One of the most critical moves in fastpitch (or baseball for that matter) hitting is learning to separate the hips and shoulders. By allowing the hips to lead, the hitter can:

• Generate more power by enabling the big muscles to generate tremendous energy (much more than the arms or shoulders alone can do)
• See the ball longer
• Shorten the distance the bat has to travel to make contact with the ball
• Enable themselves to adjust to pitch speed and location more easily than with an arms-driven or one-piece gate swing
• Carry the bat forward so you’re hitting out front instead of across the body

Yet while that makes logical sense, and can be seen in the swings of high-level players, learning to actually do it can be difficult for many players. They tend to want to bring everything forward at once.

What I usually tell them is they need to counter-rotate their upper body when the hips start to fire. In other words, when the front foot lands and the hips start to rotate forward, the shoulders should pull back a little against them. The hips will then pull the shoulders around so they can launch the bat.

Sounds simple, right? But hitters can’t always visualize that move, or feel it. So here’s a way to help them get it.

Take a piece of elastic, the type you can easily find at a fabric store or big box retailer, and tie a loop in one end. Then slip the front foot into the loop, and wrap the other end around the bat handle.

Now, when the hitter lands and the hips start to rotate, tell her to use her hands and shoulders to stretch the elastic further. Bam, you have separation and sequence. Simple!

Here’s how that looks:

You can see the stretch of the elastic as she makes the first move. She does it again as she goes into the swing.

The question then is does it translate? Here’s a video of the swing after the elastic has been removed.

Now, swinging off a tee isn’t the same as swinging at a live pitch. It’s still going to take some practice to lock it in.

But at least she has a great start on it.

If you’re looking for a tactile way to help hitters learn this important move, stop by your local fabric store and pick up some elastic. It help shortcut the learning process.