how to teach stride to a pre-strider

[randy]

I think I am going to let my sons use a normal stride instead of the "get down early" style seen in their earlier videos. How/what do I need to tell them?
Here is a video we messed around with a little this summer.

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb58/handyrandy_01/th_cs002.jpg (http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb58/handyrandy_01/?action=view&current=cs002.flv)

[LAball]

Not sure what you mean by get down early.. but I think he needs to bend his knees more.

[Ursa Major]

Not sure what you mean by get down early.. but I think he needs to bend his knees more.Yup, the knees are way too stiff -- no wonder striding is tough. And he can't get his hips around, so the hands are way ahead of them. The very good news is that he generates some office force with just his upper body. How old is he? If he can get the lower body to start the action, he'll hit some bombs.

To work on stride, take the bat out of his hands and have him work on his lower body action with his hands on his hips, then maybe work up to a pole drill. Get him in an athletic stance (like he's defending someone in basketball). Lift the front leg by the knee and start to "fall" toward the pitcher. (More advanced hitters will want to turn that knee in, but this is just the basics, right?.) Just as he's landing on the inside ball of the front foot, have him have the back knee 'chase' the front knee, slam the front heel down and fire his back hip around toward the ball, while keeping his weight on the balls of his feet (i.e., don't pull off the ball). Try to exaggerate having the hips get around before the shoulders come around.

After doing these drills without and with the pole, try it from the tee, then with soft toss, etc. Post more clips. Watch him make lots of left turns on the basepaths.

[virg]

Yeah Ursa & LA stiff legs. Ursa, that way but with another description.
Sink straight down at least til weight leaves the heels, better yet til heels rise off ground.
Loosen hips and knees to let weight move down.
Equal angles in knees and hips/waist when it's done right.
A pitcher will see vertical align of toes, knees, shoulder joints.

Yeah, stride with a soft gentle 'fall'.

Whatever it was he was trying before, such a stiff-legged start would have been a problem. Maybe go back and try again with soft knees/hips.

[BoardMember]

I think I am going to let my sons use a normal stride instead of the "get down early" style seen in their earlier videos. How/what do I need to tell them?
Here is a video we messed around with a little this summer.



Just have him do this several times a day to get used to the transfer.........Make sure he keeps the pressure in the inside of the back leg so the back leg never gets vertical...........And make sure his shoulders don't counter-rotate during the knee raise.......

Notice the position of his front foot on the knee raise/hip cock.........The heel gets in front of the toe (foot turning slightly in) to promote hip cock........Then opens back up slightly (20 degrees or so) back into plant.........

http://i43.tinypic.com/295dzzq.gif

Then let him tone it down to his liking.........

[Jake Patterson]

I had a player several years ago that had difficulty with this concept. What I did was to get him to load his front leg up and slightly in (closed) while standing on his back leg, in a simulated batting stance, while I held him. Once he found balance and was comfortable I let go and pushed him forward slightly. He of course moved his front leg out to catch himself. From there we moved to stepping on a target on the floor, which I felt was a reasonable stride for him and then moved to pushing him hard enough so his weight would transfer to his front leg. From there we added several rotation components and then picked up a bat....
Helped him... Just a thought.
jake