The catapult loading system

pattar said:

That is what I figured.. I guess my question is if the kid is getting the proper resistance via FBC and then initiates the barrel turn properly, isn't the ribcage working up a no teach, e.g. it should occur naturally no?

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FiveFrameSwing said:

It really depends on the hitter. I personally have several young developing hitters where the action was anything but natural in the beginning.

You would be surprised just how many young people out there aren't aware of how to use their torso. I do get hitters that have this action down pack naturally in the beginning ... but for whatever reason, I tend to come across more hitters that don't have this action naturally and need to be instructed.

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pattar said:

So they FBC and had a good barrel turn but still were not working the ribcage up? Seems like that would be hard to do..lol.

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FiveFrameSwing said:

I wouldn't call it a "good barrel turn" though.

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pattar said:

That was my point..if the kid initiates their launch by pushing their hands across their body their ribcage won't be working up at launch. Maybe working backwards (at least from my perspective)
by stressing that the swing should involve the tilt/ribcage working up actually gets their initial barrel turn to improve...

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FiveFrameSwing said:

You can teach a kid to arrive in a good leveraged launch position ... but there is no guarantee that they will launch thire swing properly ... some will launch their swing properly, many won't.

You can teach a kid to launch the barrel properly ... but there is no guarantee that they will utilize their 'move out' to arrive at a favorable launch position ... it may seem logical to many of us that you use that time to prepare for the action at hand ... but many simply need to be directed to do so.

I find that it helps to ping-pong back and forth. Work on the mechanics arriving to a favorable launch position. Don't be a perfectionist early on ... why? ... because when you move on to launching the swing, a hitter can better respect the importance of arriving at a favorable launch position and add their 'twist'. Keep going back and forth ... preparing for the task at hand ... and performing the task at hand. As a hitter gets better at performing the task at hand, they tend to improve on their preparation to improve on the task at hand. Likewise, as a hitter improves on preparing for the task at hand, they tend to do a better job in performing the task at hand.

Don't fixate on simply "preparing for the task at hand" ... or on "performing the task at hand" ... ping pong back and forth ... the two will feed off of each other.

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pattar said:

I am probably not being clear or misunderstood what you were getting at above.

Let me put it this way, I cannot see how a kid can have their ribcage working up after swing launch if they are not launching properly...e.g. working the barrel around their forearm, applying torque on the handle, etc even if their pre-launch actions put them in a favorable position to launch....So in other words, in my mind, teach the kid to get into a favorable launch position (via FBC or whatever you want to call it) and then teach them to launch/TTB correctly and ribcage working up is the result.

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Gags said:

1. If we could return to the hip angle for a moment - what plane of movement are we talking about? I think the original comment was "hips angled up" - as in left hip higher than right hip? or front of hips (belly button) higher than rear of hips (tailbone area). (Sagital plane and ??? plane?)

2. "Shoulders closed" - To me, it makes sense that the front shoulder flies open when there's not enough resistance/pull-back on the backside. The correction I try to use is "keep pulling back" - if you know the "effect" (front shoulder opening) isn't really a direct cause of "not keeping your shoulder in there" - then why even bother using a cue that STILL mentions the front shoulder?

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FiveFrameSwing said:

There may be a misunderstanding.

We certainly see things differently.

I don't believe the torso lags behind what you are describing as "working the barrel around their forearm", etc. ... I believe the torso action leads ... I don't see the torso action as a 'result' of using the hands, more I see the hands being leveraged as a result of the correct torso action. In other words, I don't see the torso action being a result of the hands ... but if that works for you, then all the power to you ... it doesn't work for me. Now, once 'leveraged hands' kick in ... then there is suddenness taking place in the torso, and perhaps that is what you are attempting to describe ... however, the torso was already actively pulling when the hands were actively leveraged.

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