Posted by: Coach C () on Wed Dec 10 07:17:35 2003

Thanks Tom! Very good description. As I wade through all of this I still find myself coming back to the same question: how do you teach it? What cues, drills, visualizations have you had success with?
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > > Nick
> >
> > Hi Nick,
> >
> > Here's my take and I have had a lot of success with this. I believe the lead arm is the problem with most swings I see. Think of this way. if the lead arm is driven or pulled to extension, then the back arm becomes slave (extending to early in the swing), generally resulting is top hand roll, pulling off the ball, etc. I believe the front arm must be trained to be slave to the top hand. As Jack has stated (I think) the bottom hand must pull back through the ball, not pull forward. This action encourages the the shoulders to turn better through the ball. It's when the lead arm casts, that puts the breaks on shoulder rotation (effectively slows it down and then stops them at contact.) Consider keeping slack in the lead arm throughout the swing and shoulder rotation will be much easier and the back elbow will slot the way it should. Once the back arm slots better you can begin to create additional scap load just by hitting harder. Look at Lugo's swing rear view swing and tell me if you see it doing anything but holding on. It's connected to the body, but it's loosy goosy, no tension!
> >
> > See ya Nick
>
> Hey guys,
>
> Just a quick note. If the lead arm being extended prematurely is the major problem that is in most swing then explain the success of guys like Griffey Jr. and Brett Boone..just to name a couple. They completely extend the lead arm back and have absolutely no slack, yet they maintain a very tight rotation. I obviously wouldn't teach that but it surely can't be the most glaring flaw in a swing if people who have excellent swings still do it. I also think that the shoulder rotation of Brett Boone is as good as anyone else.
>
> Andy

I would define slack as no tension....it may or may not be straight. Griffeys lead arm couldn't be any softer in my opinion (but it gets to straight). Look at Bernie Williams swing, just prior to the Boone clip, that lead arm is never straight, but yet he rotates his shoulders just great. The lead arm must be soft, straight is a non-issue in my opinion.

Hope all is well!

Coach C