Posted by: Chris O'Leary (chris@chrisoleary.com) on Tue Nov 28 07:39:40 2006

"It sounds like what you are saying is that the back foot should make that 90 degree rotation, however the 'sqish the bug' concept is flawed in that it implies that you have to rotate around a fixed axis (i.e. balls of feet twisted into the ground). I agree that this would inhibit the proper wieght shift to the front."

I think that part of the problem with the concept of squishing the bug is that, IMO, the action of the back leg is the result of good rotation more than its cause. I think that good hitters get pulled onto their back toe rather than push off of their back. As a result, having a kid focus on squishing the bug could cause them to focus on the wrong thing and end up leading to a sub-optimal swing.


"I see many kids who do not even rotate their back foot at all and I think we are in agreement that this is incorrect. What I am hearing you say is that as long as the rotation is there and the weight shift is there, they are on the right track and telling them to rotate the balls of their back foot into the ground would not be correct?"

While I mostly agree with this statement, I again think that you are putting too much emphasis on what the back foot is doing. I think the problem with most young kids is that they don't rotate correctly. However, I think what they aren't rotating properly is their torsos, not just their back feet.