Posted by: JLB (oz2009@verizon.net) on Mon May 5 12:01:25 2008

> My son's new coach in a 13-15 league insists his players lock the knee on their stride leg as they stride and swing. I'm trying to keep an open mind on this - any opinions ?

Ideally, the front leg momentarily locks at the knee when the bat is in the contact zone. When the front heel goes down to initiate the swing, the hips start to open with the front hip moving slightly forward then turning around the body’s axis back towards the catcher. However, the age group you describe is known for tight hip flexors from growing, so allowing the knee to lock prematurely, right after heel drop, facilitates hip rotation for adolescents of this age. While not ideal, it is better they learn to rotate their hips than have them sway too far forward with little to none hip rotation. The downside to prematurely locking the front knee is players tend to sit on their back leg too much and lose power.

JLB