My 11YO DD Swing - Need advice on where to go from here

A disclaimer before the video. This is my DD. She is 11 and works her tail off. I am a Software Engineer, so if you want to get into a conversation about Semaphores and their role in software security and operating system kernels that will make no sense to most people then I can do that but if you want to start talking about the kinesiology of proper muscle mechanics you will most likely lose me and the information will be less useful. We have not found a professional coach yet that I am comfortable with so all of the development that she has done up to this point has been from the two of us figuring out what works for her together and many hours of swinging bats and bonding time.

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[video]https://youtu.be/4OQWpEDaT4s[/video]

I will say that the biggest thing that we have been working on lately is the load prior to her swing. She is getting much better since we watched a video from a Cal Ripken demonstration that showed us some drills and explained why she should always shift her weight to her right leg. There are some things that I see that concern me, but I am far from an expert so I am going to keep them to myself and ask you guys for feedback on what you would make your next few priorities. I prefer to work in steps so we don't go into brain lock from information overload and can really focus on one thing at a time, so if you have a few steps to take in the next couple of weeks that would be awesome. Any videos or drill tips would be greatly appreciated too since we are both visual learners.

The weight of her body is mostly in the heels.
Have her spread her feet some, say about 4 inches. Bend at waist, soften knees until her knees go out over her toes. The weight wants to be on the front pads of the feet with the heels on the ground. First thing is getting balanced.

When the weight is back, many will fall backwards after they swing.

Do this and film a couple swings. Swings will probably look totally different.

When adjusting a swing...I believe in little steps, from the ground up



Straightleg

straightleg said:

The weight of her body is mostly in the heels.
Have her spread her feet some, say about 4 inches. Bend at waist, soften knees until her knees go out over her toes. The weight wants to be on the front pads of the feet with the heels on the ground. First thing is getting balanced.

When the weight is back, many will fall backwards after they swing.

Do this and film a couple swings. Swings will probably look totally different.

When adjusting a swing...I believe in little steps, from the ground up



Straightleg

Click to expand...

The little steps are what I am trying to work on too. I am a basketball guy by experience but have learned a lot about coaching softball/baseball from going through it with my kids. My DS is 16 and his love of the game has surpassed his talent so he is managing his HS baseball and softball teams and working towards an academic scholarship but we worked with a great baseball hitting coach when he was 14 that helped him learn a lot and I picked up enough to get my DD started. I am reading everything I can here and trying to make sure that I guide her correctly. The main thing that I have learned from coaching her travel basketball team and from working with both of them on baseball/softball is that major changes never stick but small steps taken gradually with a plan on where you want to go will always stay with you.

I appreciate the idea of getting her weight forward too. That is something that we have always had a bit of difficulty with. She has always fallen backwards at the end of her swings. I don't know if it shows in the videos well, but she almost has a rocking chair motion where she falls forward during the swing and backwards on the follow through. We have a game tonight, so we won't make any changes this afternoon, but tomorrow we will probably hit the cages again and I will talk to her about spreading her feet some and see if we can get her weight forward.

Learn to lead with hips, not hands, IMO.

First things first...............she starts with her feet flat and parallel, and ends the same way. I'm surprised she can turn her hips as much as she does. I wish I still had the flexibility of an 11-year-old.

I removed 14 frames...

I like the lower body action in this swing IF you can get her off her heels and take away her "rock backwards move" she does to start her lower body...I think she does a good job of leading with the lower...think only FORWARD while COILING rearward....



She flattens the barrel then swings...which is EXACTLY what my 11 year old DD does...and we've been working on that for a couple of months...so I am NOT the guy to ask about how to fix this issue LOL...

CP

Forget about taking the weight back. Think more vertical loading, down, which helps to stabilize the back hip for better loading. Don't load down to much, you want everything working forward, turning while going forward. Don't bend the back knee while thinking down, there should be some extension in the back knee while loading the pelvic.

Two hitters to watch.

She walked in both plate appearances again last night. No swings at all. So far this season she has walked in every at bat but one and that was her idiot coach's(me) fault. She had a 3-0 count against the best pitcher in our league and I was frustrated because our whole team was intimidated by the pitcher so I told my DD to swing at the next two pitches no matter what. The pitches were way out of the zone and she wouldn't have normally swung and then she struck out on a called third strike that was off the plate. She didn't talk to me for the next half inning.

We are going to hit the cages tonight and do some tee work and then I am going to dial the machine up to 45 mph since that is what the fastest pitch that she will see from any of the pitchers we face would be right now and let her get used to that. Of all of the suggestions so far in this thread, is the spread feet with her weight forward the best place to start on the tee for tonight or should I start somewhere else? I figure once we move to the machine I am just going to tell her to go in to game mode and not stress as much. I like to work form and then try to have some fun so she remembers why we do this.

FSP POPZ said:

spread feet four inches apart? Farther than they are now or just 4 inches apart? If so...why?

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She is not balanced. I was saying spread her feet alittle farther apart from where she is now.
Get the knees over the toes some for weight on pads in stead of heels. She is hitting flat footed and falling backwards



SL