10 y/o hitting, help please

David Carter said:

I think moving her back foot closer to the plate will help her to get adequate plate coverage but moving the back foot closer does not directly impact the stride of the front foot, which is why I would prefer her try the suggestion of starting open because if she is already open it is going to be very hard for her to open more.

To the other posters point just because you see someone in college ball doing something does not mean they have a high level swing. I would pay good money if you can find me ONE hitting instructor that would recommend that with your back toe almost touching the the chalk on the inside of the box that after follow through your front foot should be outside the back of the box as demonstrated in the first gif., maybe she has just figured out a way to make it work and if she is hitting over .300 her coach does not want to mess with it. The other gifs are nowhere near as drastic.

HYP...I'm just curious if you took someone who had never picked up a bat before wouldn't you teach them to stride straight at the pitcher? if so I don't see why we should not do the same thing now...the girl is only 10 she has lots of learning ahead of her why not teach her correctly instead of trying to work around something most people would not teach as proper technique.

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HYP said:

I would teach them to use the rear leg and rear hip properly. The front foot will take care of itself if the upper body is correct. I do not cookie cutter hitters. I do not try to remove athletic movement.

This young girl uses her rear leg and rear hip pretty good for her age. Like I said I think she can deepen the coil more and for longer but she is in the ball park. If the upper body is providing the proper resistance then the front foot will most likely not step out so far but she will still maintain the already good rear leg and rear hip action.

If you open her up and make her step closed you will kill whatever good hip action she already has. You will tie up her rear hip and create a ton of other problems.

Also, I guess I am not most people. I like her lower body action. I am afraid that most are just seeing external movement. They are just seeing where the front foot lands and say it is bad. The front foot will fix itself if the upper body gets fixed.

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redhotcoach said:

Just my quick 2 cents while I have just a second.
I also believe her lower is pretty good.

Now her upper needs to resist the turning of her lower.

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David Carter said:

I never suggested changing the rear leg/hip but I can see your thought process that the front leg could impact back leg...but try this put your leg back (open) bring it up and in then down in a straight line. The feeling I got was that I actually got more coil bringing the leg from back and up. The only downside I could see is that this produces more coil but since you don't pull out as much you get less hip uncoiling.

finally I think we are on the same page in the end since you say using the rear hip properly would FIX the step out...you obviously think it needs fixing we are just disagreeing on the best way to fix it without losing anything else she might be doing that is positive and creating more problem.

Ideally I would not have her go from open to straight...I want her going from straight to straight to straight just trying to figure out how to get there, I'm not a full time hitting instructor with tons of tricks up my sleeve which is why I simply put my glove down behind their foot and then tell them to stop stepping on my glove but I would never suggest that to someone else because I don't want to feel responsible for someones twisted ankle.

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David Carter said:

I never suggested changing the rear leg/hip but I can see your thought process that the front leg could impact back leg...but try this put your leg back (open) bring it up and in then down in a straight line. The feeling I got was that I actually got more coil bringing the leg from back and up. The only downside I could see is that this produces more coil but since you don't pull out as much you get less hip uncoiling.

finally I think we are on the same page in the end since you say using the rear hip properly would FIX the step out...you obviously think it needs fixing we are just disagreeing on the best way to fix it without losing anything else she might be doing that is positive and creating more problem.

Ideally I would not have her go from open to straight...I want her going from straight to straight to straight just trying to figure out how to get there, I'm not a full time hitting instructor with tons of tricks up my sleeve which is why I simply put my glove down behind their foot and then tell them to stop stepping on my glove but I would never suggest that to someone else because I don't want to feel responsible for someones twisted ankle.

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softballphreak said:

Another thing that will help is to work on mostly outside point of contact. You can do that with a tee and with front toss. Working a lot of outside pitches hitting to right field has a lot of benefits. Mix in some inside pitches to help with the hands staying inside the ball.

Whatever you do I wouldn't let the stepping out become too ingrained.

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HYP said:

Where did I say this girls rear leg needs fixing?

My answer about teaching a proper rear leg was in response to you asking me how I would start by teaching someone who came off the street.

I think this girls rear leg and rear hip are pretty good. I said I would fix her upper body about 20 times and said I would leave her lower body alone about 20 times.

One more time. Move her rear foot closer to the plate. Leave her, already pretty good, lower body alone and fix the upper body. Problem solved.

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rdbass said:

Please read the post:http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-hitting-technical/11783-dd-bat-drag.html
I believe you have 2 problems 1) Bat drag 2) Stepping out-"stepping in the bucket".
I think if you address the bat drag first, you will be addressing the "stepping in the bucket" at the same time.
I would read the above post then I would work on the proper sequence.JMHO.

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