Starting to work with 8yo DD - Need Input

[MightyMO]

My DD played her first year of machine pitch 8U this year (played coach pitch before that) and has really started to love softball. We have decided to use the break between summer and fall ball to work on her swing. She is big for her age and strong enough to hit hard without much lower body work. I have started to work with her on this but wanted to post a couple of "raw" videos of her before we really started working to get input from you guys. Any help would be appreciated on any part of her swing.

 

[softballphreak]

The lower half starts the show. Try to look like this (until you feel like this):

 

[MightyMO]

Thanks phreak. I've shown her this video and she was impressed that a girl close to her age could have such a good swing. She's watched it a few times as a matter of fact. The difficulty is jumping from where she's at to that. Any tips on where to start? She wants to go hit pretty much every night so she's willing to put the work in. I just don't want her continuing bad habits when we do T work.

 

[Greenmonsters]

I know it makes absolutely no difference whatsoever during tee work, but I always like to have them hit with home plate oriented properly i.e., the point of home plate pointing at the catcher.

 

[JJsqueeze]

Thanks phreak. I've shown her this video and she was impressed that a girl close to her age could have such a good swing. She's watched it a few times as a matter of fact. The difficulty is jumping from where she's at to that. Any tips on where to start? She wants to go hit pretty much every night so she's willing to put the work in. I just don't want her continuing bad habits when we do T work.

I would start simple be getting that front foot opened up more to allow the hips to fire. A closed front foot has a blocking effect on the hips rotating. I would also have the tee a little more out front (towards pitcher) to encourage her to hold the bat a little longer before releasing the elbows and wrists. lastly that back elbow drops quickly into a pretty weak position that needs to stay stronger through the swing. the other swing Phreak posted is a great benchmark. look at her elbow/front foot/tee position and you should see what I'm talking about.

 

[Eric F]

I'm by no means an expert on hitting, just a dad with an 8yo DD who is learning how to hit better, but here's what I see...

The ball is too far back in her stance. For a ball across the middle of the plate, she should be making contact about even with her front foot. With the ball that far back, she's "casting" to get the bat around to hit the ball straight. The ball position also prevents her from driving forward with her right hip, making the only option a rotational swing without much power.

 

[JJsqueeze]

also get this software if you want to totally geek out analyzing her swing. Kinovea

I was turned on to it in another thread and I love it. it lets you get side by side comparisons that are synchronized and a few other cool features...free too.

 

[straightleg]

My DD played her first year of machine pitch 8U this year (played coach pitch before that) and has really started to love softball. We have decided to use the break between summer and fall ball to work on her swing. She is big for her age and strong enough to hit hard without much lower body work. I have started to work with her on this but wanted to post a couple of "raw" videos of her before we really started working to get input from you guys. Any help would be appreciated on any part of her swing.

Work on throwing first. Work a flexed front knee. Elbow of throwing arm even or higher than the shoulder. Pull the glove hand in for some torque.
Landing on a flexed front knee will allow the hips to work better and give the thrower a more powerfull throw.

This kind of lower action is what you want in throwing/hitting.


Her front leg is too stiff when she hits. So work on throwing first, she probably has a stiff front leg when she throws.



Straightleg

 

[MightyMO]

Thanks for all of the input guys. We worked on throwing tonight while I payed close attention to her elbow and front knee. She does a good job of keeping the elbow up and the knee flexed when throwing but still has trouble dropping it on the swing. I will continue to work with her on throwing and the T and will post another video in a couple of days.

 

[MightyMO]

also get this software if you want to totally geek out analyzing her swing. Kinovea

I was turned on to it in another thread and I love it. it lets you get side by side comparisons that are synchronized and a few other cool features...free too.

JJ - I am an IT guy by trade so this stuff is right up my alley. Thanks for the heads up!