Pitching and Pitchers Discussion Hitting Hip

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DD has been a pitcher for several years and recently started hitting her hip with her elbow. Now her elbow is bruised and so is her hip. Any suggestions on how to break this habit? BTW she is still pitching well!

 

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I don't know how old your DD is, but is she still maturing, physically? If so, maybe her hips have grown and she needs to learn to adjust to it.

 

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Hi Wubbamom, the same thing happens to my daughter every once and a while (she is 13) and I notice it more when she is going through a growth spurt. I mentioned it to her pitching coach at a lesson a while back and he watched her pitch and recommended that she stayed open a little longer. Like you said, she pitched "fine" so to speak, although you would think the ball would be shooting all over the place!

 

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Wubba mom ... send me a private message and I will get you my DD's e-mail address. She had the exact same problem for a good year or so, and I believe it got corrected when she changed pitching coaches and modified her delivery. She now gives lessons herself and probably could explain pretty well how to correct it.

 

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She hits her hip hard too, the bruise on her hip after nationals was dark PURPLE!!! I've never seen a pitcher do this and have no idea what to do to help her stop. I wonder if putting a pillow or something on her hip during practices to prevent her arm from staying so close to the hip would help. She still pitches well but you can tell it hurts her and I don't want her hurting everytime she pitches.

 

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The only thing I can really think of is maybe have her work on staying open just a little longer? Just long enough to get the elbow through first.

 

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My dd's pitching coach does a thing called right backs. You drive off the rubber but you do not follow through with the push leg. It keeps the hips open and allows the arm to come through properly.

There has been times we just the entire pitching session just doing this drill.

 

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She has to stay open. DiscussFastpitch.com. Hope I dont get banned for showing another site. Good Luck

 

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you say that she is "hitting her hip with her elbow"...not only she might be closing prematurely but check her arm circle...make sure her wrist is lining with her elbow...if her wrist is outside her elbow it will cause her elbow to angle in towards the hip...have her reach back (toward 2nd base) during down swing...this should help her maintain a good "arm circle"

 

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This is so common it's not funny WubbaMom. Don't panic. As stated by others, it is probably a combination of the reasons listed by everyone. One of the hardest things there is to teach to a young pitcher that's made of rubber is proper form and execution of the pitch motion. Young ladies starting out find so many ways to make poor form work, simply because they can at that age. As they get older, the body begins to take shape, and girls need the form correct because they are pushing to keep up with others their own age they see as "Superpitchers." As stated, she'll need to work on staying open longer to let her arm clear her hips before finishing whatever pitch she is throwing. I am sure your pitching instructor has shown her drills to make this happen. Just think about it and it'll come to you. When that newly forming curve/hip begins shutting/closing too soon, they'll scream bloody murder till they finally fix it. It is almost comical as hinted above. It's the "Doctor Doctor, it hurts when I do this. Well, don't do it," routine.

All joking aside; I teach a drill we fondly call the "Flamingo" drill. While on the pitching rubber, have her stand on her push off leg and pick her lead out leg off the ground and position her foot behind the push off leg in the area behind her calf. This will have her standing on one foot like a flamingo. She'll need to be turned into a position that will allow a proper full arm spin of her pitch. Now, have her go ahead and deliver a pitch to the catcher and land on her lead off foot just as she would during a normal pitch, but finish in the opposite position with her lead out foot down and her push off foot behind the calf. She starts on 1 leg and finishes on 1 leg. This helps keep the hips in place while promoting balance and control. It's great for getting a pitcher doing just as you described to realize the need to keep her form true. With some practice they can get pretty good at this and it definately helps them remember to "keep the door open" till the arm clears the hips. With practice, the balance improves and they'll do this without ever putting the other foot down at any time.

I can't take credit for this drill. I was taught this by Cherrie Kempf and found it to be very effective for this sort of problem.

