Howard is that the California study you mentioned to me a few weeks ago? I too would share Scotts concern on lunging if you push with the back leg. Especially if done after the front foot plants.
radial deviation
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Lunging and or restricting rotation.
Scott/ Mark lets stay with the female hitters for now...most female hitters are not using the lower half of their body to hit well or throw well. So the instructors lump them into a category of they hit or throw like a girl. We as males flex our knee at landing due to the glutes firing the knee. The girls legs do not fire that way and in fact it does not fire at all. It is a learned skill through plyometrics. Google PEP ACL injuries for females and the Santa Monica Sports Med. should be there and read about the study and differences in male verses female. By doing the PEP program the study indicated a 41% reduction in ACL issues. The spine attachment is different and the hips are wider and their knees are more under them and what is termed Q angle. Our ham string to quad is much more in ratio than the females as their hamstrings are not in proportion. She fought a ACL injury and hamstring problem until a trainer designed a routine to get the hamstrings strengthened in 2006. She talks about it at her clinics so the parents and coaches will understand the girls are different and can play the game without getting hurt as often if they are taught how to balance and land correctly. Comparing what a male does or feels is different than a female even though it looks the same. I have worked with some pretty elite female hitters and when you ask them what it feels like and looks like it is different. When teaching I have learned to respect what they are telling me as to how they feel and tried too capture how to teach it. Look at Crystl's swing from the 2004 game then look at AP's. I will tell you when the thighs get closer together on the female or the knee going more under you they all say the same thing. They do not feel as powerful. One braced herself using her back hand as support against a back stop and angled her front leg so she could move her back hip up against the front hip that was angled so the knee went more forward and my thighs are together and said this does not feel powerful when it moves in this direction then she put her leg back down and moved the knee cap more in the direction of the second baseman's playing position as she started her rotation and said this is what I want to feel. Comparing the elite MLB swing to the females skeleton structure is different! This is why the balance and weight shift is so critical in the females movements and why their ACL's are being destroyed in my opinion. We try and get them to do it our way and that is hurting them in my opinion. Google Children's Hospital Atlanta and Cincinnati as they have probably done more work in the females differences such as the notch where the ACL passes through being narrower in a females and wider in males. The lack of flexing the knee, landing on the balls of the feet during cuts, landing, jumping causes it to fray, rub and whoops it is gone. Usually at 18 to 24 years old it is gone and the study even indicates those females with shoe size of 8 or larger are more prone to the ACL injuries.
I do not know any other female hitters that hit the ball as far as Crystl or any coming through the college or NPF. When she speaks I try to listen very carefully just as I would if I ever had the opportunity to work with AP or Bonds.
Crystl just finished a movie starring Recce Witherspoon and coach Enquist was the technical adviser for softball. Coach Enquist calls heel plant and lift as the Elvis move...pretty much like Crystl does it and explains it at her clinics.
I talked with John Tschida last month about using more Martial arts examples in how to teach and convey the throwing and hitting techniques we use. Such as how they punch and shift their weight forward. We talked about Bruce Lees famous two inch punch and that no one observes that subtle little hip movement where he drives the hips off the big toe and why you should flow to the ball. John I found out is a Moai Tai Instructor at the university he coaches at and said I agree using martial arts is a good way to get the hitters to understand and feel it better. He shared with me he has his fighters do all their movements with their hands behind their back to feel their balance better. He said I make my hitters swing without using a bat with their hands behind their back so they can feel what the lower half is doing and the contribution when the top have is linked together. He even does this for teaching throwing.
It will be interesting what measuring the ground force reaction forces will bring to the world of hitting and the differences it may hold for male verses females in their performance during rotation.
Don has been working with UCLA engineering on something very similar to this. The contribution or as Don explains it the adding up of the gears and forces contributes to the swing. Now how much can be measured verses viewing and describing may be around the corner. My experience in working with girls is that balance during the toe touch phase on a flexed front knee has produced more power especially from my younger ones and the back foot lifting first them driving is getting results and no ACL issues what so ever and no arms hurting when throwing.
Thanks Howard
Howard I remembered us having the conversation about the marital arts in terms of flow but I failed to remember your analogy of power generation off the back toe based on the martial arts movement.
Got it now.
Dana.
Got it now.
Dana.
Dana
Yes that is the study.
You have seen what and how we teach and this and lunging or going over our front knee is not a concern. The ability too get the hitters to come up against the front leg was enhanced by putting the bucket in front of them and the block behind them. They feel it! They instinctively lock out/ firm up the lead foot knee. They learn to rotate into the front side. The concept is fairly simple it, the weight transfer, is accomplished during toe touch by not allowing the heel to plant too early and to be just on time working from the ground up. We teach what eversion is and how it feels by them hitting in their socks and at toe touch the baby toe should be of the ground slightly. Why do you think so many hitting instructors do not teach a linear weight shift in their swings? Do not get linear weight shift confused with linear hitting mechanics either. Look up in the dictionary, if you stride forward you stepped linear! Otherwise you stepped into or towards the plate or away. The girls do not for the most part flex their knee when hitting or throwing! I had one instructor tell one of my parents the girls are too stupid to learn this!
We pride our self by being able to teach what some do not understand and I make that statement with the utmost respect to the people on this board that we communicate with and you know me pretty well. Learning how to teach this has been a journey of and by itself and there has not been one book or video that has had it all and not one instructor has been THE person I learned from! I know by your being here to observe what and how we do it changed some of your methods to teaching or accepting why some things are a teach verses a non teach. You also offered me a different way to look at how I teach by giving me your way of thinking. By working with so many teaching me what and how they explain it and then trying with every kid or coach how to explain it and why we use the sequence we do appears to work. I will change it today if something we finds works better.
This is what we talked about Friday....finding the sequence by demonstrating leverage, grip, hammers and devices to get the hitter not just to see it, however to see it feel it and fix it! You can study all the video in the world and then try to explain and teach what you thought you observed to an LD kid. Those kids in most cases get lost just when reading and that is no joke. My LD kids get to take tests in school orally because the letters in some case get reversed from also being dyslexic.
Instructions read: circle your best answer and they see it as circle your dest answer! What does dest answer mean? We have not even started the test and the directions are confusing. This is why we use mirrors and gadgets as they must stand alone in the batters box and no one can help them. We do what some say can not be done because we have a unique way of presenting it to unique kids.
Thanks Howard
Without a doubt Howard. I think in terms of instruction we always want to push the limits within the lines of reason and understanding. Sometimes that reason and understanding doesnt apply to those with LD dynamics. As you and I have both discovered with our sons and our students. Can be a tough teach for both instructor and student until the right approach is discovered for both.
You have to find the right stimuli to get them to embrace change. The most difficult part of this is that there is no set pattern to follow. What works for one may not be what is required for another.
As for the back toe. Now that you have reminded me with your post about this I will test this and get back to you.
