Posted by: Major Dan (markj89@charter.net) on Wed Jan 24 19:45:11 2001

>>>I'm getting back into batting with our group of 9's, some of the High School's camps teach "keeping the heel of the front foot elevated during stance". I never really worked on stance as long as they were comfortable and balanced in their stance and in good position during the inward turn. What advantage is elevating the heel of the front or lead foot?
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> I'd like to also thank you guys for this website, it's a great tool to help the kids. I'll be ordering the video as soon as I recover from Christmas. Larry <<<
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> Hi Larry
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> I do have my lead heel elevated in my launch position. The toe and knee are pointing in the direction of the first base dugout. The reason I have the heel elevated is because I rotate the lead knee around toward the pitcher as the swing is initiated and this works better on the ball of the foot. I do not consciously lower the heel, it automatically lowers as I rotate the knee and leg.
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> Jack Mankin
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Jack-
I have been working on front heel down as swing initiation from Mike Epstein's influence. It is clearly a movement used by most major league players. When I videoed my son's swing last week, I noticed that he started his front foot heel up but sideways to the pitcher, not at 45 degrees as Epstein suggests.
However, watching frame by frame, Matt (my son) both dropped his front heel down AND pivoted his foot toward the 45 degree angle. This pivoting movement opened the front knee and started his front hip turning back.
This sounds very much like what you describe above. I think this is very important. It sheds more light on the initiation of the swing. THanks again for your insights.
Major Dan