13 YO DD hitting video

[coach michael]

I noticed the dropping of the hands , the shortest distance between to points is a straight line ! i see her taking the bat head to the ball rather then taking her hands to the ball . However you will get lots and lots of advice and i cant say whats right and whats wrong because i have seen it all work . Much like pitching you have a 1,000 coaches but theres just that one that your kid meshes with . I would definitly start by taking her hands to the ball out front , for years i taught keep your hands inside the ball but by taking your hands to the ball you get a much bigger explosion on the ball .

 

[Daddy O]

I noticed the dropping of the hands , the shortest distance between to points is a straight line ! i see her taking the bat head to the ball rather then taking her hands to the ball . However you will get lots and lots of advice and i cant say whats right and whats wrong because i have seen it all work . Much like pitching you have a 1,000 coaches but theres just that one that your kid meshes with . I would definitly start by taking her hands to the ball out front , for years i taught keep your hands inside the ball but by taking your hands to the ball you get a much bigger explosion on the ball .

Time to put the popcorn on

 

[softballphreak]

I noticed the dropping of the hands , the shortest distance between to points is a straight line ! i see her taking the bat head to the ball rather then taking her hands to the ball . However you will get lots and lots of advice and i cant say whats right and whats wrong because i have seen it all work . Much like pitching you have a 1,000 coaches but theres just that one that your kid meshes with . I would definitly start by taking her hands to the ball out front , for years i taught keep your hands inside the ball but by taking your hands to the ball you get a much bigger explosion on the ball .

Yep, they probably would!

 

[Wellphyt]

AlabamaL - In her latest swings I see improvement over the swing you posted in your first post. The improvement is likely the result of her performing a small hip cock or coil. Have you asked her why she needs to turn her hips back? Hitting is a logical activity and I've found it helps to introduce some basic logic when teaching.

The conversation usually goes something like this:

You: Why do you want to turn your hips back?
Your daughter: I don't know. Because that's what you told me to do?
You: Have you ever heard me or another coach to tell you to "turn your hips forward", or "get you hips into it", or "use your hips"?
Your daughter: Yes, all the time.
You: Can you unwind something that has never been wound?
Your daughter: No.
You: Let's call the backward turn of the hips "winding the hips, ok?"
Your daughter: Ok.
You: The reason it's important to wind your hips back is so that you have something to unwind when you swing. Does that make sense?
Your daughter: Yeah, that makes sense.
You: So why do you want to wind your hips?
Your daughter: So I can unwind them when I swing?
You: Good.

That's a fairly typical conversation for me when I work with kids. I try to get them thinking logically about hitting through conversation. So keep working on the hip cock. I think once your daughter understands the logic behind winding the hips, her hip cock will naturally improve.

The next step is to work on the stretch part of her swing. I've found a good sequence to be one of the hardest parts of the swing to teach because girls typically don't throw overhand correctly. Meaning they have a hard time organizing the various parts of the swing.

Basically, your daughter starts with a high handset in her stance. As she picks up her front foot to perform her hip cock, she lowers her hands to about shoulder height. I don't consider this the typical lowering of the hands that everyone says is bad. This is her natural hand cock and it is synchronized to her hip cock, which is a good thing. I don't care for her high handset, but if that is the style she chooses to use then we can work with it so long as you understand how the overhand throw and hitting are related.

In order to build some stretch into her swing, she needs to take her hands back slightly as she strides. The sequence is:

Hands lower to armpit height as she winds her hips back.
Hands go back slightly as she strides. Front leg stays closed during the stride to assist with balance and to prevent the hips from unwinding until she makes her decision to swing. Everything up until her decision to swing is slow and controlled. The "Go" move to swing is an explosive movement. If the number 1 is the stretch part of the swing and the number 2 is the swing, it would sound something like this; ooooooooone, two.

Also, IMO your daughter is already taking her hands-to-the-ball as evidenced by her hands coming through the hitting zone with her hips. This is commonly called a "gate swing" where she is basically turning her upper and lower body into the ball at the same time. The hips leading the hands is a natural function of a good sidearm or skip-a-rock-throw. If your daughter takes the proper arm action used to throw an object sidearm, and applies it to hitting, her hips will naturally get out in front of her hands. I have found that teaching kids how to get the bat started correctly is the move that needs to be taught, and the hips leading the hands is a no-teach.

Her swing right now is better than most, and my guess is she will probably hit fine with this swing for a while. However, as the pitching gets better, maximizing efficiency should pay dividends.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Wellphyt ... on a similar note, consider what Mud had to say on a related topic ..... The stretch that you teach is excellent and how to go about it is spot on, but it's not because that you suddenly "release" it and everything comes "snapping" back, but rather because it increases the hitters ROM and removes any slack in the system, so your "GO" is instantaneous with the most stored potential energy available.

 

[tom.guerry]

hip cock/coil/wind/unwind/etc is all WAAAYYYYYY easier learned in a good overhand throw, then adapted for the swing. also similar in windmill, although overhand throw has the advantage of rear arm (and to lesser degree lead arm/internal rotation) also being similar.

because overhand throw and windmill both produce a type of resistance that lower body works with to create stretch.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Tom ... are you saying you view the start of the windmill pitching motion as having hip cock in a coiling/rotational sense?

p.s.
Almost can be thought to resemble a sprinter's motion in some respects ...

 

[alabama_lowlife]

wellphyt, we have had basically that same conversation. I've showed her alot of the pics and videos everybody has posted on here. I've also showed her the videos of herself and pointed out various things. A few nights ago i was watching the Braves and Freddie Freeman just destroyed a ball. I showed her the DVR slow motion replay and asked her what she noticed......."His hips". So, she is developing an awareness about it.

She seems to do pretty well off the tee, but i think many, many more reps are needed to get it to become a more instinctive action when she has to hit a moving ball. There was definately more of a "gate swing" than rotational swing when i videoed her hitting front toss a few days ago. Adding the emphasis on the coil seemed to confuse her. Not in the sense that she didn't understand what she needed to do, but that she was having trouble MAKING herself actually do that. Hopefully we'll get back out there in a couple of days and work at it again, now that our mini-vacation is over.

 

[softballphreak]

wellphyt, we have had basically that same conversation. I've showed her alot of the pics and videos everybody has posted on here. I've also showed her the videos of herself and pointed out various things. A few nights ago i was watching the Braves and Freddie Freeman just destroyed a ball. I showed her the DVR slow motion replay and asked her what she noticed......."His hips". So, she is developing an awareness about it.

She seems to do pretty well off the tee, but i think many, many more reps are needed to get it to become a more instinctive action when she has to hit a moving ball. There was definately more of a "gate swing" than rotational swing when i videoed her hitting front toss a few days ago. Adding the emphasis on the coil seemed to confuse her. Not in the sense that she didn't understand what she needed to do, but that she was having trouble MAKING herself actually do that. Hopefully we'll get back out there in a couple of days and work at it again, now that our mini-vacation is over.

Practice the stretch: hands go back (hands on the shelf) as the toe goes to toe touch (heel up, knee bent). Do this 2 to 3 times, then next time hit the ball off the tee. Hands of course will be "on the shelf" until the hip fires. Remind her that in the game this should be where the hands are every time before she swings. That's critical! Leading with the hip will also feel more natural.

The coil will be much easier to add once she's comfortable with the stretch. The coil can be as simple as turning the hip in an inch or two. But get the stretch down pat first.

 

[softballphreak]

Don't click any of the links in the previous post. Virus?