Posted by: Coach C () on Fri Aug 22 10:42:57 2003

My 10 yo looks great rotational. However he is very aggresive. How can I get him to slow down how fast he swings his arms while rotating. As he rotatates his arm moves so fast that his rear elbow leaves his side and ends up in front of him well ahead of his shoulder turn.

Just my opinion but it sounds to me like he's not swinging his arms at all, but rather swinging his hands. The differnece is this....when the hands dominate, it's by pushing or pulling, thus creating excessive elbow action and angles. When the arms swing the elbows stay relaxed and get straight. The arms must swing from a loose shoulder socket. You can test this yourself by trying it with no bat. First put hands together then pull them through (you'll notice the elbows will turn up (unless you pull down). Next put hands togther and push, you'll notice the elbows work a bit differently (depending on weather you push up or down). Lastly, seperate the hands and swing the lead arm only and make your hand feel like dead weight (loose), feel the loose front shoulder socket (CAUTION: Don't sway the body, just swing the arm). After that put your hands toghther and figure out how the top hand can assist in the arm speed, never loosing the feeling of loose arms. That to me is an arm swing. Arm speed, however derived, is what has to be transferred to the hands. If the hands take over, there is very little arm speed, especially when we need it the most, before contact.

Good Luck,

Respectfully Coach C