Whats the proper way to create rythym? Ive heard wag your tail. when does this stop? I would guess after the stride/load phase.
thoughts on small rythym
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Try this....Have the hitter looking into the mirror while you stand at a safe distance behind her and off to the side a little. Go through a pitching motion slowly so she can see her check points of when to load and when to be at toe. We want them to load at the top of the K position and be at toe touch at or upon her release based on her athleticism. As corny as it sounds we say wiggle your butt a little by keeping the weight inside your legs (no hip swaying) and think you are stirring a pot of soup with their hands. We do not want them to start this motion too soon however. Think of Cat O. as a pitcher...when see receives the ball back from the catcher she turns her back gives the outfield a signal by showing how many outs there are with her fingers and walks left to right stands behind the rubber and throws a few balls into her glove and then gets back on the rubber to prepare to pitch. We do not want our hitter standing rigid that long. We want them to think they are dancing with the pitcher as when she starts her motion we start our motion. The concept is the pitcher never stops her motion so neither should we. The biggest hurdle to overcome is usually they separate too soon and stop or do not separate at all and have no momentum. The next check point is no flex in the lead foot knee and the weight shift has stopped so our timing is effected.
Howard
Howard
stride early or not
when you say seperate do you mean stride forward and hands back? and of the to problems youve had would you agree that striding/loading/seperating too early would be the lesser of the two evils. thanks for your reply.
when you say seperate do you mean stride forward and hands back? and of the to problems youve had would you agree that striding/loading/seperating too early would be the lesser of the two evils. thanks for your reply.
also if they seperate to soon and are fully loaded would they re-start rythym or just stay loaded but still like a rattlesnake
Dragon
When Howard talks about separation he is talking about the stride forward and the hands staying back. Some call this the negative move. Others call it walking away from the hands. I call it pulling the bow string. Its an Englishbey term but I think its a good analogy. It loads the scapula complex and shoulders when it is done correctly. A 10 year old kid doesnt care about that. They just know it helps them hit the ball harder.
If you dance with the pitcher as Howard stated the hitter is in a relaxed position until the pitcher gets to 12:00 with the windmill. At that point the hitter loads. Loading can mean a lot of things to various instructors. For me it means take a small stride backwards (About 3 inches) then load the back hip by turning the front leg inward into the back hip joint. (Groin)
At release of the pitch the hitter unloads by taking the stride while the hands stay back. Some instructors will also tell hitters to move the hands back. Walking away from the hands and moving the hands back will accomplish the same task. Creating separation.
Howard will tell his hitters to flex the front knee inward to load the hip and then stride out. I have hitters who do that also because they feel more comfortable with that movement rather than step back and then stride forward to where they started.
One of Howards most famous sayings.
Slow to Load, Soft toe touch, Flex the knee. The soft toe touch is when they take the stride. Flex the knee is right after foot plant.
Hope this helps.
Dana.
Dana is on it...
The flexing of the front knee is the MOST difficult thing too teach as it spills over into their throwing technique which is why everyone or most everyone says it hurts to throw like a girl! Put a side what the throwing arm does for a moment and focus on why the back leg does not release or follow around? A stiff front side will not allow it. Unless they flex the lead foot knee (land on the ball of the foot) and think their nose is over their toes the weight does not transfer forward efficiently in my opinion. When we stride we want them to land on the inside edge of their lead foot (eversion) so the baby toe is slightly off the ground. If they are on all 5 toes the weight transfer slows down and something is out of sequence and something is going to happen for the front side to open or the weight will go over the front leg.
When hitting soft toss a check point for us is the attack mode drill....we think slow to load, soft to step, separate the hands rearward and your lead foot edge of the foot is angled so the baby toe area is off the ground slightly. Then we ask them to swing as hard as they can and look for ANY and I mean any additional movement that required then to get started other than the lowering of the back elbow or planting the heel to release or start their momentum. The flexed knee and being on the inside edge of the lead foot in my opinion can be the transfer point they can feel or what Coach Enquist calls her Elvis move. In my opinion if they had to raise their back elbow again or further or try to separate their hands back more, roll the shoulder in, turn the hips, sway the hips, step again, they were not in an efficient position during toe touch. They can feel that flowing motion when the lead foot knee is flexed and the hips are not locked and their is balance between the hips and feet. CB has been measured several times and has been found to be at 50/ 50 weight shift in this position.
I have used a 5 gallon bucket filled 1/3 up with concrete. Sand does not work and neither does water as the side walls of the bucket gives. You can put a 2x6 side ways so the bucket does not give however the concrete works. The gym shoes slides down the surface of the bucket very well and I tried Plexiglas, sheet metal, laminate flooring etc. Depending on your hitting surface, I have astro turf, I have a piece of plywood cut to the shape of the bucket with about 3 dozen finishing nails through the wood. I attached the wood from inside the bucket and then filled it with concrete. This way the bucket does not slide when they stride to the bucket. They stride so the baby toe area of the shoe is on the side of the bucket and when they begin heel plant the foot slides down and their front leg is usually at an angle up against the bucket and they feel it! You can put a concrete block on the outside of the back foot and they will learn how to transfer their weight quickly or their back foot will not clear the brick efficiently. Within a few swings take away the brick and they are on their way.
