is pulling the ball behind her head. DD had this issue when she had a swing back start. But also had the opening early issue. We transitioned her to starting out of the glove (for a multitude of reasons) and eventually a lot corrected. Out of the glove allows the body to stay more square and minimizes getting twisted up.

As a start, I think fixing the lower half will help with the upper.

 

[Junebug]

She does open a little too early but she looks decent overall. She opens a bit on the backswing and never gets back to where she should be. She has an exceptional amount of arm flex in the downswing, I'm not sure how I feel about that. Coming out of the glove is something to play around with, it should help keep her from opening too early. Sometimes focusing on increasing the force of the upswing helps with limiting the early opening. She looks like she might 'placing' the ball at the top of the circle instead of swinging it up and over the top. So that is another thing to try. The other thing that catches my eye is the leap, it's not a crow hop because she doesn't replant. She gets too bent over at push off and never gets her hips back under her shoulders, doesn't get back to being 'stacked'. It's common for pitchers to get too bent over in an effort to have a strong leap. If you look at the 2nd Luna video when the ball/arm is halfway into the upswing (9 o'clock in this video) her torso is almost vertical. Compare this to the video of your student and you can see how much more she is still leaning over. Some of this has to do with quad dominant pushoff vs utilizing the glutes more. A little fine tuning and she'll be good.

Thank you so much, very good. Any advice on the arm circle? The ball is still behind her at 9 o’clock or am I too focused on this?

 

[HunterMO]

I should also say she really looks like just a couple detail tweaks away from getting her where you think she needs to be. But the detail work is the hardest work. As the gains aren’t necessarily as quick to notice.

 

[HunterMO]

Thank you so much, very good. Any advice on the arm circle? The ball is still behind her at 9 o’clock or am I too focused on this?

Wall drills, put a mirror behind a backstop net, arm circles with a t-ball bat or weighted ball, video, etc etc.

She likely does not feel that she’s pulling the ball behind her head. You have to find a way to get her to feel it so she can correct it.

Is she sore in a certain area after practicing or pitching?

 

[Junebug]

I’ve read through the thread and watched OP’s videos. Here’s my two cents. Use what makes sense. Or ignore it. Just sharing from the time and work spent with my DD.

Forward lean at launch is fine. I actually wouldn’t mind if she got even more into an sprinters position. “Knee and nose over toes” was DD’s cue.

Hip opens too early. This is why her drag foot turns inside almost immediately. It can cause a couple problems. The foot turns into a boat anchor. Which then holds the whole lower half back. Not allowing her to “fire the booty muscles” and get herself stacked. Have her concentrate on a laces forward drag foot position start to finish. Or to drag her big toe. Not the inside of her foot. This can be a singular drill/focus. And will take doing it 10k times. But this keeps the hips square and not open too early. Think of it this way. If throwing over hand (or even hitting), would you allow the lower half to act like hers does in the video? No, because too much is left behind. Hip can’t get through.

Push her to drive the stride knee up and out more. Get the stride thigh perpendicular to the ground. This will help her get the hips under the torso and get her stacked. This will be uncomfortable to her but that’s ok.

In terms of the arm circle she is pulling the ball behind her head. DD had this issue when she had a swing back start. But also had the opening early issue. We transitioned her to starting out of the glove (for a multitude of reasons) and eventually a lot corrected. Out of the glove allows the body to stay more square and minimizes getting twisted up.

As a start, I think fixing the lower half will help with the upper.

I do like the idea starting in the glove for her

 

[Junebug]

Thanks for all the input, knew I would get great advice here. I would in no way call myself a pitching coach, just a bucket dad with a passion for pitching. I could never find a pitching coach for my daughters when we started almost 8 years ago. I’ve had a great time reading for hours and learning drills like the two-step. A little knowledge is dangerous!

I offered to try to help this girl and only met with her a few days ago. I do see flaws in her mechanics that need to be addressed but my main concern was her arm circle which I feel is causing her to not have a consistent release point being so extreme. Apparently this has only developed recently. I realize there’s no quick fix and much work can be done in other areas.

I want to make sure I wasn’t coming off as someone claiming to be an all-knowing pitching coach. Just want to help girls succeed and feel I do have enough knowledge to do this but this issue is new to me. If I planned to keep working with her we could certainly start from the ground up. I see a lot of good in her and hate seeing her frustrated.

 

[ArmWhip]

Thank you so much, very good. Any advice on the arm circle? The ball is still behind her at 9 o’clock or am I too focused on this?

I would wait and see if any of the things you try have an effect. Coming out of the glove, more energy on the upswing, focusing on staying square, any of these might help keep her from opening too early, if she opens at a more conventional time it might keep the arm circle more in line.

 

[Bonesaw]

Maybe taking a look at her glove hand might help her get better with her throwing arm. Too me something looks off with her arm action. Like too much of a good thing(External rotation)

Her glove arm is dead in one and close to dead in the other. I dont think you could move both arms, at the same time, the way she moves her throwing arm. Moving both similarly might even it out.

The first ~2 mins of this one and a few other pauly vids I dont have the energy to find might be beneficial. Maybe someone can link a Pauly vid explaining the glove arm action.

 

[Junebug]

Maybe taking a look at her glove hand might help her get better with her throwing arm. Too me something looks off with her arm action. Like too much of a good thing(External rotation)

Her glove arm is dead in one and close to dead in the other. I dont think you could move both arms, at the same time, the way she moves her throwing arm. Moving both similarly might even it out.

The first ~2 mins of this one and a few other pauly vids I dont have the energy to find might be beneficial. Maybe someone can link a Pauly vid explaining the glove arm action.

Maybe taking a look at her glove hand might help her get better with her throwing arm. Too me something looks off with her arm action. Like too much of a good thing(External rotation)

Her glove arm is dead in one and close to dead in the other. I dont think you could move both arms, at the same time, the way she moves her throwing arm. Moving both similarly might even it out.

The first ~2 mins of this one and a few other pauly vids I dont have the energy to find might be beneficial. Maybe someone can link a Pauly vid explaining the glove arm action.

Great! Nice observation. Found this,