Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Tue Mar 4 10:12:16 2003

http://www.collegesports.com/sports/w-softbl/stories/030303aak.html
> Tom,fp may be a little different,but she appears to me that she has shifted her weight [upperbody]so much to the front leg that rear leg is extended and it would be difficult to drive the rear knee down and in to drive the rear hip forward.

Sorry,I just lost my initial response,so this may be redundant,hard to tell with toggle mode.

Admittedly this is only one frame,but I think this is a near ideal position that must have required a lot of good things to happen before and after.

I agree there is evidence of more weight forward,but I think this is a necessary part of setting up a more vertical/upright axis for fastpitch to be quick to the ball and handle a higher strike zone.Hank Aaron is known for the upright axis,huge forward motion of body and hooking handpath.I think you may need to use the energy of weight coming forward more to set/keep the axis upright and get the torso "launched quickly".Still,it must be done without "lunging".One of the assumptions you then have to fight is the belief that you have to stay back(prevalent and excessively in fastpitch coaching).

This swing looks well connected with hands back/good separation.

I personally avoid the push from the back cue or the drive the back knee.Sometimes I try the tur/rollover the back foot.I prefer at this point in the swing to focus on pulling with the front side/lead elbow/bottom hand,as by this time energy should be sucked up from the lower body to the upper.

What I would expect to see in subsequent frames would be the legs scissoring with deceleration of hip turn and some drag of the back foot due to reactive torque going down the back leg as the hips decelerate and accentuate forward torso turn/launch.

I think if you want to teach rotational and an upright axis,there has to be good control(back leg flex) of a smooth substantial forward shift of the center of gravity into launch(sitting to hit)as you then learn to rotate/separate within this and set up a stable axis of rotation at the end of weight shift to launch the torso.

Teaching hooking of the handpath in addition for the inside location gives more ability to belly up and cover the plate better without the added magnitude of adjustment for a long radius swing for the outside location if you instead are well off the plate.