Howard
The flexing of the front knee is the MOST difficult thing too teach as it spills over into their throwing technique which is why everyone or most everyone says it hurts to throw like a girl! Put a side what the throwing arm does for a moment and focus on why the back leg does not release or follow around? A stiff front side will not allow it. Unless they flex the lead foot knee (land on the ball of the foot) and think their nose is over their toes the weight does not transfer forward efficiently in my opinion. When we stride we want them to land on the inside edge of their lead foot (eversion) so the baby toe is slightly off the ground. If they are on all 5 toes the weight transfer slows down and something is out of sequence and something is going to happen for the front side to open or the weight will go over the front leg.
When hitting soft toss a check point for us is the attack mode drill....we think slow to load, soft to step, separate the hands rearward and your lead foot edge of the foot is angled so the baby toe area is off the ground slightly. Then we ask them to swing as hard as they can and look for ANY and I mean any additional movement that required then to get started other than the lowering of the back elbow or planting the heel to release or start their momentum. The flexed knee and being on the inside edge of the lead foot in my opinion can be the transfer point they can feel or what Coach Enquist calls her Elvis move. In my opinion if they had to raise their back elbow again or further or try to separate their hands back more, roll the shoulder in, turn the hips, sway the hips, step again, they were not in an efficient position during toe touch. They can feel that flowing motion when the lead foot knee is flexed and the hips are not locked and their is balance between the hips and feet. CB has been measured several times and has been found to be at 50/ 50 weight shift in this position.
I have used a 5 gallon bucket filled 1/3 up with concrete. Sand does not work and neither does water as the side walls of the bucket gives. You can put a 2x6 side ways so the bucket does not give however the concrete works. The gym shoes slides down the surface of the bucket very well and I tried Plexiglas, sheet metal, laminate flooring etc. Depending on your hitting surface, I have astro turf, I have a piece of plywood cut to the shape of the bucket with about 3 dozen finishing nails through the wood. I attached the wood from inside the bucket and then filled it with concrete. This way the bucket does not slide when they stride to the bucket. They stride so the baby toe area of the shoe is on the side of the bucket and when they begin heel plant the foot slides down and their front leg is usually at an angle up against the bucket and they feel it! You can put a concrete block on the outside of the back foot and they will learn how to transfer their weight quickly or their back foot will not clear the brick efficiently. Within a few swings take away the brick and they are on their way.
Howard
- Oct 19, 2009
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The circular path of the hands do you recommend clockwise, counter clockwise or does it matter?
On the load my daughter swears her coach meant by saying hands and front foot separate that her hands go backward and her front foot slides forward.
I think she is mistaken that the front foot does not slide forward, only the hands go back. Would you mind elaborating on this portion of the swing.
Thanks.
On the load my daughter swears her coach meant by saying hands and front foot separate that her hands go backward and her front foot slides forward.
I think she is mistaken that the front foot does not slide forward, only the hands go back. Would you mind elaborating on this portion of the swing.
Thanks.
The circular path of the hands do you recommend clockwise, counter clockwise or does it matter?
On the load my daughter swears her coach meant by saying hands and front foot separate that her hands go backward and her front foot slides forward.
I think she is mistaken that the front foot does not slide forward, only the hands go back. Would you mind elaborating on this portion of the swing.
Thanks.
If you are asking me I will take a shot at it...we teach throwing first to relate to hitting purely from a weight shift. As we step to throw where does the ball hand go and forget about the technique for a moment please. The foot went forward and the ball hand went rearward and this we explain is gathering our momentum and we should be able to feel it. Our foot goes forward and the hands goes back in the opposite direction.
Then as a right handed hitter....take the index finger of the left hand and inter lock it with the baby finger ( don't call it a golf grip please
) of the right hand and place the ball in the right hand. Have her think slow to load, soft to step and land on the inside edge of her lead foot so the knee is bent or flexed slightly. I look to see where the knee cap is positioned. If it is pointed some what towards the second base mans normal playing position that is a good start. Notice I did not use the front foot as a reference.Now at toe touch or during the toe touch phase have her move the hands rearward slightly. If she rolls the shoulder inward and you are standing in front of her she will be hiding the ball behind her head basically. If you have a full length mirror face the mirror like a pitcher is in front of her. Repeat the above and she will see herself what happened and if the hands went rearward she will see the rag/ socks and if she rolls the shoulder or takes her hands and elbows back and around you will not see the rag. Now use both hands and make sure you point out to keep the hands together and throw the rag or socks into the mirror. Once she gets that have her do it in front of the net with a ball and throw up the middle first. Then again and tell her to point her belly button towards the pitcher. Then throw it to the opposite field and to rotate her belly button as needed and point to the second baseman's playing position and repeat for an inside pitch and point the belly button to the short stops playing position. Depending on her age and athleticism she will pick up on it fairly quick. As to the hand motion it is normally clockwise as they will be moving the hands rearward during toe touch.
The front foot does not slide as she will have to lift it up to transfer the weight from inside the back leg so her weight will shift forward. Again stand her in front of a mirror and get her stance width in my opinion 1.5 times the width of her shoulders. Bend at the waist and soften the knees and turn the lead leg foot in and shift her weight to the inside of the back leg and we call that a knee cock. To get her to feel it stand in front of her and brace her shoulders with your hand and have her load and then hold her shoulders and ask her to pick up her lead foot leg and you should be holding her up. If you feel no weight see if her back foot knee is over her foot. The knee should be inside the back foot just like when we started like the shape of a pyramid.
Let me know how it works please.
Howard
Hope this helps...
Howard
Thanks Ill start workn on this in Jan when we resume practice and Ill let you know how they do.
