Seeking critiques for a 10 yr old swing

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Sep 17, 2009
1,635
83
I’d like to see this girl give the “I’m running” feel a shot ... adding it to the end of her 'uncoil'. I’ve used it multiple times in the last few weeks to cure exactly this issue.

FFS, could you please further describe how you introduce the "I'm running" queue into your teaching with students. I'm assuming this is mainly to address a spinner, correct? Is it just about holding the finish position and being in a "runner's stance" or is there something more to it? For instance, you could spin and still be in somewhat of a runner's stance. TKS
 
May 21, 2010
92
0
Davenport, IA
Tom, I agree with the importance of rear foot eversion.

In talking to someone instructing a 10yr old, I believe if they worked on “coil/uncoil”, and added the feel of “I’m running” to the “uncoil”, that they stand a reasonable chance of capturing the rear foot eversion process that we desire.

IMO, the chances of success improve if the hitter knows to establish a pressure point towards the inside ball of their rear foot, in which cause it is easier to ‘feel’ and ‘blend’ the transition from ‘coil’, to ‘uncoil’, to ‘eversion’ and into ‘plantarflexion’. During the “I’m running” ‘feel’ there will be a pressure sensation on the ball of the rear foot that pushes forward, as opposed to spinning as this girl currently does.

I’d like to see this girl give the “I’m running” feel a shot ... adding it to the end of her 'uncoil'. I’ve used it multiple times in the last few weeks to cure exactly this issue.

p.s.
Ihowser is on the money with his comments. A BHUT move would be more productive IMO.

:cool: Like I said in Megan's thread, it's all about translation. Had to chuckle a bit when I saw her in this thread. Good to see some of her "teachings" are being put to good use :D
 
Jun 17, 2009
15,019
0
Portland, OR
IM1 ... I enjoyed Megan's video ... and I borrowed her demonstration there, and found it to be successful in curing exactly the issue seen here.

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) ... it is not a "spin", it is more an "I'm running". You wouldn't spin in this situation ... and you shouldn't spin when you hit either.

Once a kid gets the 'feel', it's simply a matter of having them 'coil' and 'uncoil', adding the "I'm running" feel to the 'uncoil'. I'll have a hitter swing a bat with this as their primary focus ..... and I make it their primary focus by giving them a score of "yes" or "no" on each swing. Once they get 15 in a row correct, they're pretty much good to go for the remainder of the hitting session .... with just an occasional reminder every so often.

p.s.
Tell Megan "thank you" for helping find another way to communicate to hitters. Her good work carries on.
 
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Oct 13, 2010
666
0
Georgia
Your DD has a beautiful example of a pure rotational swing with a level bat plane. If you can add a little lateral weight transfer, stretch, and inclined swing plane (nike swoosh pattern) she will be miles ahead of other ten year olds. With these goals in mind, following the advice given so far, as well as advice sure to come, she should have no problem getting there. You might also check out the earlier threads about the 'move'. Good luck!
 
Mar 7, 2011
25
1
SE Texas
Tom, I agree with the importance of rear foot eversion.

In talking to someone instructing a 10yr old, I believe if they worked on “coil/uncoil”, and added the feel of “I’m running” to the “uncoil”, that they stand a reasonable chance of capturing the rear foot eversion process that we desire.

IMO, the chances of success improve if the hitter knows to establish a pressure point towards the inside ball of their rear foot, in which cause it is easier to ‘feel’ and ‘blend’ the transition from ‘coil’, to ‘uncoil’, to ‘eversion’ and into ‘plantarflexion’. During the “I’m running” ‘feel’ there will be a pressure sensation on the ball of the rear foot that pushes forward, as opposed to spinning as this girl currently does.

I’d like to see this girl give the “I’m running” feel a shot ... adding it to the end of her 'uncoil'. I’ve used it multiple times in the last few weeks to cure exactly this issue.

p.s.
Ihowser is on the money with his comments. A BHUT move would be more productive IMO.

I will give that a try. BHUT? I'm still learning all the acronym terminology here. Is there a glossary for all of them?
 
