Over-striding

Question
Coach Perl,

Hello.  I have an 11 year old son who has recently picked up the habit of over-striding.  Can you please offer any drills that would eliminate this?  Thanks.

Answer
Darrell -

Thanks for the question.  Over-striding is a very common problem, especially in youths.  The big reason for this is in my opinion, watching the big leaguers.  Somehow, younger players equate big leg kicks and long strides with power.  They see all the long hitters do this, and in turn, try and immitate the movement. The reality is that the height of the leg kick and the length of the stride has very little if anything to do with the power in a swing.  The stride is basically a mechanism for a timing step.  The timing step is for timing a pitcher only.  The swing / power of a swing doesnt begin until the hips begin to open and hands begin to come through the zone.

AN easy drill is to split the swing into 3 steps.  First is just a very small timing step.  Have him lift his front leg, then put it back down in the exact same spot.  Make sure and mark the spot in some way - maybe digging a little hole, or drawing a circle in the dirt. When he lifts his leg, it should only come up about 6", and all he needs to do is basicaly use his hip flexor.  It just ends up being a knee movement.  DONT LET HIM PUSH OFF FROM HIS FOOT!  When players PUSH off their feet to get theor leg up, they rock their entire body.  This will cause his head to move, causing his eyes to move.  Ever caught a fly ball while running?  The ball appears to be moving in crazy ways?  That is the same effect as this.  So make it a very short, compact lift and place back down.  Dont allow any other part of his body to move (except his arms cocking backwards to prepare for the swing). Second is to open the hips, squashing the bug with the hands still back.  Third is throwing the hands through the hitting zone.

Use a batting tee for all of this training.  A player must  engrain mechanics into their brains and into muscle memory BEFORE they can perform the action in a real life situation.  A good bar to set is that he should be able to do 50 off the tee before he can try a live pitch. IF he goes ahead and does a live pitch, and goes back to the old ways, 50 more.  Once he gets it do 50% tee and 50% short / soft toss.

One other good drill is to place a 2x4 4"-6" in front of his front leg in his stance, and have him do some practice swings.  IF he lands his foot behind the board, great.  IF he steps on it, youll see it is too long and have to go back to the tee to adjust it.

Best wishes and good luck

Coach Perl