11u Daughter hitting * opinions please *
- Thread starter WiZ
- Start date
Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch
Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.
- Oct 25, 2009
- 3,339
- 48
No coil (no load). Striding too far. Landing flat on the front foot. Leading with arms/hands instead of the hips.
See the posts by Wellphyt and Five Frame Swing on coil/stride/uncoil. Also read Five Frame Swing's posts on "the train" and "setting the hands on the shelf."
See the posts by Wellphyt and Five Frame Swing on coil/stride/uncoil. Also read Five Frame Swing's posts on "the train" and "setting the hands on the shelf."
T
theaddition
Guest
Your kid has some minor issues. Minor for a much older hitter.
For an 11 year old, she has a great swing. Flat out great swing.
My DD wasn't near the level your DD is and she's got a good swing.
Her upper body, in particular, her hands/arms are unbelievably good.
You have to be careful not to over coach her out of that by trying to correct things that don't need correcting.
Her upper body load beyond good.
Her stride is not too long at all. Look at the model swings here and you'll see her stride is very good.
She does need to use her legs better. She lands deadlocked (front leg extended).
At this point, she's doing fine.
I would work on letting the ball travel deeper into the zone and the sped you are pitching at in the video is fine for that. We also do side toss in which I am positioned right at her front leg and toss it to her front leg or back farther in the zone, in the middle of her stride.
You have a lot to work with there, she is much above average.
Last edited:
FiveFrameSwing
Banned
To add to Softballphreak's comments ... your DD's swing is "all forward" ... that is, her hands move forward along with her forward weight shift. So in addition to Softballphreak's comment on lacking 'coil', there is a lack of 'stretch'. She's not using a basic Coil-Stretch-Swing sequence ... and without a clean sequence I believe she will struggle against decent pitching. Would recommend working on "Coil/Uncoil" along with a Coil-Stretch-Swing sequence.
- Oct 25, 2009
- 3,339
- 48
I would describe her hitting as bordering on lunging. If she hits the ball doing that it'll go forever. But she will definitely have trouble hitting good pitching. Best to correct this now.
I believe the coil-uncoil will help correct the lunge/overstride. She will also be better able to let the ball get in deeper; something she won't be able to do with the lunge.
Side toss is good for warming up maybe but there aren't any pitchers that come in from the side.
I believe the coil-uncoil will help correct the lunge/overstride. She will also be better able to let the ball get in deeper; something she won't be able to do with the lunge.
Side toss is good for warming up maybe but there aren't any pitchers that come in from the side.
She has a nice feel for when to "release" the effort in her swing.
If she starts with a bit less weight back in her set-up, (closer to 50/50) she will have more room for a load back with her rhythm returning her to center balance. Don't have her load too far (not too much and not too little) just what she needs to build up the amount of controllable momentum needed to throw her barrel.
As she loads back on her legs, she should also load her hands back. This will help in the connection of her hands and legs (working together) in her swing.
Something else that might help is having a bit more flex in her rear knee through the swing and finish rather than straightening it out. Back knee forward and down as she delivers the barrel to the ball.
I love her aggressiveness! She's off to a great start!
If she starts with a bit less weight back in her set-up, (closer to 50/50) she will have more room for a load back with her rhythm returning her to center balance. Don't have her load too far (not too much and not too little) just what she needs to build up the amount of controllable momentum needed to throw her barrel.
As she loads back on her legs, she should also load her hands back. This will help in the connection of her hands and legs (working together) in her swing.
Something else that might help is having a bit more flex in her rear knee through the swing and finish rather than straightening it out. Back knee forward and down as she delivers the barrel to the ball.
I love her aggressiveness! She's off to a great start!
Last edited:
FiveFrameSwing
Banned
Jim, enjoyed your post. One difference on my end is that I'll use a cue to load the hands a little later than the rear leg.
R
RayR
Guest
Don't screw with her too much....seen kids that age with pretty good swings get all screwed up because Dad wants more power.....she uses her hands really well....understands how to come from the inside and creates really good lag....if anything see if she can walk off the back heel when she starts her hands foward....
- Jul 26, 2010
- 3,553
- 0
She looks good for her age. I'm more worried about the kid sitting behind her without a helmet on.
