Sqishing the Bug
- Thread starter Phandle
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- Feb 15, 2013
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There is a see-saw board you can buy and put under the back foot to teach driving forward and weight transfer (Hitters Power Drive Hitting Drills - YouTube).
I use a tennis ball cut in half - place 1 or both halves under the back foot at an angle that puts the weight on the INSIDE part of the back foot. Then place a basketball behind the back foot and if the hitter does the reverse pivot you describe above, her heel will swing back and hit the basketball. Teach her to drive forward off the tennis ball and she won't hit the basketball with her heel, then do the same without the tennis ball (having the tennis ball there really helps prevent the reverse pivot, so she should have some immediate success and be able to go from there).
Lastly, put a ball on a tee across from her back knee and throw front toss, telling her to drive forward and 'protect the tee' with a positive move to the ball and leg drive into contact.
I use a tennis ball cut in half - place 1 or both halves under the back foot at an angle that puts the weight on the INSIDE part of the back foot. Then place a basketball behind the back foot and if the hitter does the reverse pivot you describe above, her heel will swing back and hit the basketball. Teach her to drive forward off the tennis ball and she won't hit the basketball with her heel, then do the same without the tennis ball (having the tennis ball there really helps prevent the reverse pivot, so she should have some immediate success and be able to go from there).
Lastly, put a ball on a tee across from her back knee and throw front toss, telling her to drive forward and 'protect the tee' with a positive move to the ball and leg drive into contact.
- Jul 17, 2012
- 1,086
- 38
WOW...Lots of "PLUGS" for the power drive recently.... Sales down?
It's helpful to understand what causes the squish the bug, rather than just fix it. I think squish the bug is the end result of an issue with the hitter getting the weight back over the rear leg and not getting to a weight balanced position. The cue of "Stay Back" can teach kids to literally keep the entire top side back over the rear leg. The result is the center of axis being over the rear foot, causing the squish the bug spin of the back foot. If the center of axis is between the feet, the natural rear foot action will be the desired toe down, heel lifting as the rear leg and rear hip fire to start the swing. This is my understanding of what causes the STB motion. A drill? Not sure...I used a dry stance and stride to get her to feel getting to a solid hitting position. A good reference we got in a video series is keep the knees inside the ankles at setup, through stride. Helps you see that they are keeping an even weight distribution, with the tension on the inside of the back leg..not over the top of the back foot. Once she's over her back foot at any point in the swing...she's likely to have problems downstream, one being the power loss of the back foot spinning instead of driving her back hip through. Conversely, you don't want her taking her whole body out over the front leg either. Gotta keep it in the middle... Hope that helps.
It's helpful to understand what causes the squish the bug, rather than just fix it. I think squish the bug is the end result of an issue with the hitter getting the weight back over the rear leg and not getting to a weight balanced position. The cue of "Stay Back" can teach kids to literally keep the entire top side back over the rear leg. The result is the center of axis being over the rear foot, causing the squish the bug spin of the back foot. If the center of axis is between the feet, the natural rear foot action will be the desired toe down, heel lifting as the rear leg and rear hip fire to start the swing. This is my understanding of what causes the STB motion. A drill? Not sure...I used a dry stance and stride to get her to feel getting to a solid hitting position. A good reference we got in a video series is keep the knees inside the ankles at setup, through stride. Helps you see that they are keeping an even weight distribution, with the tension on the inside of the back leg..not over the top of the back foot. Once she's over her back foot at any point in the swing...she's likely to have problems downstream, one being the power loss of the back foot spinning instead of driving her back hip through. Conversely, you don't want her taking her whole body out over the front leg either. Gotta keep it in the middle... Hope that helps.
- Aug 20, 2013
- 557
- 0
This one is good for what you are talking about.
- Jul 17, 2012
- 1,086
- 38
GG,
Good drill for fixing one issue, but it's going to create a new one... instead of coiling around the back hip, your teaching the kid to sway back to load. Not ideal from everything I've read, witnessed, researched, done, practiced... and once that tire block or tennis ball is gone, what do you think that sway is going to cause? ... exactly... weight back over the back foot again.
Good drill for fixing one issue, but it's going to create a new one... instead of coiling around the back hip, your teaching the kid to sway back to load. Not ideal from everything I've read, witnessed, researched, done, practiced... and once that tire block or tennis ball is gone, what do you think that sway is going to cause? ... exactly... weight back over the back foot again.
Funny that when he tells the player to intentionally squish the bug around 4:15 that she actually didn't do it. Once you've been trained to do it the right way, squishing the bug is very awkward.
I agree w/ posters who note that you can't just tell them to stop squishing the bug. You have to teach them what to replace it with. When teaching my daughter this, I perhaps made the mistake of making the goal to finish with back toes pointing into the ground. She could do that, but not without lunging and getting weight over the front foot at contact. Eliminating squish and getting the back toe to ''look right'' doesn't mean it's right. It's about using the hips and legs correctly in shifting weight.
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I think using a tire block is OK, but I agree that you don't want to sway back onto it. I was thinking that also. But the tire block can help you feel how the back side should resist the backward weight shift. With bug squishing, I don't think you're doing much resisting or coiling forward. You're just spinning. Would you agree?
redhotcoach
Out on good behavior
- May 8, 2009
- 4,698
- 38
- Jul 17, 2012
- 1,086
- 38
Well, you don't want to use any cues of "Don't Spin". After all, spinning is rotating...just using a different term... you WANT rotation.... but the rotation needs to revolve around an axis through the center of the body...not the back leg....
- Jul 17, 2012
- 1,086
- 38
LoL... I was thinking of the SAME video as I watched the drill GG posted. I would have referenced this...but I've been pretty vocal on my support of the Justin Stone material... I don't want anyone thinking I'm related to him, or work for Elite.
