Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Fri Oct 31 11:01:52 2003

Thanks again,and feel free to ignore my thoughts.You seem well acquainted with the dangers.

I usually work with beginners or hitters with a lot of bad habits which are incredibly ugly on video,but maybe it helps to see extreme versions of a problem you might have.Learning how to cock and uncock the hips to drive rotation can be a very difficult skill to master if you don't discover it imitating your heroes at a young age.So many kids have no clue.It's a totally foreign feel.I have found for them,the best way to experience the feel is long toss where they crow hop and bring the stride knee way up.Then they can finally feel what hip cock is and start to manage it in various skills.Still,it is very difficult to manage in hitting because you have to adjust how you do it in reaction to what you are looking for and what you get.

What you describe sounds like a minor version of a typical kid who sways back during the load,never really cocks the hips well,keeps weigh too much back,strides by reaching out and straightening the front leg,never gets off the backside,loses load going into toe touch instead of unloading after heel drop,has too much of an uppercut,and not enough torso rotation(lost loading earlier) to bring the bat to contact forcing diconnection and compensation with arm extension.

One way to work on this is to isolate what Jack calls the "rotational" (as opposed to "torque") part of the swing,the part that drives bat acceleration by sequential body rotation and a circular or arcing handpath.You can isolate this by resting the bat on the back deltoid.Jack also augments feedback by use of the heavy bag which helps ingrain the feel of getting to maximum speed at contact.Then think about the old sit then get out of the chair to hit.You have to cock the hips and let your weight get slightly forward at toe touch(slightly forward means your center of gravity is more toward the weight bearing portion of the front foot than your back foot once the front foot bears weight,but not beyond the weight bearing portion of the front foot as it blocks).The frontleg externally rotates/front foot opens some going into toe touch as a means of continuing coiling,not unloading.You must continue loading until you trigger unloading by heel drop assisting uncocking of the hips.If you keep the front leg flexed(sit as you go to toe touch-this is controlled by how you flex the back leg) and stride to balance with the weight slightly forward at toe touch(an Epstein description)you can retain adequate hip cock.The low inside location will require the most bend at waist and the most turn on the approach.Practice on getting the weight forward and bending at the waist enough for this location,then drop the heel and turn by feeling the back then hips fully "arch" as you rotate as forcefully as possible.Both legs can be felt to contribute instead of pushing one against the other.Don't leave your shoulders/hands behind(however you do this)and maintain your "spine angle"(degree of bend at waist) through contact.