Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Fri Nov 7 10:47:34 2003

My friend that I use to play ball with just got the pitching coach job for the Devil Rays,hopefully I can pick his brain some for those of you with pitching questions,I am suppose to take Miguel Cairo fishing if the weather ever straightens up and I plan to pick his brain on hitting while i put him on fish so we well see if it evolves and makes for good discussion.

Here is some good arm action in volleyball.This girl can "bring it".

http://daily.stanford.edu/daily/servlet/tempo?page=content&id=12248&repository=0001_article#

Shows how the kinetic chain can work in midair just via inertia.Don't have to have either foot on the ground.In pitching,you most commonly see the back foot on the gorund,but the hips uncock and start to drive the torso rotation before the front foot starts bearing weight.

The sequence of "preferred" arm action are the same as described by Nyman and Hodge.Ideally you move to the "buggy whip pattern" (Nyman).

The body is like the handle of the buggy whip and the spine flexes back and forth which Nyman calls bow-arch-bow.Some pitchers arch earlier in the windup and aree actually arch-bow-arch-bow.

(In hitting it's just bow-arch.)

In throwing after the second arch (back/spine arches as part of hip uncocking),the "final bow" is triggered by some lead foot blocking after the torso rotates and the head comes forward to continue laying back(externally rotating) the throwing arm.The final bow/unloading of the arched/extended spine works upward to unload the throwing scapula.

Unloading of the throwing scapula finishes the external rotation/loading/laying back of the throwing arm.Ideally at this ppoint,the elbow is bent at 90 degrees and the arm is resembling a loop to be whipped.Then leverage is best to "stay on top" by initiating/ then keeping up with the whipping acceleration primarily by internal rotation.

In this volleyball picture,the girl has pretty much finished torso rotation and has the final "bow" loaded and ready to go.Next,in super slowmo,you would see her "jacknife" at the waist in reaction to the final "bow" unloading.Then the front scap unloads,then the arm "loop" reverses and whips primarily with internal rotation,secondarily with extension.

In volleyball,you work to get a high/vertical arm slot,because you want to make contact as high as possible to hit over the block.In this case because you are in midair,it's easier to tilt the torso enough so you avoid impingement/ still fire the arm whip perpendicular to the upper torso.

Long toss is a good way to improve the volleyball spike,and volleyball is a source of girls with "good arms" in fastpitch.