DD "growth spurt" causing mechanical issues

[ChrisB]

DD "growth spurt" causing mechanical issues?

Hi...First time posting but been a huge fan of this site for many years. Need some advice. My 12 y/o daughter has been pitching for a little over 3 years. Most of her time pitching has been just me and her with the occasional high school pitcher in our area helping her some when we needed the extra help. Just not a lot of options for PC in my area. So this site has been a valuable tool to us over the past 3 yrs. She has been very successful since we started this journey with above average velocity and control. My dd who has always been small for her age, has recently hit a growth spurt. This was something I've been waiting on for a few years with great anticipation. I assumed since she was throwing 50+mph as a small frame 12y/o that when she hit her growth spurt that would only increase. Man I was wrong. Obviously some of her mechanical flaws she had going on that I was just to ignorant to see or address with more importance, greatly worsened as she grew. I believe her main problem is her drag foot. She has a tendency to slightly turn her foot during the load.. I have always noticed this problem, just never spent a lot of time trying to correct because honestly I didnt see many negative results from it. Secondly, she is dragging her entire drive foot now causing severe lean in her body and extreme loss of control and velocity. Once again the foot drag has always been a "little" problem but never nothing that she wasnt able to overcome and still be successful while dragging her foot. im guessing now that her foot as grown 2 sizes in just a few months it has created a much bigger anchor and brake affecting her much more than before. Heres my problem...She is well aware of the problem but just cant seem to break the habit. She has been "shadow" pitching with a ball in hand just not releasing for the past 2 weeks 100-200 times a day. Her mechanics look great and much faster from open to close when shadow pitching. As soon as she is told to actually release the ball, it goes back to "anchor" with poor mechanics and control. To me, its a lack of body control and concentration and should be a simple fix since she can perform it correctly many times in a row until shes told to actually release the ball. Obviously its much more difficult for her to correct. I've even placed a bow net in front her her to pitch into so she doesn't worry about control and every time it goes back to foot drag during an actual pitch. any help or ideas of drills I may try to help cross this hurdle? I hoping someone may have experienced similar problems with their DD or student that may be willing to offer some advice. Thanks and I can email video of her to anyone that request to see what im dealing with. I just cant seem to figure out how to post video onto this site. Thanks in advance and all ideas are appreciated..Ill keep working on posting videos of my dd.

 

[Eric F]

I'm not much for pitching mechanics, but I know a couple of girls who struggled badly with many aspects of the game after significant growth spurts, and it took them a while to re-find their form/speed/power. As far as I know, the only "fix" is hard work and determination as the body adapts to its new dimensions.

As for video....Post video to a host site (YouTube, for example), and use the "insert video" function in the reply toolbar.

Also...welcome to DFP

 

[ChrisB]

Thanks a bunch. Yea we are all about hard work and determination. Just looking at maybe some experienced drills that we can use that may have helped some other dd's with similar problems to make sure we are putting in the right type of work for her problem. Working on posting video to YouTube now. Thanks for the quick response.

 

[JAD]

It is quite common for pitchers that go through growth spurts to lose their release point....just keep working hard at home focusing on mechanics vs. results. That way when your DD grows into her body she will be good to go!

 

[sluggers]

ChrisB...you have to grin and bear some of the problems with growth spurts. My DD#3 went through a growth spurt that lasted most of HS. But, she did get through it.

Your DD will get through this as well. She will be much better after she gets "accustomed" to her new body.

What you need to do is get your core set of drills that reinforce good pitching habits. Then, you just keep doing those drills over and over and over again. Her muscles and her body will catch up. You have to have faith...all the coordination you saw before will return, and then some.

As to control problems, you are approaching this wrong. You teach a kid how to "move the ball around the zone". You don't teach a kid to throw the ball over the plate.

So, if she throws one over the backstop, you tell her to roll the next one to you. That gets her thinking about how to bring the ball down. Similarly, if she throws one way outside, tell her to try to throw the ball way inside.

 

[smddad]

DD lost her CU due to growth spurt. That thing was a nasty money pitch and to this day, it's sorely missed.

