Posted by: Coach Matthews/Grace Prep Academy (draftedangel00@yahoo.com) on Mon Jan 22 23:57:04 2007

> Coach Steven

I was looking looking over the website and I saw that you had a couple of your son's swings on here.

I've been working with hitters for 4 years now and I have had 3 Division 1 signees and one Drafted by the Yankees in the sixth round.
I can't remember how many times that I told those guys that you have to be able to stay balanced throughout your entire swing. Your son has a great swing from the time his foot is down, until the point of contact. The question that you need to figure out is "What is it going to take for your son to establish that balance?"

My answer, two suggestions:
1. Body Position: Staying in an athletic body position is a big key to your son's balance. Remember rotational hitting is hip and core domination. If your son's swing is dominated with upper body startum, the results are, a). front shoulder pull off, b). loss of hip to hand connection, c). late hip rotation through the contact point. To fix: Look at your son from the front. His body, from his foot, to his knee, to his hip, to his head, should create a lightning bolt effect. From knee, to hip, to head, you should have a 90 degree angle.

2. Relax, Relax, Relax: Learning to initiate the swing with the hips is very detrimental. If your son is not relaxed, his upper body (shoulders) will take him out of his body position, causing him to bar his front arm and lose full hip rotation. Which then cause the back heel to not turn, therefore he loses balance.

Other than that your son has a great swing for an eight year old.
Hope this helps.

Coach Matthews






Here are some points that may help you out:

1.