Check out my dd's swing from this year, I feel she has a pretty good swing but she didn't drive the ball to the green that much this season, any tips to help us work on in the off season would be greatly appreciated.
my 12yo's swing
- Thread starter megsbigfan
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- Oct 25, 2009
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Start by watching these two videos of the same instruction, right hander and left hander.
John Mallee's 6 Absolutes of a Professional Hitter - YouTube
John Mallee 6 Steps of a Major League Swing Hitting Tips - YouTube
One of my favorites on this forum:
http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-hitting-technical/5027-megan-1-tee.html
John Mallee's 6 Absolutes of a Professional Hitter - YouTube
John Mallee 6 Steps of a Major League Swing Hitting Tips - YouTube
One of my favorites on this forum:
http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-hitting-technical/5027-megan-1-tee.html
- Jul 28, 2008
- 1,084
- 0
The biggest item I see is her left elbow is locked from start to finish on her swing and she's throwing her shoulders open too early. She has no levers left at contact.
One other item, note which way she steps after hitting the ball. Instead of stepping forward with her right foot, she first steps backwards with her left foot.
One other item, note which way she steps after hitting the ball. Instead of stepping forward with her right foot, she first steps backwards with her left foot.
FiveFrameSwing
Banned
She spins on her back leg.
I agree with shock. I wouldn't change much, I like her swing too. All she needs to do is learn when and how to release her arms and wrists and she should be launching the ball.
- Oct 25, 2009
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She is collapsing her backside by dropping her rear knee. Her rear elbow is ahead of her hands. She is barring her left arm. She is dropping down to the path of the ball.
The following comments are based on my experience with my daughter.
Your daughter doesn't weight shift. When FFS says she spins and SBP says she doesn't get off her backside, that's what I understand them to be saying. The most important move of the hitter is the hip cock/hip coil, which is the backward turn of the hips. The hip cock takes place when the front foot gets picked up to stride. The backward turn of the hips is how good hitters get their weight back. It's how they set up for the forward weight shift. What I've told my daughter is that in order to unwind the hips into the pitch, she must first wind the hips away from the pitch. You can't unwind something that you haven't first wound, right?
Most coaches focus on the forward turn of the hips. I would forget about the forward turn of the hips and instead focus on the backward turn of the hips. Once the kids learn to turn their hips back, the forward hip turn will happen automatically. IOW, many coaches focus on the wrong action.
Getting the kids to hip cock against live pitching will take lots and lots of time and many, many swings. It's counterintuitive for the kids to turn their hips away from the ball. Especially when most have been told to stand like a statue in the batter's box and just swing. They have to take enough swings to convince themselves that turning back before turning forward is better than starting from a dead stop.
I would also work with her on getting better at establishing connection. The pinch between her forearm and bicep of her back arm is not as tight as it could be when she launches her swing. Which is a function of how good hitters get their hands flat or slot their rear elbow. The sidearm throw motion with two hands on the bat should help with the pinch.
On a positive note, your daughter remains nicely balanced during her swing and doesn't lunge or lean backwards. She has a good foundation to work with.
Your daughter doesn't weight shift. When FFS says she spins and SBP says she doesn't get off her backside, that's what I understand them to be saying. The most important move of the hitter is the hip cock/hip coil, which is the backward turn of the hips. The hip cock takes place when the front foot gets picked up to stride. The backward turn of the hips is how good hitters get their weight back. It's how they set up for the forward weight shift. What I've told my daughter is that in order to unwind the hips into the pitch, she must first wind the hips away from the pitch. You can't unwind something that you haven't first wound, right?
Most coaches focus on the forward turn of the hips. I would forget about the forward turn of the hips and instead focus on the backward turn of the hips. Once the kids learn to turn their hips back, the forward hip turn will happen automatically. IOW, many coaches focus on the wrong action.
Getting the kids to hip cock against live pitching will take lots and lots of time and many, many swings. It's counterintuitive for the kids to turn their hips away from the ball. Especially when most have been told to stand like a statue in the batter's box and just swing. They have to take enough swings to convince themselves that turning back before turning forward is better than starting from a dead stop.
I would also work with her on getting better at establishing connection. The pinch between her forearm and bicep of her back arm is not as tight as it could be when she launches her swing. Which is a function of how good hitters get their hands flat or slot their rear elbow. The sidearm throw motion with two hands on the bat should help with the pinch.
On a positive note, your daughter remains nicely balanced during her swing and doesn't lunge or lean backwards. She has a good foundation to work with.
FiveFrameSwing
Banned
Good points Wellphyt.
The issue starts from the very initiation of her swing sequence ... the hip cock that you spoke of. What we see here is a poor lower body load .... more a “load into” as opposed to a “coil around” … and from there she basically sits on her rear leg and spins it. There is no “coil” … no winding of the rear leg … no torsion spring. She is using a low level “load into” followed by ‘leak’ and ‘spin’.
The issue starts from the very initiation of her swing sequence ... the hip cock that you spoke of. What we see here is a poor lower body load .... more a “load into” as opposed to a “coil around” … and from there she basically sits on her rear leg and spins it. There is no “coil” … no winding of the rear leg … no torsion spring. She is using a low level “load into” followed by ‘leak’ and ‘spin’.
thanks to all for replying, the coil/uncoil move has been on the top of our list of things to work on since the season ended, I've had her working off the tee doing the over exaggerated load before hitting ( I got from a Cal Ripkin video) and also soft toss all the while preaching lifting the front leg back and in slightly and then exploding through the ball. We also tried the helicopter drill tonight which is hope is what Wellphyt was referring to (I had her throwing the bat all over the field). As for what Shock mentioned "note which way she steps after hitting the ball. Instead of stepping forward with her right foot, she first steps backwards with her left foot." I have other videos where she does that and I can't explain it, maybe her front foot is finishing out slightly and her follow through is causing her to lose balance at the end???
- Oct 25, 2009
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What does this drill involve? Is it similar to the kick-stride drill? Have a link maybe?
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