 

[Vertigo]

My dd went through that as well as a 12 year old. Grew almost 4 inches in a year. Velocity dropped some and she lost her ability to effectively throw her drop-curve which was her strikeout pitch. I wound up taking her to a new pitching coach who teaches with IR mechanics and pretty much just decided that fall season would be when we would break everything down and rebuild her mechanics throughout the winter. She has never looked back - it was the best decision we made. She is doing extremely well now this spring. It took a lot of hard work on her part but she was determined.

If you can, I would try and find a PC who can break down her mechanics and help rebuild them. If she is pitching in games now, I would suggest waiting for the off-season as not to make things even more frustrating for her. Our PC had my dd just throw into a tarp so she wouldn't get upset by not throwing strikes while fixing the mechanical issues.

I hope this helps!

 

[chrispots]

Hi...First time posting but been a huge fan of this site for many years. Need some advice. My 12 y/o daughter has been pitching for a little over 3 years. Most of her time pitching has been just me and her with the occasional high school pitcher in our area helping her some when we needed the extra help. Just not a lot of options for PC in my area. So this site has been a valuable tool to us over the past 3 yrs. She has been very successful since we started this journey with above average velocity and control. My dd who has always been small for her age, has recently hit a growth spurt. This was something I've been waiting on for a few years with great anticipation. I assumed since she was throwing 50+mph as a small frame 12y/o that when she hit her growth spurt that would only increase. Man I was wrong. Obviously some of her mechanical flaws she had going on that I was just to ignorant to see or address with more importance, greatly worsened as she grew. I believe her main problem is her drag foot. She has a tendency to slightly turn her foot during the load.. I have always noticed this problem, just never spent a lot of time trying to correct because honestly I didnt see many negative results from it. Secondly, she is dragging her entire drive foot now causing severe lean in her body and extreme loss of control and velocity. Once again the foot drag has always been a "little" problem but never nothing that she wasnt able to overcome and still be successful while dragging her foot. im guessing now that her foot as grown 2 sizes in just a few months it has created a much bigger anchor and brake affecting her much more than before. Heres my problem...She is well aware of the problem but just cant seem to break the habit. She has been "shadow" pitching with a ball in hand just not releasing for the past 2 weeks 100-200 times a day. Her mechanics look great and much faster from open to close when shadow pitching. As soon as she is told to actually release the ball, it goes back to "anchor" with poor mechanics and control. To me, its a lack of body control and concentration and should be a simple fix since she can perform it correctly many times in a row until shes told to actually release the ball. Obviously its much more difficult for her to correct. I've even placed a bow net in front her her to pitch into so she doesn't worry about control and every time it goes back to foot drag during an actual pitch. any help or ideas of drills I may try to help cross this hurdle? I hoping someone may have experienced similar problems with their DD or student that may be willing to offer some advice. Thanks and I can email video of her to anyone that request to see what im dealing with. I just cant seem to figure out how to post video onto this site. Thanks in advance and all ideas are appreciated..Ill keep working on posting videos of my dd.

Chris,

I was there last year and to some extent still seeing\feeling the effects of the growth spurt and "the change"

Tarp work was the most effective in focusing posture, resistance, brush interference and rhythm (that gets out of whack too with their "new" body) than focusing on strikes during practice sessions.

Lots going on in your post...don't panic...marathon not a sprint...CP

 

[ChrisB]

Thanks to all for the words of encouragement. Sounds like I'm not alone and others have been faced with struggles during growth spurts.. We will continue to face this challenge with lots of hard work with the main focus being on proper mechanics. We will throughly look at the drive mechanic thread and try to apply proper mechanics. Guess just kinda panicked a little since this has been the first "set back" of any major magnitude we have faced. Still open to any specific drills any of you guys or gals may have that have worked on similar drag problems. Thanks again for the responses and encouragement.

 

[ChrisB]

Luckily for her, the change has been more effective and has really bailed her out of a lot of situations she's gotten herself into due to control problems.