Jim Thanks. You are correct in terms of the layman comments. I was getting some PM's and tried to relate what you posted for them. With prior comments and posts. Dan have no idea what you are trying to post, but talk is cheap results count and I don't think you want to pick a battle on results!
Movement and use of the back leg
- Thread starter jbooth
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Agree. I don't think you want the kids thinking in terms of twisting the foot out. I also don't want them thinking about driving the rear knee forward on purpose.
I think the clip of my DD in this thread speaks for itself.
I don't know how you measure results, but I use video analysis to measure results. Feel free to post a video of one of your students driving with the back knee at just the right moment in order to generate power; so we can discuss the resulting hip action and compare it to what the best hitters do.
- Jun 20, 2008
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I think understand the muscles and what is required to do this properly but in terms of relating this to the young ladies we are trying to help IMO the best way of explaining it is to have them drive the ball of the rear foot in the batting stance into the ground and push off like they are attempting to run driving the magic spot forward toward the pitcher into the firm front side which causes the twist...Is there any better way of explaining it to a 13-16 year old?
By team stats, and how they play the game not video! Look at Bouldersdad dd. I have seen more than my share of kids with great video that can''t hit for crap in a game.
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That could cause them to push with the quads instead of the glutes.
I simply tell them to keep the knee bent, as they push the magic spot toward the front foot, and keep the back heel down as long as possible. In order to keep the knee bent and the heel down as you push, the brain will fire the muscles in the butt, and execute the move correctly. The heel WILL come up, and the foot WILL pivot because you cannot push from the butt and keep the heel down throughout the whole swing. When the weight gets shifted to the front and the hips finish their rotation, the back foot gets pulled forward, and the foot will pivot to release the pressure that was put on the knee when you initially pushed with it bent.
2bucketdad,
FFS explained it like this: I'll ask a kid to get into a 'delayed steal' base-running situation ... where they could either sprint towards 2B or back to 1B. They know to get in a natural athletic stance with the balls of their feet weighted. I have them pay attention to their first move with their rear foot as they sprint back to 1B (RH hitter) .This explaination has helped me explain it and demo it for my DD. I hope it will help you also?
FFS explained it like this: I'll ask a kid to get into a 'delayed steal' base-running situation ... where they could either sprint towards 2B or back to 1B. They know to get in a natural athletic stance with the balls of their feet weighted. I have them pay attention to their first move with their rear foot as they sprint back to 1B (RH hitter) .This explaination has helped me explain it and demo it for my DD. I hope it will help you also?
That sets them correctly, but it COULD cause them to push and extend the back leg. The quads don't get used in the push, only the muscles that I pointed out in the video.
When a sprinter pushes out of the starting blocks, they use the glutes and the quads (and more). The back leg drive in a swing should not straighten the back leg. If your students get that from the description that you use, then fine. Keep using it.
No. I just tell them to load the back one. They can think of turning the front hip in, or the front knee, or think of the back butt check moving out. Whatever gets them coiled and loaded on the back leg.
Doing as you stated works too. Everybody comprehends things differently. Load and unload the back leg. Bonds once said that he kinda forgot to do that, and his Dad reminded him. It isn't complicated.
