Front toss drill opinion

Grogger31 · Jan 30, 2015

Saw this posted by SoftballLife on Facebook. This is the first time I've seen this approach.

Any opinions on this drill?

Coach explaining drill:
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=642468172532957&theater

Player trying drill:
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=642469019199539&theater

Thanks!

RichK · Jan 30, 2015

Given the startup position, most here would call this a bastardized (and bad) version of the stretch and fire drill (not sure if you've seen that drill but there are many recent posts on it). But I don't mind his talk with the girls about learning how to use the hands to find the center of the barrel with the ball strike. I think that's a very valid goal and too many girls have very dead hands. Liven the hands and good things happen. The drill itself seems to be designed to take away the bottom half and just focus on active hands -- sort of like playing pepper, which is a game/drill I love.

The bigger issue is that he's applauding really poor ball strikes, undermining what he says he's trying to accomplish. The goal should be to shoot line drives, not produce an "around the body" swing that results in topped grounders to short.

FP26 · Jan 31, 2015

I started by watching the drill and immediately came to the conclusion RichK makes in his first sentence. The link below will take you to some recent discussion about the SnF drill. RichK makes some other really good points as well.

http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-hitting-technical/22149-snf-drill.html

Lenski · Jan 31, 2015

It's not like the SNF drill because in this drill the shoulders should remain square and only the hands should be used. This is meant to be a pure hand path drill. The girl in the second video executes it poorly by twisting her shoulders/upper body, but the coach still gives her praise once or twice. IMO a good drill if executed properly.

Buttermaker · Jan 31, 2015

Grogger31 said:
Saw this posted by SoftballLife on Facebook. This is the first time I've seen this approach.

Any opinions on this drill?

Coach explaining drill:
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=642468172532957&theater

Player trying drill:
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=642469019199539&theater

Thanks!

Why not do front toss working the correct sequence? This is a waste of time.

coach james · Jan 31, 2015

Giant waste of time IMO...
Practice like you play. This drill reinforces bad mechanics. 60-65% of the muscle in females is in her lower half. As opposed to males being upper body dominate. Using the legs, hips, and butt are absolutely vital in hitting hard. (For both genders, but especially in females) This drill being performed the way it was, is teaching them to weakly top hit every ball.

CoogansBluff · Jan 31, 2015

I vote waste of time.

It's not a stretch-and-fire drill. He's teaching hand path, and he say the hands go inside for an inside pitch and outside for an outside pitch. Not a believer in this approach. I don't think a hitter should be thinking she needs to reach out and ''go get'' the outside pitch. The basic swing and hand path should be the same for inside and outside. If the batter's swing mechanics are sound, then the more important lesson, IMO, is learning how far to let the ball travel for inside vs. outside pitches.

rdbass · Jan 31, 2015

This coach is saying all the wrong things. Doesn't want the hitter to 'coil' because 'they won't be able to see the pitcher'. Coach is creating a team of ground ball hitters. Reinforcing bad mechanics by saying 'correct,correct'.

Added:Hand paths are different on inside and outside pitches.JMHO

RichK · Jan 31, 2015

I'm not saying this is the way to do it but drill work -- such as a pepper circle -- is a great way to fine-tune the hands. Sequence the major moves and big muscles as your primary instructional focus, yes, but ultimately the bat is in your hands and hitting requires fine-tuned adjustments via the hands *within* the proper sequence, that's crucial IMO. Play pepper, play hot potato, play whiffle ball, play ping pong if you like -- but get the hands working, it's not a no-teach based on my experience (or at minimum it can be greatly improved and have a big impact on results)....

straightleg · Jan 31, 2015

I think it could be a good drill if you pitched low inside and had the girls release underneath and hit it straight with ball rise. They would be connected to the back side leg.

Next pitch low outside and hit to opposite field with good ball flight, rising line drive. Again being connected to the back side..

I could see some of this could help the hitter have the feeling of hitting it deep in the stance, and working the hands with two different barrel releases, one inside, one outside, keeping the ball fair on the inside pitch.

Straightleg

Front toss drill opinion

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Grogger31

RichK

FP26

Lenski

Buttermaker

coach james

CoogansBluff

rdbass

It wasn't me.

RichK

straightleg

Similar threads

Latest posts

Staff online

Members online

Forum statistics

Share this page

Online statistics

Forum statistics