12u feedback

[flamethrower]

Thank you for the suggestions.

1. Leap -- definitely need to get this straightened out. Over the summer she had growing pain off and on in that left knee. I think that contributed to developing the leap.

2. Glove action -- good spot on her leaving her glove up Sluggers.


3. Pivot foot turn -- she does work on keeping it straight. When called out on it or challenged to keep it straight for say the next 10 pitches she can do it. However she migrates back to turning it at this point.

4 Control -- pretty good control. Typical routine is to go 3-inside 3-outside with each(3) pitch and do that a few times then follow that with some innings. As the fall progresses I'm gonna go to 4 quadrants(in-high&low,out-hi&low).

 

[humpty]

I am sorry, but this young lady is leaping. I would have to start her all over, if she came to me. I am wondering if you mean that she is in rec ball? I don't want to sound harsh, but there isn't any other way to put it.

Amy my 10yo DD leaps similar to this kid. How do I fix it? Why would a kid that leaps need to start over? Where do we start? When I ask her to drag her toe she can but she will leap about half the time if she's not trying to drag.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Humpty, The arm circle is allowing the leap. I mean think about an overhand throw that you are trying to make in the air. Sometimes a MLB player can accomplish that, but very few have a good overhand throw with the back foot in the air.

As Hal Skinner has explained on this sight, the rear foot is the "rudder" of the pitch. Take away the rudder and what do you have?

You can yell at a girl all that you want "Drag the toe." But, until she fixes her overall pitching, she "just" can't "drag the toe". U of A ran into this problem with Kenzie Fowler, her freshman year. She had been allowed to leap for years. So, during the championship game of the World Series, the umps called illegal pitch repeatedly. So, of course, her muscle memory and pitching motion did not allow for her to drag her toe. Guess what the coaches did? They wrapped the toe of her shoe in an inch of athletic tape.

She took the summer to re-invent her pitching and the leap has disappeared. So, in short. I choose not to have these girls pitch that are illegal. It only re-inforces what they are doing that is wrong.

I was just watching Bill Hillhouse's 4 or 5 part series on You Tube. There is a lot of excellent information, there.

 

[humpty]

I agree she's illegal. What about the arm circle allows or causes the leap? We went to a pc to address the leap the pc had her drag a string placed in front of the toe. It kinda helped. I'm looking for a cure. Help.

 

[humpty]

Watched the YouTube hillhouse part 4. He didn't address the leap. He says a pause in the arm circle causes a crow hop. My DD leaps the first 2 to 8 inches of the drag. I think she does it to get her hips open.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

In general, I would video tape the girl and look at the 30 frames per minute, to try and see where the problem lies. Also, I look at and teach the overhand throw. We throw overhand every day. It is almost impossible to teach a girl to pitch that does not have a good overhand throw.

Perhaps, we could stop yelling "drag your toe" and just work quietly on drills that improve mechanics.

 

[Dusty]

The leap in the OP and the replant/crow hop are easily the most common mechanical flaws I've observed and it still surprised me how infrequently IP's are called by blues at youth tournaments. My pet theory on this is that tournament directors and the various associations treat teams more like customers than competitors. Both my dd's had leaping issues similar to the OP's and my younger dd has struggled more to correct it but we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with her.

We started by emphasising the sprinters start with the pivot foot (toe in divot in front of rubber & heel raised) both to keep her from turning her foot to the side and to keep the toe pointed downward. I also tell her to imagine she has to step over a table with her stride leg and emphasize getting the push from her lower body rather than her shoulders/upper body. Compare the OP's video to the Finch video in the model pitchers thread, Finch's hips are out in front of her head when she's in the middle of her stride. I think Finch is dragging too hard in that clip but you get the idea.

We've done two things to fix this more than anything else though, drag the rag (like the string in above post) and do air pitches at night before bed on the rug in bare feet. The rag is either stuck to her toe or it isn't, she either feels the heat of the rug on her toe or she doesn't and her pitch is either legal or it isn't. Nothing else matters. Good luck.

 

[Sticks]

I think her mechanism look pretty good. Now it's time to work on velocity, arm circle and snap. Using a weighted ball and light ball. I like Rita Lynn gilmans training aids and drills. I thought her DVD was awesome. I am just starting the drills with my 14u daughter.

 

[crystlemc]

Snap? Do you mean wrist snap? Because the wrist has absolutely no muscle, therefore, no strength. It is the arm whip that creates that extra speed. If your mechanics are good, there is no need to use weighted balls. They will do more harm than good.

 

[nanotech14]

I think her mechanism look pretty good. Now it's time to work on velocity, arm circle and snap. Using a weighted ball and light ball. I like Rita Lynn gilmans training aids and drills. I thought her DVD was awesome. I am just starting the drills with my 14u daughter.

IMO, wrist snaps are a huge waste of time. Using weighted balls are a bad idea, more harm then good. Maybe an ounce or two, but no more.