Posted by: Thomas Flanigan (tf@un-hinge.com) on Wed Jan 18 11:10:12 2006

> My son has a serious problem of leaning back when he swings. I always hear the this is bad because he can lose alot of power and tend to hit alot of groundballs (which he does). How important is it not to lean back? How can I teach him to do this? He says he understands, but just cant do it. Please help!

Leaning back can cause various problems with any hitter. I would have him stand in a door way without a bat and get in his hitting position. The doorway should run in the middle of his nose and the other side should run down his spine. He will easily be able to see how he is leaning back. When he is hitting off of a tee, remind him to remember the door way. You can also hold a stick or broom handle straight up and down from the ground while he is hitting off the tee, you can do this from the left handers batters box. The stick is his key, not to lean back past it. The stick acts as a stationry axis and so should he. If his spinal area leans back past the stick stop him there and then show him his movement. You can also get him in is hitting position (Stance) and do the GO drill. As soon as he gets set yell Go, this way he has no time to lean back, he will just rotate at that point. TF