Drills for rotation

[Knights Baseball]

Does anyone have tips on how to teach kids to have explosive hips. I know this can be greatly improved by plyometrics and such, but i want drills that people have done. I have seen the bat behind the back drill where the kids basically work on the rotation of the hips and i also heard about one where kids get in their hitting stance and explosively twist the hips and lift the back knee up as they twist, almost like an MMA knee during a fight. Thanks for the imput.

[Ursa Major]

Most kids (a) have horrible rotational patterns, and (b) hate to do hip turn drills, so the trick isn't finding the best drill .... it's finding any drill that you can get them to do.

The key is in getting kids to feel the tension in the inner thighs -- most kids have none. I don't want to steal anything from Steve Englishbey, but his DVD's have a bunch of related drills that focus on getting kids to get the feel for what that tension should feel like. One idea that I feel is probably okay to pass along is a drill where kids jump off a platform about a foot off the ground, and swing their hips as soon as the land. The concept (as I recall) is that the same instinctive tightening of the inner thigh muscles that the body conducts when it is landing from a fall is the same motion and feel that you want kids to effect when they're turning their hips.

For younger (say, up to age 11), I've seen coaches hold kids firmly by the shoulders and tell them to try to turn their hips -- after a 3 count, the coach lets go and the kid turns quickly. As I understand it, that drill is to give kids the feel of tensing up against the clenched inner thigh of the front leg. This approximates a real swing, where the kid's back thigh is pressuring forward trying to turn. After the swing is launched and this tension builds against thr front thigh, the front thigh then not only "releases" its block on the back thigh, it turns a little bit too, giving a more pronounced snap.

[Knights Baseball]

Thanks, i read a drill in the Baseball Coaches Bible and the coach from Ok. State talked about holding a basketball between your legs and squeeze while swinging. I dont know if this works, but he talked a good bit about the inner thigh too.

[LAball]

Jbooth has a hip turing drill somewhere in here.

[RayR]

This is kind of a reverse way to go about it:

Have them throw a medicine ball into a wall or to a partner standing in their hitting stance.

The goal is to try and keep their hips from counter rotating as they bring the ball back and they step/stride as they bring the ball back. They should feel some tension in their thighs from this pressure in the back leg bracing against the ball being brought back. Try to keep them thinking about keeping the head centered as they stride - don't let them tilt back.

Once they can feel this, turning the hips is easier for them to get.