Posted by: grc () on Sun Apr 21 08:33:34 2002

My son's coaches keep telling him not to "walk up on the back foot". As he rotates he comes up on his toes on his back foot. They keep telling him this is wrong and to stay back and rotate on the ball of his back foot.
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> > > > Yet when I look at clips in Setpro and at the fram by frame on this site they all seem to "walk up, or are pretty high on their back toes.
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> > > > Can someone explain what's right?
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> > > > Pete
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> > > Hey Pete
> > > You are right . On an ideal swing you would want to get up on your toes, that is a sign of good rotation, and good extension. Thats why you don't see any great hitters "squasing the bug" they simply don't get enough weight to the front leg, so as long as you get enough weight to your front leg after the stride, then you should come up on you toes naturally though. But don't over do it, once your stride foot lands you must rotate around a stationary axis.
> > > The Hitman
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> >
> > Thanks Hitman. I have a follow up question if I may just to make sure I understand. Is most of your weight on the front leg as you rotate? Or are you relatively balanced with maybe slight emphasis on the front side. This may be a redundant question but I want to be sure.
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> > Appreciate it.
> >
> > Pete
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> Pete,
> Yes, just a slight emphasis on the front as the front toe lands. After that toe drops and the swing is launched and executed, he should feel the brunt of the stress on the inside of his rear thigh. At first, and in drills (Epstein's, in our case), this is very fatiguing to those muscles in the thigh and back calf.

pete...interesting question and good response by hitman....years ago i got my son out of the habit of spinning on his back foot by practicing this simple drill: step one, stride, land & freeze momentairily....step two, turn toward pitcher as if he were going to walk toward pitcher, then freeze.....he immediately got the feel of "walking" off the back foot.....

one side observation....barry bonds seems to "walk" farther off his back foot (before starting the swing) than just about any major leaguer i have seen......respectfully, grc....