Treat the problem, not the symptom

It happens to well meaning coaches and parents. You spot a problem: your player pulls their head out while they swing the bat.

You've seen what's wrong, so you try to fix it. That's what we do. Right?

You tell them to "keep your head down", and give them tips on having their chin touch each shoulder during the swing. (I've heard that called 'going from Ike to Mike') They need to keep their head in the right spot.

The problem is, in the example above, you're treating a symptom. The root cause of the trouble probably starts earlier in the swing.

The baseball or softball swing is a series of steps. The swing is a mechanical process. Each step in the chain requires that the previous steps were done properly.

Here's how to find the cause:

• Use an image like the one below as a reference. Eventually you won't need an image, but you'll probably want one to help show the player the goal.

• Starting at step 1. Compare your player's swing at each point.

• Determine whether the player completes each step properly.

• Fix the earliest problem in the chain.

• Then reevaluate, checking each step again.

This image shows eight labelled steps in the swing. We could have labeled more steps. In fact I'd probably add a step between 2 and 3 called STRIDE and add the label "weight shift". But the point is the same. Jimmy Rollins had an efficient major league swing. It's a useful reference.

Back to the head pulling problem. It's not an example I created for this blog post, it happens frequently

• The player pulls their head out around step 6.

• But if we check each step, we find the player had a poor weight transfer during their stride, getting from step 2 to step 3. So that's where you want to start.

So we spotted a symptom at step 6, but the the problem starts in step 3. We need to help them with their stride and weight shift.

Using these steps will help you find and fix problems more efficiently, and avoid false starts.

Good luck out there!