Posted by: John D (John@Dresslar.com) on Mon Oct 24 19:47:26 2005

All of these suggestions may solve the problem, but I worry that they may be band-aids that simply address a symptom of an underlying problem. Of the Final Arc suggestions that most apply to this problem, the key features may be (1) making sure he strides onto his front TOE, and then starts his hip movement by dropping the heel and turning his front knee, and (2) bringing his front shoulder back just before contact, as Wogdoggy suggests.

I'm assuming that you've got the Final Arc video. If you run kids through the whole program so that they have an integrated approach to their swing, the lunging should not be present unless they're simply not able to wait on the ball long enough. Without seeing his swing, we may be offering a solution that may exacerbate another problem. And if you try all of these solutions, the kid may get confused as you jump from one to another until one seemingly "works".

Rather than offer a specific mechanical "fix", let me suggest a drill used by my son's hitting coach, who has the same tendency. Stand a few feet directly behind the plate and throw soft toss directly forward towards the pitcher's mound, having the kid hit into a screen or sports net. With the ball coming from the rear, the kid has to stay back to hit the ball.