Thoughts on Daughter's Swing

[2bucketdad]

IMO if you are pushing off of the ball of your foot and driving your rear him into a firm front side the weight shift % is actually very high and we over stress it during some drills in practice making it over 100%...

The more I think I understand and then read what all of yall post the less I think I understand??

 

[softballphreak]

IMO if you are pushing off of the ball of your foot and driving your rear him into a firm front side the weight shift % is actually very high and we over stress it during some drills in practice making it over 100%...

The more I think I understand and then read what all of yall post the less I think I understand??

The weight transfer is against the front foot as opposed to over the front foot. In other words, don't get on top of the front foot.

I had a batter say "I used to be able to hit until I learned how."

The more you learn the more you question what you know. The more you (or someone else) question what you know the more you learn.

 

[Mike]

IMO I wouldnt get to crazy yet, she is only 9 and has a terrific swing even for alot of older girls. But she still has the mind of a 9yo. The over rotation will become a problem if allowed to continue, I would start with her weight shift and overhand throw and relate it to lower body hitting mechanics. Less is more at age 9. You should learn all you can and try to understand all of the big words used on here but dont try to explain eversion or you will lose her. Thats a pretty impressive natural swing, proceed with caution.

 

[coachdan]

The more you learn the more you question what you know. The more you (or someone else) question what you know the more you learn.[/QUOTE]

Love the quote...most of us have been there at one time or another.

 

[dukie]

Mike, thanks for the advice and complement. She is definitely a creature of habit, and does not like change. I'm trying to move slowly and not make it a mental game with her.....hell, I'm still trying to understand "eversion" myself.
I knew something was a little off on the weight shift but didn't really notice the over rotation untill I recorded her. Plus she hits the ball so hard and with such power I wasn't looking for anything.
She is just a natural athlete, unbelievable hand to eye coordination, she surprises me sometimes.........a little slow of foot but nasty with a bat or a basketball.

 

[2bucketdad]

The weight transfer is against the front foot as opposed to over the front foot. In other words, don't get on top of the front foot.

I had a batter say "I used to be able to hit until I learned how."

The more you learn the more you question what you know. The more you (or someone else) question what you know the more you learn.

Thanks, I get that "against the front foot, not over the front foot."

 

[Wellphyt]

Wellphyt.....Don't quite understand what you mean but not transfer weight onto front foot? If there is no weight on the back foot than it has to be on the front foot. ie weight transfer

The weight shift is done with the hips as in coil-uncoil. It's a pendulum action or a move-counter move. The coil is how the weight gets shifted back, which occurs as the front foot is picked up to stride. Once the hips are coiled or "Back", they stay back during the stride. This is how you stay "back while going forward". The back is the coiled hip, the forward is the stride. The coil is an absolute, whereas the stride is a style choice and will vary from hitter to hitter.

Somewhere between toe touch and heel plant the hips begin to unwind. The unwinding of the hips is the forward weight shift. The forward weight shift is not the stride. The stride is a resource that hitters can utilize to add power to the swing. A longer stride means more momentum, which means more power. However there is a trade off. Longer strides are harder to time because there is more movement. Also, the hands of hitters with long strides typically go forward with the torso, decreasing the distance to the oncoming pitch. IOW, momentum type hitters with big strides are sacrificing distance and time, in order to add more power.

IMO, fastpitch hitters especially, benefit from a shorter stride and staying more within themselves. Any linear movement should be kept to a minimum for maximum efficiency. Just enough to maintain balance. Not balance as in "falling over the plate" type balance, but balance as in "dynamic balance", meaning the head remains centered between the feet during the stride. No leaning backwards and no lunging forward.

There is a fine line between "maintaining balance" during the stride and "escorting the bat forward" during the stride. IMO it's not good for fastpitch hitters to escort the bat forward as they stride. The hands may come forward a little, but if they come forward too much the hitter is helping the pitcher out by closing the distance between their hands and the oncoming pitch. Players can certainly hit that way, but it is not as efficient as keeping the hands back during the coil-stride-ucoil. It's probably why momentum type hitters like Ruth and Mantle struck out so much; and why hitters like Bonds and Williams didn't.

