DD's swing from the left

[greg99]

Hello All.. My DD has been trying hitting from the left for a few months now. I'm just looking for opinions on how she is doing and what she should work on. This is a swing from a few days ago. Her coach has her swing both left and right at practice but only right in games so far. Hopefully with some help from you all she can get hitting from the left in games shortly.




Thanks

 

[Hoover's Dad]

The first thing I noticed is how much her head moves in the swing. Put the mouse cursor on top of her head right before she swings, and you will see that her head moves about 15" toward the pithcer and down about 3" or 4" as well.

 

[softballphreak]

That's a pretty decent swing if that's from her wrong side. She needs to firm up that front knee.

The bat appears to be too heavy. Still too heavy even though she's choked up about 2 inches. A bat that is too heavy will impede her attack speed--not a good thing for muscle memory to learn. It also usually creates bag drag but in her case I don't see bat drag.

She's going to be a good one!

 

[greg99]

Thanks for the input. I noticed the front knee, i will get her to work on that. I'll also get her a lighter bat and take some more vids. Her head does move alot, any ideas on her to keep her from moving.
Thanks again.

 

[softballphreak]

Be careful when trying to fix the head movement that you don't take away the weight shift. Right now the weight shift is good; that's important to keep. Tell her the head stays still and the body works independently--it still shifts and rotates, and does what it does, etc.

 

[FPMark]

That's not a bad looking swing for a natural righty. The main problem I see, is she is transfering weight by using to much body movement. When she strides she puts her hips, core, shoulders, and head all in motion forward. The result is weight on the front foot by the body mass moving too far towards it. All of that could be fixed if she would use the front leg to stop the forward momentum by staightening and allowing the rear hip to thrust the weight into it by rotating forward while the front hip is stoped against the front leg. When done properly, you should be able to draw a straight line from the ankle, through the knee, hips, and core to the head. This requires the hips to move forward, the core to tilt, and the head to stay still, moving the weight into the front foot instead of above it.

 

[starsnuffer]

Thanks for the input. I noticed the front knee, i will get her to work on that. I'll also get her a lighter bat and take some more vids. Her head does move alot, any ideas on her to keep her from moving.
Thanks again.

She's taking a pretty big step, mostly because her stance is pretty tall and non-athletic (knees locked, feet flat). I'm not a stance stickler, if she's comfortable and you're comfortable with her standing in the box that way, then go for it. If not, have her try a more athletic starting stance, legs wider, body lower, have her "jump" to get balanced. From here she'll just have to take a very small "toe touch" rather then that long stride that is making her head move so much.

I posted videos from Fastpitch TV or Alissa Haber explaining her stance, stride, and swing. Alissa is one of the best hitting lefties in the world, you can probably apply much of what she has to say to your daughter.

-W

 

[greg99]

still working from the left

Here are some more videos of DD swinging from the left. She didn't have much time to really work on her swing till now. Feel free to give input...both good and bad. Th

She will hit 100% from the left side this year. Last year she switched over late in the season and just bunted and slapped some. She wants to hit this year as well as bunt and hit.







Thanks

 

[YOCOACH]

IMO the step out is still a little too big for my tastes but that may be nitpicking. It's much improved from earlier. Great Job!

 

[greg99]

Here is another vid with the tee low. She has been working on the idea of tilting to get to the low pitches instead of dropping the hands. I can tell it might be a hard teach, i hear one of the assistant coaches all the time..." swing level" I keep telling her....level means perpendicule to your spine. That way i can let her still have good thoughts for her coach.