I had a similar conversation with Jim Lefevbere on this while we were on the phone. I asked what type shoe he was wearing and he said leather sandals. I instructed him to stand in front of his wife's full length mirror and to bend at the waist and soften the knees. Wow my heels are off my shoes but my shoes are on the ground! Then I said to load and observe the toes on the back foot only. Did they come up as he loaded or did they stay down? They came up and I said then you lost your balance a little and depending on the player it could mean a lot or very little. Try it again and think more about the knees being more towards the toes. The toes stayed on the ground during load and he said it even felt better. This is why I do not teach a pre load or lean backwards as it becomes more difficult to shift your weight during toe touch in my opinion.
When your daughter is hitting observe her back foot and see if her toes move up in the top of her shoes. She is on her heel if this happens and I have found they do not hit the ball as hard when this happens however you must do your study and draw your own conclusions as to if it matters. We hit a lot doing tee work with the shoes off so they can feel it better.
Thanks Howard
