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Feb 14, 2010
592
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Ok this is from a couple weeks ago. This past February she had to have reconstructive surgery on her right knee and had to redshirt her freshman year. She was released to do hitting only this fall and managed to get some AB's. Towards the end of fall she started to feel like her old self and was driving the ball again. She even managed to go yard against another D1.

During the recovery process she really struggled trusting her knee again enough to engage her lower half. We did a bunch of hand path drills while working on the lower half again.

In this video she's starting to get her lower half back again so that's promising. All in all I'm very pleased with where she's at. The year off really made her realize how much she loves this game. It also made her mature quite a bit so that's definitely a positive.

As always feel free to leave any observation or question and I will gladly try to help. I'm not a computer wizard by any means but if anyone wants to make a gif and post it here feel free,

https://youtu.be/25HmywFd7sE
 
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Jan 6, 2009
6,591
113
Chehalis, Wa
There seems to be some shifting and then swinging. That's just what I think I see in real time. If someone can make a gif, I might change my mind.
 
Feb 14, 2010
592
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You are correct Shawn. She's slowly building trust back up in regards to her right knee. We are really focusing on resistance but there's still a slight mental block due to the pain in her knee. I had a game clip from this fall but I don't know where it went.
 
Dec 4, 2013
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Brooke_zpsihjrrpgn.gif
CrankermoDD_zpsrmbgijbg.gif


Best of luck on a speedy recovery! I'm sure she will be back to full force before you know it.....
 
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May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
An observation...Her pivot point seems looser (not as tight a V in the rear arm) as I see in older swings. I would guess that this will improve as she gets her sequence back in place.
CMs%20Brooke%200115%20-%20Fast_zpsa0tuffvh.gif


No one knows her swing mechanics better than you, crankermo. I have no doubt you will help her get back to her former awesomeness very soon. I hope you will continue to share her progress, and your approach to getting things back in place.
 
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Feb 14, 2010
592
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In this recent clip you can see how she's pulling herself forward because she doesn't have her "old" engine. What's really crazy is how much better this is compared to when she first got released to start hitting again, lol.

She's made the remark several times that she's forgotten how the lower half felt.

We've had to pretty much re train her and it's just going to take some time to recapture the feel so to speak.

That's one of the reasons I posted this so we can document the journey all over again.

I'll be honest I've had to jump her butt a time or two about being afraid of firing the lower half. It's all a trust issue.

We will be hitting all this week again and I'll post some more video of it and then she's off to college. It's been kind of fun starting over again because I'm spending a lot of time with her again.
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
I would be curious to hear more about what she's feeling/thinking during your work together.

I know you will enjoy every moment of working with her on hitting again. :)
 
Feb 14, 2010
592
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The biggest thing we are working on is getting the separation with resistance. I will say I love her hand path now so that work we put in is showing up nicely. Her barrel control is also a lot better now.

She knows she doesn't have her lower half consistently like she used to but you can see it clicking more now than right after she was cleared.

When she does use her lower half she can feel it in her knee. She get's frustrated because she doesn't feel as explosive now as she did before but it's in there just not consistent. I like to put her into the proper launch position so she can feel the pull and get familiar with it again.

Another positive is she decided to lean out and lost about 15lbs to help her knee out.

I'll post some more video from our work this week and hopefully we'll see some progression. What I want more than anything is for her regain confidence in her body, once that happens I feel the rest will fall into place.

If she leaves here feeling better than before it's a success as far as I'm concerned.
 
Sep 17, 2009
1,637
83
Crankermo, hope Brooke gets to keep working and feeling better and her knee improves quickly....

At this point, this is almost like a controlled scientific experiment -- she had her "engine" installed as you say and then you remove it and see what the result is! It's very interesting to see how she compensates, I can see her really feeling her hands finding the ball...but she also must feel more than a bit powerless without her engine.

I'm very interested to watch her re-install it -- how, when, why, etc...what she and you learn from it and what we all get to learn from it too :)
 

Greenmonsters

Wannabe Duck Boat Owner
Feb 21, 2009
6,168
38
New England
Thanks for sharing Cmo, very instructive. Definitely agree that she's not fully trusting of the knee to get her old resistance/coil. What I see missing now is the lower half resistance (i.e., ER in the upper thigh and clockwise torque on the knee down into the cleats). DD was in the same boat, except it was the front knee. Was cleared to return to play 6 months after ACL replacement but it probably wasn't until sometime after 12 months that she had enough confidence in it to stop thinking about it and just play the game. At some point she decided to say screw it, it either holds up or it doesn't when I go full out. Once she realized that it was almost as good as new, it reverted to business as usual.

Continued hard work and patience and that sweet swing will be back and working overtime.
 

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