Thread: End of season.Time to start new season.

I get tearing eye thinking how far Laura has come.Thanks to the help of all the posters.Last game of year (believe it or not)single, homerun rf cf gap and walk.I teared up on that to.We have a ways to go yet.

FFS,
When you get a chance can you clear your PM box.

Rdbass ... another week of a very busy schedule ... and then I'll be able to return to answering PMs.

Funny,my PM box is empty.I understand why your'se is full.

These hitters are following the throwing motion blueprint. Notice how the hands drop at the same time the front foot gets lifted. Somehow these players avoided having this natural sync action coached out of them. Notice how the hands move back up towards armpit height during the stride in every case. We do the same basic action when we throw. The hands break down and away from the body, and then move back up to armpit height. When the throw is initiated, the throwing arm externally rotates, causing the elbow to work underneath or get even with (sidearm throw) the hand.







All three of these hitters are doing what I call the "good hand drop". This "good hand drop" is what prevents kids from doing the "bad hand drop" that many kids do prior to swing initiation. The hands of these three hitters are actually moving up just prior to swing initiation. They are doing the "ANTI Bad Hand Drop". All three are in sync. Because their actions are being controlled by their sequence, their hands will automatically end up close to armpit height.

My DD can start with her hands down by her waist like Mel Ott, or up high like Yaz, and they will always end up at armpit height, because her actions are being controlled by her sequence. You can do the same thing with a ball. If you start out holding a ball over your head, do you throw the ball from over your head? If you start with a ball at your waist, do you throw the ball from waist height? Or; does your throwing hand always seek out armpit height prior to throwing? I did this with my DD to help her understand how to relate throwing to hitting. Starting with a ball in different positions is what helped her to see the light. It's my version of "See It, Feel It, Fix it"


If the kids are allowed to use the same sequence they use when they throw(assuming they throw correctly) their hands will always end up at armpit height prior to swing initiation. If you are teaching kids not to drop their hands, then you are removing an important part of the throwing sequence that relates to hitting.

You have a nice and easy way to explain the sequence of the hands.Never thought about it like that.Thanks,never can have enough ways to explain to my DD or the others who may ask.My DD has a high hand set and drops them down to hopefully the armpits.Also nice to hear from someone that,from what I read has allowed his DD to experiment,which I think is good.I allow my DD also to experiment to,but sometimes they need alittle help on things that get alittle crazy.Thanks for the help and time for responding.

Originally Posted by FiveFrameSwing

Almost Rdbass .... not 'backwards', as in back towards the catcher ... but more 'rearward', as in fueling a body coil, or 'stretch' (Coil-Stretch-Throw/Swing/Seperate) ... that 'rearward' has a rotational component. In terms of the top hand/arm being in control, the rearward direction may be thought of as towards the third base coach (RH hitter). The loading of the hands governs the 'stretch', or 'body coil' ... and is performed in preparation for the upcoming throw of the barrel.

There were two immediate things that jumped out at me when viewing Laura's swing. The first is ELAE that she can fix by learning to load her hands correctly. The second is her weight shift. I think most will agree that she spins. Why does she spin and how do you fix it?

Here is one reason why she spins:
Laura stride and reach.jpg

Watch her head movement in relation to the fence post in the background. Her head doesn't move. She picks up her front foot and reaches out with it. Her head eventually begins to come forward in the next frame; but it doesn't come forward until after she has reached out with her front foot. This is a classic example of the Stride and Reach method that Slaught mentions at the 1:30 Mark of this video:



I view this as a balance issue, not a stride issue. My DD was doing something similar as late as last summer. Then in "The Science Of Hitting" I read this:

"You fight against going forward, against lunging. Everybody lunges a little—you have to in order to keep your
weight balanced as you stride. You can’t keep your head perfectly still as the golfer is told to do because your
lead foot is moving and the head and body come with it to maintain balance. But if you lunge too much, if you
come forward too far with your head as you swing, you are diminishing your power. You are escorting the bat
instead of swinging it." --Ted Williams

What Ted is saying here is that when a hitter picks up their front foot to cock their hips, they need to let their head/torso come forward in order to remain balanced. This was a significant discovery for myself and my DD. In hindsight it sounds simplistic, but the reality is that many kids do not know how to balance correctly when they lift the front foot. After reading this passage from Ted, I told my DD to let her head/torso come forward after she picked up her front foot; as much as she needed to in order to keep her head close to centered between her feet.

IMO, the head/torso coming forward is not an active push off the back foot. The last thing a hitter wants to do is accelerate forward linear movement. This is what Ted meant when he said "You fight against going forward". The forward movement should be natural and not forced. It's whatever the hitter needs to do to keep the torso in balance.

As the head/torso moves forward it carries the front foot and leg out to foot plant. As a rule of thumb, the same distance the torso moves forward is the same distance the front foot moves. IOW, as a rule, there is no actual stride of the front foot. Forward movement of the torso is what mostly moves the front foot.

Kids are typically taught to stay back. "Stay Back" or "Keep your Weight Back" are two very common cues I hear all the time at the cages. Kids that are told to "stay back" typically "stay back and stride".

IMO your DD can easily fix both her hand load and balance, at the same time, using the throwing model. Notice how Slaught's head moves forward as he strides and how his head remains centered between his feet.

Wellphyt,
Yes,you are correct.Laura doesn't forward by coil,she just reaches out with her front foot.She gets no forward movement/momentum.DD stays back and strides.Thus no power.Yes,she spins the back foot.This is probably from earlier lunging problem and her way of trying to correct lunging.It seems we fix one problem and causes other problems.My fault is,once I think one problem is solved, I forget about that problem and think we can move on.Big wrong.This is why I posted.This is how we finished the season and will start the nest season.I wanted to know what I knew already and what I was missing.This is what we will work on during the fall season and winter garage sessions.I thank you for helping with a suggessions on how to correct these issues.As I stated before I have learned alot from you and your DD.I admire your honesty on what has work and what hasn't work for you.You have helped speed up the learning process for me and helped me decided which way to go when we arrived at a fork in the rode of learning. We will keep working and posting hopefully progress.

Rdbass: I don't usually send PMs, but I sent you one