Donny's "Total Presentation" Web Version

[Teacherman]

Without a clip my first guess is he connects too soon.

Connection must be instantaneous at "go". After the hips have completed their running start. Connecting in the stance before "go" really bogs the system down.

My second guess would be he hits from a two point stance.

[GroundUp]

My second guess would be he hits from a two point stance.

Bingo!

What drill(s) would you recommend for this?

[Teacherman]

Tell him to stop it.

Self toss.

Then use one legged swings.

[GroundUp]

Tell him to stop it.

Self toss.

Then use one legged swings.

Thanks T.

I did tell them to stop it ... that didn't help.

During the portion of the swing that Yeager calls the forward weight shift, this kid instead reaches out with their lead leg. When the front foot comes down the head is much closer to their back leg and they are way out of balance. The kid then goes through a prolonged "hip glide" with both heels on the ground. When the swing is finally initiated there is little left to put into hip rotation. The result is about a 35-deg rotation of the hip and an armsy-like swing.

I've had this kid perform "walk up" and "walk through" moves to help promote a "positive move" / "forward weight shift". While they can perform these drills well, they can't seem to transfer the "positive move" / "forward weight shift" over to their swing.

The "walk up" and "walk through" drills don't have the same starting stance as the normal swing. These drills instead work off of forward momentum already created from the "walking" process. At least for this kid, these drills aren't helping promote a "forward weight shift".

Now, I understand that you may not like the term "positive move" or "forward weight shift", but I've seen your kid and he has a decent balanced stride ... so let's call that the objective.

[Teacherman]

Another suggestion.

Have him swing to hit the ball straight up in the air. A large upper cut.

Pretty hard to do that while sliding the hips and not opening them.

And, I bet his version of large uppercut, will be much closer to right than to a large uppercut. If not, back him off a little. But you must break his guardrails.

Always remember, the lower body responds to the goal set by the upper body.

[Teacherman]

Now, I understand that you may not like the term "positive move" or "forward weight shift", but I've seen your kid and he has a decent balanced stride ... so let's call that the objective.

I don't recall saying I don't like those terms.

I do recall saying there is a large difference between creating momentum and weight shift.

Creating momentum is 'carrying' forward without losing the load in the rear hip. Good hitters do this to varying degrees.

Weight shift is what happens after momentum....at "go". The actual shift of the weight from the rear leg to the front leg by unloading the rear hip and pushing off the ground with the rear foot. All good hitters do this the same.

[tom.guerry]

Agree, negative move is necessary to load into back hip and to have all the early action use back foot as pivot.

The positive move is the momentum that is available to take the axis forward /upright/out if needed ( needed to adjust for up and for outside). If you don't make this momentum available, you tend to be the one dimensional pull hitter who has to try to get the high ball with too long an uppercut.

Carrying/controlling the momentum's path/keeping the load for later shifting alos requires getting "hips cocked" prior to or during the positive move/before you start the untipping/coil/rotation into toe touch/running start.

Then with the go/drop and tilt, you shift to the front foot and it becomes the base.

The "hip cock" is a type of muscle activation that feels the same in throwing and swinging that enables the directed cary of momentum as well as the synch of the upper and lower limbs. It is typically activated by retaining balance while the front foot strides and involves pinch at the waist.

The Dixon cues are pretty good here. Establish "offcenter balance" with "lift by pinching" and "forward by turning".

[Stealth]

Pronk - This is Swingbuilders drill, you are correct.

[YHF]

Also, I think we need section for Drills. I have the Gate Drill video clip. You have the inside seam drill ETC.

That might help nebies

Perhaps we can all agree to post clips of our kids or players doing the drills. If we can accumulate some clips then Richard can have a 'drills section' with explanations of certain faults and what drills might help. We could then have clips of 2 or 3 kids doing the drill.

And I'll volunteer to help with this. I'll start video taping our drills and submit those for use.

We regularly do the inside seam drill, lead leg lift drill, triple lead leg lift drill, happy gilmore drill, and a hip coil drill I came up with (this drill might exist in a similar form or some other name but it's something i started using with our players).

[GroundUp]

Perhaps we can all agree to post clips of our kids or players doing the drills. If we can accumulate some clips then Richard can have a 'drills section' with explanations of certain faults and what drills might help. We could then have clips of 2 or 3 kids doing the drill.

And I'll volunteer to help with this. I'll start video taping our drills and submit those for use.

We regularly do the inside seam drill, lead leg lift drill, triple lead leg lift drill, happy gilmore drill, and a hip coil drill I came up with (this drill might exist in a similar form or some other name but it's something i started using with our players).

Excellent suggestion.

I look forward to seeing the drills you describe.

Could someone please convert the Gate Drill from ".mpg" to ".gif" format and repost it?