10U Swing Eval

[Shawn]

I am not against instruction at any age, you just have to figure out if a kid is ready for it or not. If a kid is doing something incorrectly that they are unable to feel that is a pretty good tell that they don't have the body awareness yet to be able to take verbal instruction and do something positive with it..

We have all playing levels in our town. You have all kinds of physical intelligence. Kids at lower levels will never play at our HS, or even mid levels. Some people just don’t have body awareness. If you told them something and even showed them, they cannot create anything that resembles said instruction.

Even you Pattar have a intelligence in your field that I don’t have. I would be at the lower level . I’m sure you can teach me that 2+2=4 . I’m not saying I couldn’t learn, I’m just I will never be a Professor in your field.

One time this 18 year old kid was in the church gym, a missionary. We were shooting hoops and he had no idea how to use he body to shoot the basketball. I remember asking myself how someone could have so little physical intelligence.

In a long way of saying. You never know who and at what point they can understand the swing.

 

[_MIA_]

In a long way of saying. You never no who and at what point can understand the swing.

`Sure..never said otherwise.

 

[julray]

This is the best advice. Her swing is serviceable. Let her try to figure it out and have fun. I would add, the more you keep your mouth shut, the more she will listen to you when you have something important to say. If she swings and misses, just throw another one. If she smokes one, say nice hit.

Agree with this as well... maybe with a little instruction regarding hands staying/working back as the hitter strides forward. Just like most sports, body advances forward and whatever limb(s) holding the bat/stick/racket lags behind cocked and ready to launch. I think at most ages this can be taught through instruction/game etc

 

[Cornbread]

Curious if you have any updates? How’s she been doing?

 

[bjenkins24]

Curious if you have any updates? How’s she been doing?

Not great
But we've been talking to a few people that reached out so working through some of the advice. The problem is mostly I read the advice here and maybe have a shallow understanding of it, but when I try to go apply and teach it to her it's more like "uh yeah I think so? maybe?" haha.

 

[Cornbread]

Not great
But we've been talking to a few people that reached out so working through some of the advice. The problem is mostly I read the advice here and maybe have a shallow understanding of it, but when I try to go apply and teach it to her it's more like "uh yeah I think so? maybe?" haha.

Gotcha! Yeah that’s certainly part of it. I think the stance stuff I posted will be really beneficial. This is something I’ve had to learn over the years: FOCUS ON ONE THING ONLY. When hitting off of a tee only watch to see if she did the ONE THING you are asking her to do. Don’t look at contact or where the ball goes or anything else. If you are focusing on stance FOCUS ON STANCE lol.

It’s so easy to want to help them barrel the ball immediately. That’s where we mess up. If you are working on a specific drill give her positive feedback consistently. Work the drill for about 15 swings and take a break. Maybe flip some side or front toss telling her to kill it, then go back to the tee to focus on that one thing.

Figure out what you want to teach her. Learn it! Take notes on drills you think will help. Do the drills yourself before you try to get her to do them. My advice is start with her stance and put the tee down and tell her to kill it. Only make sure she can repeat getting into a good stance. Don’t worry about contact. Just say “your stance looked awesome” on every mis-hit and when she does smoke one tell her “great job, now let me see that stance again”. Keep working brother!

 

[efastball]

Here she is at toe touch. Almost all of her swings flaws begin here. She has used all her available leverage at this point.
Green is bad, yellow good

1. The back foot is pointed backwards (sorry, I reversed the colors here). Her foot should be pointed at the plate, not back. She inhibits hip rotation here.

2. She starts with her head almost over her back foot (not so good), and barely moves her torso forward (bad). Notice the ball of her front foot (correct way) has not reached the tee (green, bad). So she has no body leverage.

3. Her back forearm is mostly vertical (green, bad), and should be flat (yellow, good). No leverage on the bat.

4. Her bat is a little too flat (green), I would like to see it up (yellow, good) to abt 55-60 deg. This will help reduce bat drag, so she wont have to use her arms to make the bat head go up to vertical.

5. She rolls over her front knee before she lands (see GIF on top). You should begin to roll over both knees after the instant of toe touch. Keep the front knee getting past facing the plate until landing.

No typical drills will fix this. None.

Do dry strides (no bat, tee, ball) to toe touch, in front of a mirror, and correct each item, one at a time in need be (order would be 1,3,2,5,4). I would stop any cages or swinging until you fix this.

She will be hitting hard balls out of the infield if you do this.

 

[bjenkins24]

View attachment 25931
View attachment 25932

Here she is at toe touch. Almost all of her swings flaws begin here. She has used all her available leverage at this point.
Green is bad, yellow good

1. The back foot is pointed backwards (sorry, I reversed the colors here). Her foot should be pointed at the plate, not back. She inhibits hip rotation here.

2. She starts with her head almost over her back foot (not so good), and barely moves her torso forward (bad). Notice the ball of her front foot (correct way) has not reached the tee (green, bad). So she has no body leverage.

3. Her back forearm is mostly vertical (green, bad), and should be flat (yellow, good). No leverage on the bat.

4. Her bat is a little too flat (green), I would like to see it up (yellow, good) to abt 55-60 deg. This will help reduce bat drag, so she wont have to use her arms to make the bat head go up to vertical.

5. She rolls over her front knee before she lands (see GIF on top). You should begin to roll over both knees after the instant of toe touch. Keep the front knee getting past facing the plate until landing.

No typical drills will fix this. None.

Do dry strides (no bat, tee, ball) to toe touch, in front of a mirror, and correct each item, one at a time in need be (order would be 1,3,2,5,4). I would stop any cages or swinging until you fix this.

She will be hitting hard balls out of the infield if you do this.

This seems doable. That was a really helpful post. We'll definitely start in on this today. Thanks so much for taking the time to point all that out and make the markings I think I followed everything.

 

[Shawn]

Efast,

Thoughts on this swing, starting ready to launch. Launch position and I don’t care if he is off a little.

Why is there a launch position? What makes up a launch position?

 

[Shawn]

I see something to work with, she is coiling/loading or a least starting. Although she quickly gives it up, weight shifts. The weight shift happens as part of the coil n stretch.