Active Team Sports : Tags : brandon-smith

Often times you will hear the phrase ???stay back??? yelled out at a hitter. Two areas need to be examined when dealing with the term "stay back." First, what is happening that would cause the coach to say ???stay back???? And secondly what needs to happen in order to ???stay back????

Because the phrase ???stay back??? is so ambiguous let me give you two key reference points when dealing with staying back. The first is the upper torso and the second are the feet. During the loading phase, the hitter will have his upper torso closer in line with the middle of his feet. And at contact the upper torso will be closer in line with the front foot. However, this (contact) is the critical point that we are dealing with. At no point during the swing does the hitter want his upper torso (shoulders and chest) to go in front of (or over) the front foot. When the upper torso does go over the front foot, this is commonly referred to as ???lunging at the ball???. Lunging at the ball will negatively affect a hitter???s power.