-W
-W
Your daughter looks like she has the frame and athleticism to be a really good power hitter. If you are going to be her hitting coach, I would recommend studying up on "weight shift". When working with young players on hitting, instructors/parents have to decide how they are going to teach weight shift. As I see it, we have two choices.
1. Linear weight shift. This is where the hitter shifts their weight straight back onto their back foot, followed by a straight line shift onto their front foot, followed by the swing. Some people refer to this as shift then swing.
2. Rotational weight shift. This is where the hitter coils their hips around a firm rear leg. Some weight will shift onto the back foot, but only enough to balance and avoid falling on your face. As the hitter strides forward to maintain balance, the hips remain coiled. This is how hitters stay back while coming forward. The way I think of it is that any backward or forward linear movement is a function of keeping balanced. The actual weight shift is done with the hips as in coil-uncoil. With this type set-up the hitter's body is coming forward a small amount to maintain balance. However the hips are still coiled or "still back". When the decision is made to swing the hips uncoil or unwind into the oncoming pitch. There are many examples of this approach in the "Model Swing" thread.
IMO your daughter is very close to #1. Not a big deal because she is only 11, and my experience is that she will hit fine with her current swing for another year or two, which is about the age the better pitchers start throwing change-ups for strikes. Three years from now the better pitchers will try and get her onto her front foot with change-ups. If you are the type hitter that has a linear weight shift, you have nothing left to shift once you get onto your front foot. You still might hit it, but you probably won't hit it very far.
If she learns to weight shift by coiling-uncoiling, she will still get onto her front foot when she gets fooled on a change-up, but her hips will still be back. As long as she keeps her hips coiled or partially coiled, she will have something left to shift into the pitch. In "Science of Hitting" Ted Williams says that the most important move of the hitter is the hip cock or hip coil.
With that said, I would be careful not to get too crazy teaching her a hip coil at age 11. There is something to be said about introducing basic concepts to very young players in order to get them thinking differently. In the beginning it could be as simple as pointing out to her how some of the better fastpitch hitters use their hips. I do this with my daughter all the time. We'll be watching a game and Spigner or Larsen will hit a homerun and I'll play it back frame by frame on the dvr. Just so she can get a mental image of what a weight shift using the hips looks like.
1. Linear weight shift. This is where the hitter shifts their weight straight back onto their back foot, followed by a straight line shift onto their front foot, followed by the swing. Some people refer to this as shift then swing.
2. Rotational weight shift. This is where the hitter coils their hips around a firm rear leg. Some weight will shift onto the back foot, but only enough to balance and avoid falling on your face. As the hitter strides forward to maintain balance, the hips remain coiled. This is how hitters stay back while coming forward. The way I think of it is that any backward or forward linear movement is a function of keeping balanced. The actual weight shift is done with the hips as in coil-uncoil. With this type set-up the hitter's body is coming forward a small amount to maintain balance. However the hips are still coiled or "still back". When the decision is made to swing the hips uncoil or unwind into the oncoming pitch. There are many examples of this approach in the "Model Swing" thread.
IMO your daughter is very close to #1. Not a big deal because she is only 11, and my experience is that she will hit fine with her current swing for another year or two, which is about the age the better pitchers start throwing change-ups for strikes. Three years from now the better pitchers will try and get her onto her front foot with change-ups. If you are the type hitter that has a linear weight shift, you have nothing left to shift once you get onto your front foot. You still might hit it, but you probably won't hit it very far.
If she learns to weight shift by coiling-uncoiling, she will still get onto her front foot when she gets fooled on a change-up, but her hips will still be back. As long as she keeps her hips coiled or partially coiled, she will have something left to shift into the pitch. In "Science of Hitting" Ted Williams says that the most important move of the hitter is the hip cock or hip coil.
With that said, I would be careful not to get too crazy teaching her a hip coil at age 11. There is something to be said about introducing basic concepts to very young players in order to get them thinking differently. In the beginning it could be as simple as pointing out to her how some of the better fastpitch hitters use their hips. I do this with my daughter all the time. We'll be watching a game and Spigner or Larsen will hit a homerun and I'll play it back frame by frame on the dvr. Just so she can get a mental image of what a weight shift using the hips looks like.
Last edited:
