Another year. Evie is 11.

[Work=wins]

Most if not all of these swings have the hands loading too early. So there isn’t much engine or stretch thereafter. It’s all rotation or TTB w arms/hands. Whatever she has available at the time of launch. That flaw leads to ‘early hands’. The hands should be pulled by the contraction of the middle.



I get it. Your fighting a lunge. But that’s not the way to go about it. That’s bc the perception is to go back/forward. The proper way is to go from up to down. The intent to get on top and stay there can stop a lunge. It will stop a lunge. You won’t need to tilt.

I would work dry swing drills like this. If you only get ground balls thereafter.. the back leg isn’t correct.

 

[_MIA_]

...Continued from https://www.discussfastpitch.com/threads/swing-critique-10u.40308/

Dd just turned eleven, so I figured I'd begin a new thread, this time in the practical side..

We took about two months off, but hit a handful of times in Dec; mainly soft toss with little instruction.

My christmas gift from her was a gift certificate for three consecutive weeks of hitting beginning Jan 1

Here's a few swings from Dec. She just crossed the 70lb threshold so here's to maybe finding some gaps in 2022! Her team gets together in a week to begin their 1st year of 12u.

Always enjoy any comments and input; I love the discussion here.

Happy New Year DFP!

2nd swing in the video was her best of the bunch IMO. Your kid is built like mine..I think the lack of glutes/legs makes it a bit more difficult to have a firm rear leg to load her upper against..the rear leg wobbles all over the place

Try this (sequencing) drill where you concentrate on loading your hands after you have established a firm rear leg




Also maybe try some drills which force you to activate/feel the backside e.g.

 

[_MIA_]

Also, I should have said this first, I think she looks good for 11 YO..keep at it.

 

[Borrowingminds]

Thanks again for the replies! All hit on relevant points, am I'm so much more aware of that Bambi rear leg.

I feel like there is some slight change here, let me know if you all notice anything, for better or worse.

Fwiw, some of these, in our opinion, have been her hardest basement soft toss barrels to date...she was very happy with herself.

 

[ArmWhip]

I think she has a borderline grip and that leads to her letting go of the bat a little early. One thing I look for is the wrist positions, one of the them has to have some 'extension', if they are both flat or in line there is a potential problem. A high back elbow often causes hitters to rotate the grip too much. Check her knuckle alignment and tweak the grip a little, see if that helps.

The thing that jumps out at me is her extreme tilt, she has a low ball shoulder plane yet she is swinging at high pitches. That's why she frequently loses her balance at the end of the swing. I looked at her old swings and don't see the same amount of shoulder tilt. I am wondering if she is adapting her swing to the front toss. Hitters often shape their swing to accomplish the task they are presented with, they will match their bat path to the angle of the toss. If the toss has too much drop the hitter will swing from low to high.

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[clemenslee1]

Thanks again for the replies! All hit on relevant points, am I'm so much more aware of that Bambi rear leg.

I feel like there is some slight change here, let me know if you all notice anything, for better or worse.

Fwiw, some of these, in our opinion, have been her hardest basement soft toss barrels to date...she was very happy with herself.

What is she learning as to what her first move should be during the loading portion?

 

[Bonesaw]

I would try to have this



look more like this



I don't think getting that far back does any good at all. I'd harp on getting ~70% weight forward at launch(on the front foot). and digging the front shoulder down under the ball.

 

[Borrowingminds]

What is she learning as to what her first move should be during the loading portion?

Right now she 1st has a simple preset coil. Very faint, it's visible in swing six. The plan is from there to "simply" coil forward. Rear back pocket to pitcher, synced up her back, head over belly button. Tbh I think she tries to go too slow to fast, if that makes sense, maintaining a weird balancing act. She immediately goes into a hunch trying to get her middle forward without committing.

 

[clemenslee1]

Right now she 1st has a simple preset coil. Very faint, it's visible in swing six. The plan is from there to "simply" coil forward. Rear back pocket to pitcher, synced up her back, head over belly button. Tbh I think she tries to go too slow to fast, if that makes sense, maintaining a weird balancing act. She immediately goes into a hunch trying to get her middle forward without committing.

Just my opinion. I think a lot of it is the open stance and standing basically completely upright. From there, instead of coil forward with the lower half first she she shifts with the upper half. She needs to sit in the rear leg and coil. I would preset it, imo. I other words hinge a bit in the hips.

 

[ArmWhip]

I am curious, what are your thoughts about how she is hitting the ball? I'm not talking about how she is swinging but how she makes contact and the result.