11 y/o swings, side view.....

[The Project]

BTW, way to hijack yet another thread and turn it into a personal battle between you and your mortal enemy.

 

[Howe]

Have you ever considered therapy ?

I administer therapy everyday. You should know, you've been on my couch.

Still waiting for those swings...

 

[Howe]

BTW, way to hijack yet another thread and turn it into a personal battle between you and your mortal enemy.

Yes, it's shameless on your part to push scap pinch and clamp to a young lady, when it's clear she can get plenty of mileage from a simple fix of the hands...

http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-hitting-technical/17572-11-y-o-swings-side-view-3.html#post220284

 

[The Project]

My apologies, I forgot your opinion trumps all others. Please, carry on with the advice oh wise one - I will remember my place from now on!

 

[Howe]

My apologies, I forgot your opinion trumps all others. Please, carry on with the advice oh wise one - I will remember my place from now on!

Yep, simpler is always better, right? Still bored?

 

[redhotcoach]

I administer therapy everyday. You should know, you've been on my couch.

Still waiting for those swings...

Oh I could imagine

"Sit down Mr The Project. I am going to show you a series of ink blots and you tell me the first thing that comes to your mind."

"1st one"
"Uh butterflies" "WRONG, IT'S RICH"
"Ok next one"
"A tree" "NO! IT'S RICH!"
"LAST ONE!!!"
"uhh…" "TOOK TOO LONG!!!! IT'S RICH!!!!!"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE ANYWAY? RICH SENT YOU DIDN'T HE?"

 

[The Project]

Lol, that's too funny.

 

[Eric F]

The lower body isn't bad - although I don't love the pause after toe-touch. I like the snap in the rear hip a lot.

As for the upper body, my 9yo is recovering from a similar DBSF pattern.

The biggest part of the equation (which is starting to finally stick) was getting her to stop swinging the bat with her arms around her body, and understand that the bat is turned to the plane of the pitch, and whipped through contact by the hands. A big help for my DD was getting her to feel how the hands are connected to the shoulder turn. After trying a lot of cues and demonstrations without success, I finally found a drill that connected the dots for her...

(The following is based on parts of a poorly-executed Epstein drill I saw a while ago.)
- Have the hitter hold the barrel against the bicep, just below the shoulder, with the lead elbow high (near shoulder level), rear elbow low (near rear hip), and the bat roughly level with the ground.
- With the barrel against the bicep, turn the shoulders forward until the bat is parallel with the path of the pitch (knob pointed at the pitcher). The emphasis is on preventing the arms from moving the hands independently, and feeling the connection between the shoulder rotation and the hands. I usually have the girls make the turn to "parallel" quite a few times before moving on.
- From "parallel" - without pushing the knob forward - use the hands to rotate/whip the barrel to contact, keeping the lead elbow up and bent.

At this point, I have the batter doing this in 2 motions a few times - turn to "parallel" (stop), rotate/whip to contact (stop). After they get the feel in place, it can be made into one motion, and eventually into completion through extension and follow-through.

Once that feeling becomes familiar, the next step is adding in the turn that gets the bat from upright to the swing plane.

(This is not part of the Epstein-ish drill)
- Start the bat in an upright position (for my DD, vertical was effective), elbow and hands at shoulder height, tight-v elbow bend.
- Without the hands traveling through space, rotate the barrel rearward (away from RF for a RH batter) with the hands until the bat is parallel with the ground and next to the upper bicep.
- During the rearward rotation of the barrel, keeping the triangle formed by the hands and the elbows intact is critical. This will bring the rear elbow towards the rear hip and the front elbow up towards shoulder level (aka - "turn the triangle"). The V in the rear arm should be maintained during the turn.

Once the feeling of turning the triangle is programmed, follow it with the motions learned in the first section. Practice slowly until the movements can flow smoothly into one complete smoothly-arcing swing, with the barrel turning to the plane of the pitch and being whipped through contact by the hands. What we end up with is a lot of barrel travel with minimal hand travel.

Before the sharks start circling and ripping this apart, please keep in mind that this is a rudimentary drill for young hitters to emphasize specific movements and address specific issues, and doesn't touch on a lot of aspects that are critical in a complete swing (sequence, lateral tilt, lower body, coil, etc., etc.). I also try to remain careful not to lose a young hitter's natural athleticism by making things too robotic and rigid.

In my mind, the drills above are the building blocks for a young hitter to get closer to this...

 

[Howe]

Lol, that's too funny.

That was a good one!

This is a pretty good too. LOL It's as funny as the advice on scap pinch.

 

[redhotcoach]

That was a good one!

This is a pretty good too. LOL It's as funny as the advice on scap pinch.

"Hahahaha...now let's get back to Rich."