🧭 Fixing Direction at Stride: The Hover Drill to Stay in Line

Stop Stepping Open — Try the Hover Drill💥

If your kid’s front foot keeps stepping open, they’re losing direction and leaking power before contact.
Here’s how to fix it — stay in line, hold the back side, and keep your energy driving through the baseball, not around it.

Watch It in Action:

Why This Matters

• 💥 When players step open, their hips leak early, and all the energy goes sideways instead of forward.
  
  
• ⚾️ The swing path gets “cut off,” making weak contact or rollovers.
  
  
• 🧠 Staying in line keeps tension between the lower and upper body — that’s how hitters stay behind the ball and hit it hard.
  
  
• 🎯 The key? Keep your front side closed long enough to let your hips lead the swing.
  
  

How to Practice It

Try this simple progression:

1️⃣ Set up in your normal stance.
2️⃣ Take a small stride forward without your front foot flying open — toes stay pointed near the pitcher.
3️⃣ Hold your launch position for one second, feeling the stretch in your back hip.
4️⃣ Fire your hips first, not your shoulders.
5️⃣ Stay in line through your swing — drive the barrel straight through center.

💡 Coaching Cue: Think “hips start the move, shoulder stays closed.” The longer your front side holds, the more power your lower body can deliver.

👀 Want to make sure you’re doing this right? Send me one of your swings, and I’ll give you a full Swing Report — with a breakdown of what’s working and what to fix next.

The Result

• ✅ More consistent direction through the middle.
  
  
• 💪 Better contact and back-side power.
  
  
• 🚀 Confidence knowing your swing is connected from the ground up.
  
  

You’re probably reading this because you want results.
Doing this on your own, you’ll start to feel progress — but if you want to guarantee improvement faster, join the other players training inside the iCoachHitting Program.

FAQs

Q: Why do players step open?
A: Most try to “create space,” but it actually takes away power by spinning instead of driving.

Q: What should I feel when I do it right?
A: You’ll feel pressure in your back hip and core — that tension is what creates controlled rotation.

Q: What’s the best drill for this?
A: The Hover Drill — lift, hold, and land in line. It teaches control and direction before you even swing.