In fastpitch the bat technology and short fences are such that a style encompassing a good coil-uncoil action with minimal forward movement, is probably best for most players. So when I hear a parent say that they want their daughter to build more momentum into their swing, I visualize more forward movement of the torso whereby the player escorts the bat towards the pitcher; possibly getting too much weight onto their front foot and getting their head forward of center.

The most efficient swing is one where the stride length is just enough to allow the hitter to regain their balance point after they pick up their front foot to stride. This is why I prefer to focus on the coil-uncoil action, which is how good hitters weight shift. I believe a good approach to teach a player not to spin or hit the cinder block with the back foot, is to teach players how to weight shift using the hips.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Same question … please define “too much” when you write “getting too much weight onto their front foot”.

Is an 80% transfer in the center of pressure from the rear foot to the front foot too much? Is a transfer of 90% too much? Is a transfer of 100% too much? The answer is no, a complete transfer of the center of pressure from the rear foot to the front foot is not too much. There is no "too much" when one speaks of the percentage "transfer" in the center of pressure from the rear foot to the front foot. There is something that can be "too much", and you touched on it with a momentum based stride, but it isn't the percentage of weight transfer from the back foot to the front foot.

As an FYI … the cinder block is not there to provide feedback in terms of the rear foot hitting the cinder block ... it is not like when one places a 'ball' behind the rear foot to detect if spinning of the rear foot took place. The purpose of the cinder block is to physically restrict spinning of the foot and promote a weight shift. Others use a curb of the street, or similar immovable object that will restrict a rearward spinning motion of the rear foot while allowing a forward weight shift.

 

[Wellphyt]

Same question … please define “too much” when you write “getting too much weight onto their front foot”.

Is an 80% transfer in the center of pressure from the rear foot to the front foot too much? Is a transfer of 90% too much? Is a transfer of 100% too much? The answer is no, a complete transfer of the center of pressure from the rear foot to the front foot is not too much. There is no "too much" when one speaks of the percentage "transfer" in the center of pressure from the rear foot to the front foot. There is something that can be "too much", and you touched on it with a momentum based stride, but it isn't the percentage of weight transfer from the back foot to the front foot.

As an FYI … the cinder block is not there to provide feedback in terms of the rear foot hitting the cinder block ... it is not like when one places a 'ball' behind the rear foot to detect if spinning of the rear foot took place. The purpose of the cinder block is to physically restrict spinning of the foot and promote a weight shift. Others use a curb of the street, or similar immovable object that will restrict a rearward spinning motion of the rear foot while allowing a forward weight shift.

You're the one who brought up percentages, not me. When I teach weight shift I don't deal in pressure percentages. No kid that I know understands that. I focus on balance and hitting from a balanced position. If the head comes forward during the stride to where it's close to being over the front leg, too much weight has been committed forward. Most call this lunging. If the head stays back over the back leg during the stride, you end up with a hitter who "strides and reaches". IOW they keep their weight over their back leg as they reach out with their front leg. Both hitters are unbalanced dynamically. Meaning they haven't figured out how to keep their head close to centered between their feet as they coil-stride-uncoil.




I'm not sure of the difference between my interpretation of using a cinder block and yours. The cinder block is there to prevent the foot from turning, right? If my foot tries to spin and it hits the cinder block, will I feel it hitting the cinder block?

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

The cure for lunging is learning to coil & uncoil, not in avoiding a transfer of the center of pressure to the front foot.

I didn't follow the recommendation to avoid transferring weight forward onto the front foot. The concern on my end with that advice is the potential issue of keeping the weight back and/or spinning. The transfer of the center of pressure from the rear foot to the front foot is often greater than 80%. Someone that has learned coiling & uncoiling of the rear leg, and uncoils into front foot strike, will be able to avoid lunging despite the shift in their center of pressure to the front foot. The issue with teaching a momentum based linear stride is that it can easily bypass the coil/uncoil action, and lead to lunging. Instead, allow the coil/uncoil process to dictate the stride, learn to uncoil into front foot strike, and you'll obtain a transfer in the center of pressure to the front foot without lunging.

Basically it's like Donny stated. The cure to a lunging issue is to 'coil'.