No Power In DD Swing

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May 9, 2019
294
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Having not seen her swing I would say start with her legs. Does she have a good load, does she stride forward towards the ball? Does she follow through on her swing? Does she have a decent bat an d notcibe of those $50 Easton metal bats?
Would suggest lightest bat possible to start with. Demarini Bustos is a great 1st bat and is reasonably priced at around $70 if you buy previous years models. Very light drop -13.
Have her do hitting drills into a Bownet with heavy bats. Then take her to the field and use lightest bat you have. Live pitch to her and you will see a big boost in confidence and she will improve greatly.

Here is her swing-



I thought she had a good load but apparently it isn't that good. She does stride forward but weight doesn't really transfer due to her locking her rear leg as someone said.
She fails to follow through in games because she's in such a hurry to get on base. It's a bad habit from her 8u machine pitch days because all you had to do was make contact and run fast to 1st to be safe in that league.

Her bat is very light, -12 or -13 I think. We do use the nets, and I've had her use heavy bats too, but didn't help much.

Based on what many are saying here, I am now thinking it's not really a strength issue as much as it is a mechanical issue.
 

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Aug 13, 2013
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I’m not sure if this helps but my daughter had the same problem. She had great bat path but even though her hips were rotated there was no drive, no torque...probably my fault as I taught her to squish the bug at a young age which later found out was incorrect. She’s a lefty and now playing 14A comp ball and is still not consistently hitting the ball hard but is getting better...
 
May 9, 2019
294
43
I’m not sure if this helps but my daughter had the same problem. She had great bat path but even though her hips were rotated there was no drive, no torque...probably my fault as I taught her to squish the bug at a young age which later found out was incorrect. She’s a lefty and now playing 14A comp ball and is still not consistently hitting the ball hard but is getting better...

Thanks for the feedback. I too told my daughter to "squish the bug" then realized that was the wrong way to look at it.

I still cringe when I hear the recball and allstar coaches from house league tell the girls to do that.. I just let it go, but yeah it's been quite a journey with learning and unlearning things that I thought was right.
 
Sep 1, 2014
85
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My DD has a hard time getting the ball to get anywhere past the infield. From what I can see, she's swinging hard, and actually has decent form.. but for some reason, it just has no pop in the swing.

She even uses her hips to rotate properly, yet other girls on her team who are 100% arm swing, they hit it out into the outfield. Admittedly, my DD is a little weak in the upper body. She can't do a proper pushup, and just is very thin on the arms. Could it be that she's just not strong enough yet? She plays 10U, is about 4 ft tall and weighs 57 pounds on a good day. Please shoot me some ideas on why this might be happening?

Overall I think she's hitting the ball solid as well.
I have seen this at this age and at any age. She sounds like she is not separating and as a result is hitting everything out in front.
Have her pull her scap back - like pulling back to throw a punch as she strides forward. The power will come. Then video her at bats from the side and make sure she is not early even with the scap load
 
Last edited:
Oct 2, 2017
2,283
113
The more I see her swing the more I think about the struggles that I went through and still are trying to get my DD to understand different movements at this young age. I'm sure you have had a lot of good advice so far, so this might or might no be of any help. I would eliminate the stride for now and go more to a toe/heel drop. You may find that she will still stride but it wont be like what she is doing know. I will probably be more controlled. Also have her knock her knees in to the inside of her feet. Then I would tell her to think of riding a skateboard down hill. Sounds crazy, but my driveway slopes pretty good, so I had my DD take strides down the drive way to get her to stop the up and back then forward motion during the load and stride. I hope this may provide some help. It simple and not technical for her understanding.
 
May 9, 2019
294
43
The more I see her swing the more I think about the struggles that I went through and still are trying to get my DD to understand different movements at this young age. I'm sure you have had a lot of good advice so far, so this might or might no be of any help. I would eliminate the stride for now and go more to a toe/heel drop. You may find that she will still stride but it wont be like what she is doing know. I will probably be more controlled. Also have her knock her knees in to the inside of her feet. Then I would tell her to think of riding a skateboard down hill. Sounds crazy, but my driveway slopes pretty good, so I had my DD take strides down the drive way to get her to stop the up and back then forward motion during the load and stride. I hope this may provide some help. It simple and not technical for her understanding.


The interesting thing about her stride is, when she is practicing with me.. especially on a TEE, she is doing the full stride where the foot actually gets off the ground a bit like in the clip you see.

In the game, however, she doesn't really do that, she barely lifts and doesn't go that far forward.

We have our first tournament this Saturday so I'll take some videos to share. Thanks again!
 

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