 

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This is so common it's not funny WubbaMom. Don't panic. As stated by others, it is probably a combination of the reasons listed by everyone. One of the hardest things there is to teach to a young pitcher that's made of rubber is proper form and execution of the pitch motion. Young ladies starting out find so many ways to make poor form work, simply because they can at that age. As they get older, the body begins to take shape, and girls need the form correct because they are pushing to keep up with others their own age they see as "Superpitchers." As stated, she'll need to work on staying open longer to let her arm clear her hips before finishing whatever pitch she is throwing. I am sure your pitching instructor has shown her drills to make this happen. Just think about it and it'll come to you. When that newly forming curve/hip begins shutting/closing too soon, they'll scream bloody murder till they finally fix it. It is almost comical as hinted above. It's the "Doctor Doctor, it hurts when I do this. Well, don't do it," routine.

All joking aside; I teach a drill we fondly call the "Flamingo" drill. While on the pitching rubber, have her stand on her push off leg and pick her lead out leg off the ground and position her foot behind the push off leg in the area behind her calf. This will have her standing on one foot like a flamingo. She'll need to be turned into a position that will allow a proper full arm spin of her pitch. Now, have her go ahead and deliver a pitch to the catcher and land on her lead off foot just as she would during a normal pitch, but finish in the opposite position with her lead out foot down and her push off foot behind the calf. She starts on 1 leg and finishes on 1 leg. This helps keep the hips in place while promoting balance and control. It's great for getting a pitcher doing just as you described to realize the need to keep her form true. With some practice they can get pretty good at this and it definately helps them remember to "keep the door open" till the arm clears the hips. With practice, the balance improves and they'll do this without ever putting the other foot down at any time.

I can't take credit for this drill. I was taught this by Cherrie Kempf and found it to be very effective for this sort of problem.

It doesn't get much better then Cheri Kempf. Her philosophy on pitching to get to the next level are 2nd to none.

 

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Thanks everyone for the advice. She is definitely not getting open enough and will be trying all these new things. We saw her pitching coach tonight and worked on her arm circle and her hips and put an empty plastic bottle in her pants where she was hitting to try and get her more open. Have a tourney this weekend and we will see if the new instruction works!

 

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Problems clearing the hip are generally caused by two things - not staying open, and timing of the arm circle. If the elbow is slightly late, it won't clear the hip. Also, be absolutely certain that she isn't being taught to consciously close her hip (slam the door) when finishing. This is a remnant of old school teaching that should have been burned and buried in the same box as "squish the bug". Focus on driving the power line. The flamingo drill that daboss mentioned is a great drill to encourage this.

Some kids instinctively start bringing the elbow out away from the hip to correct this - DON'T LET HER DO THIS! Not only is it illegal, it can lead to poor mechanics, control problems and a host of physical damage to her elbow/shoulder.

DD was taught Cheri Kempf principles from a young age, and it provided a solid foundation. I would also strongly encourage any young pitcher to learn from her methods.

 

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Certainly agree with the Cheri Kempf approach as a solid foundation. Her book "A Pitcher's Edge" and a clinic she had in Columbus back around 2002 or 03 was where I started into pitching instruction. Another source I used was the RVP with Lisa Fernandez and Kirk Walker. One of their key principals stressed was "maintaining space" in front of the hips for the arm, elbow and hand to work through. A couple of points about maintaining that space are: 1) Maintain the shoulders over the balls of the feet. Don't get the weight back on the heels. Think staying athletic, such as a basketball player is when in the triple threat position or a hitter is in their stance at the plate. 2) Don't let the glove side arm swing too far off the power line behind them. This will cause the shoulders to get pulled off and back reducing the space needed to throw through. I do like the flamingo drill as described, it is somewhat like Doug Gillis' Up Together and Down Together drill. Whichever drill you use what I look for at the end of the drill is where the momentum / balance goes. I like to see either complete balance or if they fall slightly it should be either back towards the pitching rubber or to their throwing side. Losing balance to the glove side or walking out of the pitch and going nose over toes is not a good thing. Good luck.