toe flip while pitching

Question
Mike,
My 12 year old daughter is having trouble with her push foot, her toe flips out to the side and gives the visual effect of a leap.  Her ASA pitching coach isn't really concerned with it, he says it will not be called in ASA tourneys (it's her first year pitching ASA).  However, during little league tournaments last year, the opposing coaches would bring it to the atention of the umpire after she struck out the side for the first 3 innings.  After we discussed it with her, she thinks about it and loses her focus.  We have been working at shorter distances and she doesn't flip the toe out, but from the mound she consistently does.  I have tried many things, wood blocks placed along side the rubber, etc. but have not been successfull in correcting this.  My question is two-fold, as long as the foot doesn't rise above the plane of the rubber- is the toe flip an issue?  She toe flips and then drags, how do I correct the flip and make it a straight drag?  Thanks! Dave

Answer
Hello Dave,

I have one question, is there a solid drag mark from the toe?  If so, I think your getting concerned about something that may not actually be an issue.  About the only thing I would suggest is she try and maintain a stiffer rear leg after pushing off and losing contact with the mound.  Also stress the toe point down.  This will tend to keep the toe in contact.  She may be actually going too high with the front foot also, but I wouldn't try and change that until I saw what kind of effect a stiffer rear leg has on her "appearance" of leaping.  Hopefully she can make this adjustment without taking too much concentration away from her mechanics.  Please let me know if this helps.

Coach Mike