No Power In DD Swing

[hummingbird]

Sorry, I edited it some.

I'm just pointing out that little girls with little strength simply won't hit it as far as big girls with lots of strength.

We have some teeny, tiny girls on our team. Great swings, but they can't get it out of the infield. They will in years to come, no doubts.

Yes this is how it is with my DD. Last night's game, I saw girls who were big hit it deep. Looking at their swings, it was wrong in so many ways, yet they drove it with ease.

 

[guyonabuffalo]

I really see what you are saying about the weight transfer. I been telling her this over and over that she's placing all the weight on her back foot.. like she's loading but never unloading. I don't really know how to make her understand this as she thinks she's transferring weight.. .

I'll try the triangle thing again too. This is also something that I tried to explain to her. Maybe it's me.. not being a good teacher!

A tee drill that may help with weight transfer:

1. Have her stand with the front foot crossed over the back foot. Front shoulder a little below the rear shoulder and she should have her weight forward enough to not fall back when you give her a nudge from the front. Then have her stride and swing from that position.

 

[Gbucz]

Put a slightly deflated volleyball or soccer ball on a tee and have her hit that. It will help her build muscle mass, develop the hit through at contact and it will not go very far so easily done anywhere.

You can also work on mechanics and check things before, during and after contact. Invest in sand weighted balls and do front toss with those. They give that same weighted hit at contact, don’t go far (or hurt when hit) and the spin tells you how she made contact - under, over, solid, slicing, dragging, etc.

 

[RichK]

Is it the stride or the stance? I think the stance is too wide to start.. no?

Funny when RDBass said her stance/stride was painful to watch, I *think* he meant from a twist/stretch your body perspective. Little ones are so flexible. I worked with a 10U girl once who would finish with her legs twisted into positions that would have snapped my ACL

You are getting a lot of advice and have a long journey ahead. On the stance, one tweak is to get her stance more athletic by 'pinching in' (the knees and the toes and narrowing just a bit, but not too much) -- getting the weight more centered. I always tell my girls that are a bit bow-legged in their stance they are leaking out power. If a girl gets in her stance and you can easily push her over, they are unbalanced and unathletic. Does she play other sports -- volleyball or basketball? What does an athletic stance feel like in those sports? Bring some of that balance to her hitting stance.

(I find with young ones the opposite of being too wide and bow-legged is being too narrow. You don't want to go that way either. I call that standing on bird legs...easily pushed over as well )

 

[hummingbird]

A tee drill that may help with weight transfer:

1. Have her stand with the front foot crossed over the back foot. Front shoulder a little below the rear shoulder and she should have her weight forward enough to not fall back when you give her a nudge from the front. Then have her stride and swing from that position.

Do you have any illustration for this? It sounds like it could work!

 

[hummingbird]

Funny when RDBass said her stance/stride was painful to watch, I *think* he meant from a twist/stretch your body perspective. Little ones are so flexible. I worked with a 10U girl once who would finish with her legs twisted into positions that would have snapped my ACL

You are getting a lot of advice and have a long journey ahead. On the stance, one tweak is to get her stance more athletic by 'pinching in' (the knees and the toes and narrowing just a bit, but not too much) -- getting the weight more centered. I always tell my girls that are a bit bow-legged in their stance they are leaking out power. If a girl gets in her stance and you can easily push her over, they are unbalanced and unathletic. Does she play other sports -- volleyball or basketball? What does an athletic stance feel like in those sports? Bring some of that balance to her hitting stance.

(I find with young ones the opposite of being too wide and bow-legged is being too narrow. You don't want to go that way either. I call that standing on bird legs...easily pushed over as well )

Thanks for the advice. I believe what you mean by pinching the knees in is like ichiro? Maybe not as drastic. I think I may try that.

No other sports.. honesty she's not that athletic.... hence I chose softball as her sport lol.

 

[guyonabuffalo]

Do you have any illustration for this? It sounds like it could work!

Look at the first few seconds of this video:

 

[hummingbird]

Look at the first few seconds of this video:

Makes sense now. Thanks!

 

[Eric F]

I really see what you are saying about the weight transfer. I been telling her this over and over that she's placing all the weight on her back foot.. like she's loading but never unloading. I don't really know how to make her understand this as she thinks she's transferring weight.. .

I'll try the triangle thing again too. This is also something that I tried to explain to her. Maybe it's me.. not being a good teacher!

It's not you. It's her age. Some things will make sense to her. Some won't. A lot of it is a lack of body awareness, and being young and flexible. They don't feel tension in their body the same way we do. If your DD is struggling to understand what you're trying to teach her, let it go for now.

 

[MadBandit22]

My DD has a hard time getting the ball to get anywhere past the infield. From what I can see, she's swinging hard, and actually has decent form.. but for some reason, it just has no pop in the swing.

She even uses her hips to rotate properly, yet other girls on her team who are 100% arm swing, they hit it out into the outfield. Admittedly, my DD is a little weak in the upper body. She can't do a proper pushup, and just is very thin on the arms. Could it be that she's just not strong enough yet? She plays 10U, is about 4 ft tall and weighs 57 pounds on a good day. Please shoot me some ideas on why this might be happening?

Overall I think she's hitting the ball solid as well.

Having not seen her swing I would say start with her legs. Does she have a good load, does she stride forward towards the ball? Does she follow through on her swing? Does she have a decent bat an d notcibe of those $50 Easton metal bats?
Would suggest lightest bat possible to start with. Demarini Bustos is a great 1st bat and is reasonably priced at around $70 if you buy previous years models. Very light drop -13.
Have her do hitting drills into a Bownet with heavy bats. Then take her to the field and use lightest bat you have. Live pitch to her and you will see a big boost in confidence and she will improve greatly.