I was wondering the same thing. She looks like a flame thrower! Mechanics are sweet!
How Critical is Brush
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I was wondering the same thing. She looks like a flame thrower! Mechanics are sweet!
She tops out at 70 but cruises at 69, she's 13 and has committed to Oklahoma........lol sorry, couldn't resist. She's 16 and was clocked at 58 this past June at a college camp. We don't own a gun so I'm not sure now but according to my hand, is guess she is right at 60-61 now
Man10 - I should have commented earlier instead of a second post but I really like the whole upper body sequence. I know this thread is a BI thread but IMO the combination of glove whirl, adduction, and BI - all together is what is really special.
S3
We appreciate the kind words, she works very hard and the results are hard to come by.
- Sep 10, 2013
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for a second, i thought! 70!? wow, but 58 is pretty sweet!
my DD hits 55 on a good day and during practice hits 57, but not consistent. we're still trying to get that palm up at 9 and keeping that shoulder back/open but it's easier said than done.
Okay. Need some thoughts. My daughter is 10 and is struggling with getting the whip/brush down. She does not do hello elbow, but basically she releases too far in front still getting the IR to happen mostly (sometimes it "pushes" but mostly it turns similar to the Amanda video just later than it should if that makes sense). A couple things
1) When we practice with a full arm circle she gets great bend in the arm with the ball facing to the sky. When we go full pitching the arm locks and the ball turns early.
2) She misses the brush mostly. Every once in a while she gets it during the practice, but never during full speed
I have read so many articles on here which all make total sense. We have talked about smaller arm circle, bringing the body to the arm, "hiding the ball behind" (from the male pitcher gif where form the front view you can barely see the ball sneak by, etc... She has watched every video from Ueno to Amanada. She absolutely "gets it", but it just doesn't translate yet. I believe that we will find some cue that sticks, just have not found it yet
I guess my question is, at some point does it just click and can she feel the difference? Will she feel a straight arm ball pointed to 3rd as opposed to ball to the sky? My biggest worry is that her body is going to get used to the straight arm and it will be hard to correct, even though she is working on correcting daily. She still has games to pitch and during those times if she has improper form worry that it makes it harder to overcome later
1) When we practice with a full arm circle she gets great bend in the arm with the ball facing to the sky. When we go full pitching the arm locks and the ball turns early.
2) She misses the brush mostly. Every once in a while she gets it during the practice, but never during full speed
I have read so many articles on here which all make total sense. We have talked about smaller arm circle, bringing the body to the arm, "hiding the ball behind" (from the male pitcher gif where form the front view you can barely see the ball sneak by, etc... She has watched every video from Ueno to Amanada. She absolutely "gets it", but it just doesn't translate yet. I believe that we will find some cue that sticks, just have not found it yet
I guess my question is, at some point does it just click and can she feel the difference? Will she feel a straight arm ball pointed to 3rd as opposed to ball to the sky? My biggest worry is that her body is going to get used to the straight arm and it will be hard to correct, even though she is working on correcting daily. She still has games to pitch and during those times if she has improper form worry that it makes it harder to overcome later
Disclaimer: I'm not expert at all. The bent arm is something we have battled for a long time, giving the cue if pulling a lawn mower string to start the mower at 12:00 works for my DD. Whip and brush are a result of other stuff going right, I think. When the drive, posture and front side resistance are right, the whip and brush happens without really teaching it a lot. Not to say that the IR drills in the IR in the classroom sticky aren't a must to begin with, I'm assuming you've been doing those up to this point. Maybe someone else with more knowledge will chime in. Good luck!
Trent, my DD is 11 and we have the same things going on. I've been trying to learn to transition to IR myself. We do drills together and it's easy to do until it comes time to throw a full pitch. I throw bp for the team and find myself slipping to old habits. I was more frustrated with my DD until I realized the struggle. We will keep steady on the work and have seen improvement, but after 6 months we haven't had the "aha" moment.
Tie a knot in the shirt where you want to target to bush...& or a piece of tape to skin....& make sure you got hip out there to brush... go over your foot work. 
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- Sep 10, 2013
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here's my DD's timeline. DD started with HE for 2 yrs + 1+ years non-HE, non-brush. it took DD about 6 months to be able to pitch with brush short-distance in the garage. at about a year, she could do it 90% at full distance in our back yard, but hasn't been able to do it yet during a live tournament. the old habits returned, but i've begun to see some improvements, just not that much on brush.
has it been frustrating? you bet. i tried meddling during one tournament and it was a disaster. so i have to find a fine line between making corrections and surviving a tournament.
DD knows what to do, but knowing and doing with live batters are 2 very different things.
I've used several cues to get DD to pitch with the right mechanics "and brush will come", but so far none has worked during tournaments. It seems like DD is just so focused on not letting her team down so her body goes on automatic and use what's been there for 2+ years.
DD has not had the 'aha' moment yet, but during the past year, she has begun to understand why the brush is important and her pitches are just sooo much better when she does brush and her coach is a staunch advocate of brush.
i'm not too worried that what DD's throwing now during a tournament will stick. DD's had more years of non-brush vs brush (4-1). Of course, i won't wait 4 years
to me, it will take time. as long as there is incremental improvements during live games, that is good.
Be patient. Stay the course and take lots of videos.
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