Posted by: roberto () on Thu Jan 9 13:26:40 2003

Who ever you are, you post is a good one and is correct in my opinion,
> > > im the guy in the video and you're opinion is valid. The biggest problem of most young hitters is the restriction of the front leg. I do want to point out that the video shows us working with kids trying to get them to keep a bent front knee until contact. However, the problem with kids is usually patience and strength. They are not strong enough to maintain balance through rotation and don't wait and go linear before they rotate. This is one of the best post I have read on Jacks web site in a long time. If you are interested I have spent hours upon hours with Jack and I consider his input as good as anyones. I would with any problem not hesitate to ask him because of the amount of information he has to offer.
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> > > John Elliott.
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> >
> > John-
> >
> > I would second your comment about lack of strength.I find Epstein's lower body drills very good and kids often fall over when they first attempt them.Even as they make progress,however,they rarely have learned how to cock the hip and maintain this until rotation starts.Then the front leg straightens as toe touch approaches and there is not much left to rotate with,not so much because the leg is straight,but because the hip is no longer cocked/cocking.
> >
> > One thing that may help kids learn/coaches teach Jack's principles and make the most of the sequential drills you illustrate is teaching the feel of hip cock/uncock.Analyzing progress here may necessitate a more biomechanically detailed model of the swing/video analysis than most would care to hear about.
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> With all do respect, I don't agree with Epstein's approach at all, in fact I view it as a recipe for disaster. I've heard him speak many times, because I happened to be there, and none of his students resemble his mentor Ted Williams. His interpretation of Ted's swing is incorrect. I've analized Ted's swing many times, and his hand path was completely different......not even close. Trust me when I say that if the hand path is incorrect then the lower body action is incorrect also. Thus Ted Williams' lower body action is not what Epstein is teaching. I don't believe you can manufacture the hip torque, when it comes to feel........otherwise the emphasis get's placed in the wrong area and you have excessive leg action of which I spoke. As Ted Williams said, it's a metronome, nobody had to teach it. The reason Ted Williams was great in my opnion was that he was right handed. He swing makes perfect sense.....I have always hit from both sides of the plate my whole life and played golf from either side...but I'm right handed when I do everything else (except use scissors for some reason). This helped me immeasurably when I tried to understand the role of the hands. There are too many angles in joints in Epstein's approach, thus there are too many angles in the swings.

Coach C. refer us to some specific hitters that are either Williams' disciples (like Garciapora) or references in Ted's book or Epstein's tape that you say are so wrong. Does Bonds swing wrong? What does Bonds' lower body do? How about his front leg? Looks like it straightens to me.