14U Swing Assesment?

DRDRODD said:

I thought the following was a very good post....

WEEEEE, the old 1-legged 2-legged debate surfaces again.
I, like FPS, am not a fan of the terms because they generally fall into the viewers own depiction of how they move "their" body.
For instance, 1 hitter might not get forward at all, they never get off the backside at all in their swing. They might be told to get forward, or move forward.. Another hitter might get too far forward, too early and will be told to stay back. Does it really have anything to do with whether 1 leg or 2 legs are being used? NO! It's a check point used to identify a deeper usage/engagement of the core to control the bodies movement forward.
The hitter needs to move the bodies weight into an area that is neither back nor forward but is in the middle of the 2. And in that "middle" a hitter can find freedom to move more efficiently. It's a scary place for most because the hitter loses control as they have known it. But finding a new comfort zone in a new place takes courage and practice. It also takes an instructor that knows how to get a hitter out of their comfort zone.
And for those reading here trying to figure what the heck people are talking about..... YOU need to figure it out for yourself before you try to relate to any hitter you may work with. It may be as easy as stepping off a curb/ or not stepping off a curb. You know, that place where you partly committed your body to stepping off the curb but part of you is still committed to not stepping off the curb. how far off the curb can you go without committing all your weight to road and how long can you stay in that area where your weight is somewhere between on the curb and on the road. What would you do if you suddenly had to pull yourself back onto the curb or at least not continue forward into the road because a car is coming fast. Good luck.


My daughter has also suffered from shifting onto the front leg instead of staying behind it. Since working with my DD on the problem the post above makes a lot of since to me. Ultimately she needs to figure out how to use her core.

Click to expand...

DRDRODD said:

Does it really have anything to do with whether 1 leg or 2 legs are being used? NO! It's a check point used to identify a deeper usage/engagement of the core to control the bodies movement forward.
The hitter needs to move the bodies weight into an area that is neither back nor forward but is in the middle of the 2. And in that "middle" a hitter can find freedom to move more efficiently. It's a scary place for most because the hitter loses control as they have known it. But finding a new comfort zone in a new place takes courage and practice.


NICELY DONE HERE DRDRODD! When the body finds balance within its movements(dynamic balance). A LOT OF DOORS open for the hitter. Adjustability,CONSISTENCY, more power and overall efficiency can be realized. It really becomes about reps timing and ‘educated hands’ once consistent balance happens for a hitter. Barry Bonds said balance is a top fundamental of his. I agree 1000%.

Click to expand...

corlay said:

Ok, back at it tonight.

One comment that stuck out witj me was “slow down the feet”.
So we tried that a bit.
Cues were: ride the rear hip a bit. feel the coil better.
also we talked about trying to stay more “neutral” and “balanced”

after one session I do see subtle (positive?) differences.
shift on front leg is stil there - but not as drastic.
lifting action into contact not as pronounced.
stride looks much more controlled to me and upper posture in early stages of swing looks a little bit better.

she did seem to be squaring up the ball better when we tranisioned to front toss. also exit velocity seemed higher, on average.

baby steps...

https://youtu.be/3CBKU4DdDaM

I think there is some merit to getting her grip more into her fingers.
Did order a prohitter device to try. For less than $10 worth a try.

Long term: agree that learning to initiate swing with core and turn barrel with hands better is the goal

Click to expand...

Work=wins said:

I would continue with ‘slow feet’ and add a gathering into her back heel. See how it looks. Should get her leveraging the ground and not her leg.

Click to expand...

corlay said:

Thanks for the continued advice...

Did a frame-by-frame analysis of yesterday (slow feet) vs last week (fast feet).
Her "slow feet" stride was 50% more time from stride leg lift to heel plant.
After heel plant, rest of swing didn't look too much different except for posture was just a wee bit better.

But it became glaringly obvious that with the "fast feet" stride,
she was simply stepping out/forward, and never getting into her rear hip at all,
and that is probably a big contributor to her being "on" the front leg at contact.

Click to expand...

Mudvnine often says "hit the ball with your rear hip", implying that direction was at least partially set by doing this. To be honest, that really didn't make much sense to me at first. However, after having some conversations with DD's pitching coach (yes pitching coach), I started to understand it. His philosophy with windmill pitching is that pitch location is set by the rear hip. He would ask DD to "throw your rear hip at the target". I asked him to explain his thoughts regarding this. He stated that there are really two factors involved (actually more than that, but he simplified it to two). First, left/right direction is determined primarily by the direction of the stride. He added that the biggest error that younger pitchers make is that they stride with their front leg, rather than with their rear leg. This reduces their balance and hinders their overall control. But when they allow the rear hip/leg to control the stride direction, accuracy improves. He then stated that up/down direction is determined by tilt. To throw the ball higher, the pitcher would lean back just a little bit more. However, this wasn't done by trying to forcefully arch their back. It was accomplished by how the pitcher uses her hips. So the pitcher is tilting bottom-up instead of top-down (if that makes sense). Obviously there are differences between windmill pitching and hitting. However, I found some similarities and started building from there. Hopefully that makes sense...

Click to expand...

rdbass said:

Your DD needs to 'study' & copy (pay attention to the gif on the right because of the higher tee )this swing:

Cabrera's front leg 'blocks' his weight shift/momentum. Your DD's front leg 'post up' her swing. Allowing all her weight to shift forward. Also your DD 'scrunches' down then pops/pushes right out of it onto the post of your DD's front leg. Forward by coil give it a try. Again JMHO.

Addedosted by FP-26 ON BBD:

Click to expand...

rdbass said:

Your DD needs to 'study' & copy (pay attention to the gif on the right because of the higher tee )this swing:

Cabrera's front leg 'blocks' his weight shift/momentum. Your DD's front leg 'post up' her swing. Allowing all her weight to shift forward. Also your DD 'scrunches' down then pops/pushes right out of it onto the post of your DD's front leg. Forward by coil give it a try. Again JMHO.

Addedosted by FP-26 ON BBD:

Click to expand...