3 Keys to a Powerful Swing

Run down this simple check list to see what important things your hitters can do to add more pop and power to their swings.

Softball has moved beyond the days of "just get your bat on the ball" with the advent of better bat technology, stronger players and better coaching. And while the introduction of software technology has made it much easier to learn about and understand the details of the swing it's also resulted in many of us making the swing a jumble of complicated and confusing concepts and terms for our players. It might be important for coaches to understand the exact moment in time when the player achieves positions like connection, toe touch and extension but to most of our players those words have no meaning and actually complicate the swing.

So let's help make our hitters get better by simplifying the swing. The easier something is to understand the easier it is for a player to remember it and do it. No discussion about hitting with power can occur without talking about Balance. For a hitter to hit with maximum power they have to have excellent balance. Most hitters with weak swings have really weak balance since you can't worry about hitting something hard if your body is focused on staying upright. A powerful swing is explosive, fast and forceful and these all require very strong balance to maintain.

Most hitters I work with start off having pretty weak balance and have to learn how to get strong to hit strong. Let's take a look at 3 Keys a hitter must have in order to really crush a ball with her swing. Strong balance requires:

1. A Strong Front Foot (stride foot) -
   • Plant Strong to Hit Strong - the hitter needs to use her front foot when she hits the same way she uses it when she throws. If your hitter isn't sure how she should use her front foot then ask her to throw a ball hard and have her notice, and then describe, how she uses her front foot from where she places her weight on it, to how strong she plants it. Then have her simply use her stride foot the same way on her swing.
   • Use the Big Toe of the Stride Foot for Balance and Plant Strength - the big toe plays a huge role in providing strength for the foot, so when trying to make the front foot strong on the stride be sure to use the big toe by strongly gripping with it on the plant.
2. Barrel Through the Ball -
   • Fire the Top Hand - the barrel of the bat is what must explode into the ball in order to deliver real power to the ball and it's the top hand on the bat that controls the barrel. In most cases this is the player's strongest hand which makes using it explosively even more important. While the bottom hand helps keep the bat going forward toward the contact, or smash zone, it's really the bat handle that's initially moving forward and only when the top hand fires and explodes the barrel forward does the bat have a chance of contacting the ball with any explosive power.
3. Body Into the Swing -
   • Remembering that powerfully hit foul balls don't really help we want our hitters doing everything they can to direct their power onto the playing field. That direction is mostly forward so that's the direction our hitters should work to move their body, just as they do when throwing the ball. When throwing, players stride forward transferring their weight forward in order to add speed to the ball that they're throwing forward. The same is true for hitting. Instead of having your players twisting on their back foot and directing their power sideways - something you would never have your players do when throwing - have your players move their bodies forward slightly to help create forward power when hitting.

For more hitting help check out our Hitting Drills, our Hitting eSkill, and the Hitting module within our Level 3 Coaching Certification Program.