Posted by: Andy Proctor (aproctor@ix.netcom.com) on Tue Apr 9 16:09:31 2002

> Coach Andy,
> I'm coaching 12U also, and have just gotten Jack's tape and am ver interested in helping the boys learn this approach. Could you give some more specifics about what worked and what didn't work as far as learning? Could you post the pictures you used? Did the boys maintain good ball contact while they were learning a "new" approach, or was it 1 step backwards and then 2 steps forward? Any specifics are greatly appreciated!
> Thanks in advance,
> joe H

Joe:

What did not work:

1) top hand torque (we have to wait to introduce it after we learned bottom hand and lead shoulder techniques);
2) torso skills unless lower body skills are in place;
3) trying to hit a ball too soon.

What did work:

1) using no bat, get the feet and knees set up, then teaching them a "lift, replace & rotate" lower body movement. When they are comfortable with this and can execute it while maintaining their balance we then introduce...the picture.
2) When they see the Bonds/McGwire picture we call the point of contact the "wham position"...and they use their lower body mechanics to rotate into "wham"...making sure their shoulders and arms are setup properly (Jack's "welded wheel"), we then have them use the lead hand to simply push on the bat handle and rotate BACK into the launch position. If you are nice and loose with a stiff lead arm, you push on the handle by "re-cocking" your wrist (which must remain flat, ie go from extension to hitchhiker along the 1 plane)...when you do this it is weird, but your body will reverse rotate up to the launch position, and you will probably start laughing becuase it is such a clean movement.
3) Once they understand rotation, wham and the welded wheel, we then go to the heavy bag (we use a blocking bag I borroed from the youth football shack). We do rotating welded wheels with the lead arm ONLY at first, holding the top hand over our heart. We are looking for them to use their lower body mechanics and shoulder rotation to initiate the swing...not their hands.
4) The next stage is to introduce the top hand by placing it on the bat by circling the handle with the thumb and forefinger only "O grip"...this teaches them the "loose grip" which is a prerequisite for top hand torque downstream (since the bat must rotate inside the hand for top hand torque). We now continue drilling with the heavy bag but as we initiate the swing with shoulder rotation, we try and get them to be "soft on top-squeeze at the bottom" so that at contact (wham point) they have arced the barrel of the bat naturally through its arc to the contact point.
5) Next we do the whole thing off a tee (stationary target).
6) Next we do it side soft toss (slow target)
7) Next we do it front soft toss (slow oncoming target)
8) Next we go live pitching.

That all we have for now. We discuss top hand torque ith the better players once they have mastered the basics, but the focus there is lead shoulder initiation and top hand super gentle with a soft finger
movement...we're still learning about this technique.

In revie, we do:

Lower Mechanics,
Upper torso mechanics,
No target,
Stationary target,
Slow target,
Real target.

We do drill stations, maybe 3,4, or 5 stations depending on how many coaches are their that day, and then rotate them through the stations constantly emphasizing the mechanics and key-words we've developed.

I don't know how other guys on this site are teaching, and am really anxious to get Jack's Drill Tape....but for now we use this approach using the bag drills Jack attaches to the back of the Swing Review Tapes, which one of my coaches bought for his son.

Coach Andy