Swing Help

[Fat Head]

I coach my DDs 8u team, she's got into the habit of dropping the barrel during her load. Presumably trying to swing too hard. Are there any good drills out there to help correct this other than time? Soft toss/Tee work she doesn't do it when she concentrates and thinks about it. As soon as I throw her a real softball pitch she drops the barrel while loading. Just looking for a little help. It makes her late on the ball and hits everything up the first base line. Also she swings harder than most on the team but doesn't have the same pop. She's using a 29 inch Fs3 -13. Sometimes she uses her teammates lxt. So I don't think the bat is too heavy at all.

 

[Shawn]

Phase one, loading, Phase 2 swing.

She more then likely is starting to swing to soon with the upperbody, dropping the barrel (starting to swing).

 

[Mr T]

Dropping the barrel, dropping the hands, or dumping the barrel? Maybe need to understand what you're talking about here first.

 

[Fat Head]

Ok, basically she is dropping the barrel pre swing, she's starting her swing with the barrel below her shoulder, she's hit a ton of a tee the right way but the first time I throw her some live pitching she goes right back to it. I've tried starting her bat there, to cut down on her load, even to focus less on the load and step and focus on the swing. It improved a little but she lost some pop. It's not really causing her to pop the ball up either but it just looks awkward. If it helps I'll try to get a video this evening but I didn't want to make into something that serious as she is only 9. I just want her to get all she can of the ball and by starting her swing dropping the barrel below her back shoulder is keeping her from doing so. And she's a little frustrated because she's one of the hardest swingers on the team yet she's not getting the results.

 

[do-over]

Ok, basically she is dropping the barrel pre swing, she's starting her swing with the barrel below her shoulder, she's hit a ton of a tee the right way but the first time I throw her some live pitching she goes right back to it. I've tried starting her bat there, to cut down on her load, even to focus less on the load and step and focus on the swing. It improved a little but she lost some pop. It's not really causing her to pop the ball up either but it just looks awkward. If it helps I'll try to get a video this evening but I didn't want to make into something that serious as she is only 9. I just want her to get all she can of the ball and by starting her swing dropping the barrel below her back shoulder is keeping her from doing so. And she's a little frustrated because she's one of the hardest swingers on the team yet she's not getting the results.

I'm guessing that she is intuitively doing what her mind tells her to do.
The ball is much lower than the bat, so let's get the bat and ball on the same plane (level).
The natural way for an 8yo to do that is get the barrel down there ASAP by flattening it behind the shoulders.
That's my guess. Post video and you'll get some suggestions.