May 21, 2010
92
0
Davenport, IA
IM1 ... I enjoyed Megan's video ... and I borrowed her demonstration there, and found it to be successful in curing exactly the issue seen here.

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) ... it is not a "spin", it is more an "I'm running". You wouldn't spin in this situation ... and you shouldn't spin when you hit either.


Once a kid gets the 'feel', it's simply a matter of having them 'coil' and 'uncoil', adding the "I'm running" feel to the 'uncoil'. I'll have a hitter swing a bat with this as their primary focus ..... and I make it their primary focus by giving them a score of "yes" or "no" on each swing. Once they get 15 in a row correct, they're pretty much good to go for the remainder of the hitting session .... with just an occasional reminder every so often.

p.s.
Tell Megan "thank you" for helping find another way to communicate to hitters. Her good work carries on.

I passed that along FFS. Also, what you stated above is really good. Will have to remember that one next time I am working with a bug squisher.
 
Sep 29, 2008
1,399
63
Northeast Ohio
I will report that using a throwing cue as a way to teach hitting sequence, a continuous movement from stride to swing and coil is helping my 10u girls. I introduced it Tuesday and again Friday and I saw marked improvement of using the hip/upper leg and in the right sequence. I first demonstrated how we don't throw (exagerating some things they do when hitting).

I used the running cue with my 10u dd today in the yard and it was also beneficial. She was ripping wiffles with good contact, had a much better turn on the ball and was much better intitiating the swing with the hip. That's after combining talk and demonstrations of moth throwing and running as it relates to the back hip. We'll see how that translates in real game action tomorrow with the girls. The play one indoors.

P.S. I will update anyone who followed my older DD on the thread "need some fresh eyes..." soon. She made varsity which was tough considering this is a team that has made the Division 1 state finals 4 of the last 5 years. The coach released two Jr's this year who were on the state chamionship team two years ago as Freshman. Tough school!

She pulled quad on monday so she has been sitting. We'll see how the swing is looking this week.
 
Jun 17, 2009
15,019
0
Portland, OR
FFS, could you please further describe how you introduce the "I'm running" queue into your teaching with students. I'm assuming this is mainly to address a spinner, correct? Is it just about holding the finish position and being in a "runner's stance" or is there something more to it? For instance, you could spin and still be in somewhat of a runner's stance. TKS

Sorry RichK, somehow I missed your post earlier.

For girls I’ll use a delayed-steal situation between 1B & 2B. For boys I recreate the situation of taking a big lead off of 1B.

In this situation the ‘base runner’ is between 1B & 2B. They are in an athletic position and ready to ‘begin running’ either towards 1B or 2B. The inside ball of their feet are weighted. From this position, assuming that their objective is suddenly introduced to run towards 1B (RH hitter), they will basically pivot 'forward' towards 1B using the inside ball of their right foot as the pivot point. They will actually experience a weight shift forward during this pivot, rather than a ‘spin’ where the heel can be seen to actually move backwards and the body experiences virtually zero shift forward. Basically, that ‘screw point’ ... the weighted inside ball of the rear foot ... is serving as a ‘pivot point’. There is a reason we set the screw as a preset condition … it helps automate the coil and sets up a nice ‘pivot point’ for the action we are attempting to describe.

If the above doesn’t make sense, then let me know and we'll try another approach to describe the action.

From here it is a matter of taking the 'feel' of this pivot action 'forward' and working this ‘rear foot’ pivot action into the 'uncoil'. We want to replace the 'spin' with this forward weight shift using the ball of the rear foot as the pivot point .... that is, we want to replace the action of ‘spin’ with the 'feel' of “I’m running”, that Megan described so well. We ‘coil’, then ‘uncoil’, and add the “I’m running” to the end of the ‘uncoil’. We replace the ‘spin’ with “I’m running”.

There is a bit more to it. For example, IMO anyway, those that “move forward by coiling” … that is, those that generate their stride by coiling … find it much easier to replace ‘spin’ with “I’m running”. So you may find that teaching “forward by coiling” helps with the process.

Coil/Uncoil … uncoil with a purpose to thrust … uncoil with the intent to move forward, as in “I’m running”. Megan is correct ... it can be viewed as "Oh look, I'm running". Make sense?
 
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