Horrible Swing

[julray]

I thought this would induce some good discussion and I am interested in your approach..

Let's say you have a student with a horrible swing and you have 2 1.5 hour sessions to improve. What practical approach(drills) would you use to create the greatest improvement? The current swing has nothing to build off, must be torn down and rebuilt due to many bad habits. What she does in the two sessions can be easily applied in a game situation. Remember only two 1.5 hours sessions, so too much will not stick, I'd imagine taking your top 3 things and implementing would be reasonable and attainable. The goal is greatest improvement and relative success at the plate.. what you implement must be attainable in 2 hitting sessions.

 

[CoachJD]

When I work with brand new players, the first thing I stress is "swing hard." I see so many new players who focus so hard on just touching the ball (this is usually off a tee, though I see it off pitching too) that there's almost no force generated. There's not really a drill for this. I just say "Swing hard" and let them go to it for a couple minute. I use this time to also see what their natural, hard swing looks like so I can figure out what we need to work on.

Since we only have 3 hours to build this hitter, I think getting them to understand that is probably most important and the easiest thing to remember to do.

 

[Eric F]

Session 1 - Barrel on the shoulder. Turn the barrel to contact with body rotation and the hands.

Session 2 - Reinforce session 1. Teach stretch/separation (ref. Stone's step and hit drill).

 

[djcarter1966]

Biggest thing is sequence and understanding one big thing:

Use your body!! Don't just swing with your arms. I am assuming this swing is an all sway back and forth then swing with your arms situation given what you are describing. Get them to small stride forward while coiling and reaching back a little...the stretch separation @Eric F is talking about. They need to feel they are in the launch position toe touch/heel down hands back and still and hip coiled before initiating any forward component of the swing, this feeling need to be what they strive for assume you've seen the tons of pictures we've all posted something resembling this.

 

[Cornbread]

Dry stride drills: teach tempo, pressure inside back foot and inside front two toes, posture (butt out slightly), pull back. Start with tempo first (small slow stride to 50/50 balance), then stride and focus on pressure inside back foot and stride to inside front two toes, Once that’s achieved teach the back elbow to pull up and back and MUST continue to pull back at toe touch. Have her do it continuously and freeze at toe touch and you watch and coach her on these things! Don’t hit a ball until she can perform the stride to you liking dry every time.

 

[RichK]

Obviously the bulk of what you talk about will be impacted by how you like to teach the swing, which is a bit different for everyone on here

But...since she's got a broken swing to start with, I'd talk with her and try to get her to articulate what she's trying to accomplish, what actions she's taking/thinks she's taking and why? Has she been taught a way of swinging, or did she just pick up a bat and try to do what she thinks she sees?

That will tell you a lot. Get her in a stance, fix her feet, her grip, her handset, etc. And then I'd talk to her about how the swing actually works.

Tell her -- your load is how you dance with the pitcher, early and slow. She moves you move. You don't move when you see the ball, you first time the pitcher then the ball.

If you can get her to think differently about what it means to 'swing' that would be a good start. Then I like Eric F.'s specific instructions. And I'm sure you'll get other good suggestions too

 

[efastball]

First I would get a commitment from the Dad, ahem, that he would first learn the drill/steps himself so he could then teach it to his DD.

 

[_MIA_]

To be completely honest if they could only do 3 hours I would tell them to spend their money on a bucket or two of balls and an L-screen and then throw to their kid (on a field) every day in the summer..you know how people used to learn to hit before there were paid instructors (minus the L-screen..I didn't use one of those till HS)...If a kid has an ounce of athleticism they improve tremendously just by doing this...

 

[Shawn]

I would start with preparing to swing and then swing. And show her these clips,

 

[SonicMojo]

I want to see each of those bottom clips go about a quarter second longer (and a little slower)!