Hitting in Practice vs Hitting a Game

[JJsqueeze]

Tell her to swing hard at anything she likes... Never criticize her for going after a bad pitch.....praise her for swinging. Tell her that striking out swinging is awesome but going down looking is the worst thing in the world. Get her thinking like a hitter and the rest will take care of itself. I hated "good eye" feedback as a kid and I hate it as a coach. It should be banned from the coaching vocabulary until a kid is comfortable with swinging.

 

[ArkFastpitch]

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that hates the "Good Eye" ..

 

[GatorGirl]

On this note, I am so sick of hearing coaches say "quick hands", without explaining the need to get moving, load, find the middle of the ball, move when the pitcher moves or whatever will actually get them swinging quicker. Quick hands means NOTHING to a kid--you don't hit the ball with your hands. GRRRRR

 

[Bleacher Bum]

On this note, I am so sick of hearing coaches say "quick hands", without explaining the need to get moving, load, find the middle of the ball, move when the pitcher moves or whatever will actually get them swinging quicker. Quick hands means NOTHING to a kid--you don't hit the ball with your hands. GRRRRR

I think that's a whole separate thread: "Coaching terminology that means absolutely nothing to an 8-10 (or 12) year old girl". Things like:
- "Stay inside the ball"
- "Keep your weight back" Back where? On their heels?
- "Keep your head down" But if my head is down low, how can I see the ball?
- "Throw your hands at the ball" But they are attached to the ends of my arms......
- "Run THROUGH 1st base." Is it a doorway or something?
- "Move back in the box." (move toward the catcher). 50% of the time the batter will move farther away from home plate instead.

 

[fishteach]

Currently I coach U10 rec ball and a U10 travel ball team, and on top of that I'm an ASA & NFHS umpire. But the best thing I have going for me in regard to this age group, is that I teach 4th & 5th grade, so I also know this age group from the academic standpoint. One of the things that I have found useful is to explain the strike zone to them as well as what I call the umpiring mentality.

We'll spend half of an early practice huddled around home plate where everyone gets an umpire's view of different balls against different batters. We talk about all of the why's and why nots. This age group is very capable of understanding the complexities involved in the game. They can easily determine strikes and balls, and after you teach them why an umpire might widen his/her strike zone, as batter's, they can also figure out pretty quickly if the strike zone is going to be a tight one or a loose one, and the confusion factor goes away.

I'll continue to build things into other aspects of practices so that they're constantly learning to pay attention to this as a team. Once they get it, it's a done deal. When the season starts they'll watch the other team's pitcher warming up, and as team go into the game with logical expectations as to whether or not it's going to be a tight or loose strike zone, and as a result, what they do at the plate changes accordingly. The first couple innings worth of batters all report back to the team about what they saw at the plate by holding up one or two fingers on their way to first base or back to the dugout. One means tight and two means loose. They've also learned to pay attention to the umpires as well, and just like us as coaches, some they love seeing, and some not so much.

The biggest piece of advice I have is don't underestimate this age group's ability to understand & see the game. Teaching them this gets them playing it that much better and that much more hooked on playing it and wanting to learn more about it.

 

[CoogansBluff]

When the season starts they'll watch the other team's pitcher warming up, and as team go into the game with logical expectations as to whether or not it's going to be a tight or loose strike zone, and as a result, what they do at the plate changes accordingly.

Help me understand how the other team's pitcher may determine the size of the strike zone.

 

[fishteach]

The typical paid umpire's mentality is "they get paid by the out." The faster the game goes, the better their hourly rate is, so they want the game to move along verses take forever. As a result, umpires will do what they have to in order to prevent the walkathon that drags on & on. That typically means expanding the strike zone and calling strikes on pitches that aren't actually strikes. Not only does this happen at the U10 level, but it happens at every level all the way up to varsity. The first umpire training I went to was an eye opener in a sad way.

 

[Bleacher Bum]

Currently I coach U10 rec ball and a U10 travel ball team, and on top of that I'm an ASA & NFHS umpire. But the best thing I have going for me in regard to this age group, is that I teach 4th & 5th grade, so I also know this age group from the academic standpoint. One of the things that I have found useful is to explain the strike zone to them as well as what I call the umpiring mentality.

We'll spend half of an early practice huddled around home plate where everyone gets an umpire's view of different balls against different batters. We talk about all of the why's and why nots. This age group is very capable of understanding the complexities involved in the game. They can easily determine strikes and balls, and after you teach them why an umpire might widen his/her strike zone, as batter's, they can also figure out pretty quickly if the strike zone is going to be a tight one or a loose one, and the confusion factor goes away.

I'll continue to build things into other aspects of practices so that they're constantly learning to pay attention to this as a team. Once they get it, it's a done deal. When the season starts they'll watch the other team's pitcher warming up, and as team go into the game with logical expectations as to whether or not it's going to be a tight or loose strike zone, and as a result, what they do at the plate changes accordingly. The first couple innings worth of batters all report back to the team about what they saw at the plate by holding up one or two fingers on their way to first base or back to the dugout. One means tight and two means loose. They've also learned to pay attention to the umpires as well, and just like us as coaches, some they love seeing, and some not so much.

The biggest piece of advice I have is don't underestimate this age group's ability to understand & see the game. Teaching them this gets them playing it that much better and that much more hooked on playing it and wanting to learn more about it.

Your use of time to explain to the players how the strike zone is defined is definitely worth the time. Just this weekend we spent time explaining what defined a ball being "over the plate". With respect to left/right of the plate, several kids thought that the entire ball had to be over the plate. At umpire training I was told it was "any part of the ball over any part of the plate." But as has been discussed at length in other forums (http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-rules-questions/5419-strike-zone-question.html) the definition of the strike zone is pretty much up to the ump. For the kids, take the ambiguity out of it - don't just tell them - show them.

 

[guero_gordo]

I think that's a whole separate thread: "Coaching terminology that means absolutely nothing to an 8-10 (or 12) year old girl". Things like:
- "Stay inside the ball"
- "Keep your weight back" Back where? On their heels?
- "Keep your head down" But if my head is down low, how can I see the ball?
- "Throw your hands at the ball" But they are attached to the ends of my arms......
- "Run THROUGH 1st base." Is it a doorway or something?
- "Move back in the box." (move toward the catcher). 50% of the time the batter will move farther away from home plate instead.

DD, at 14U with a great hitting coach, is just turning the corner on parsing coach speak to figure out what they actually want. It's very tough on girls that listen well.
I dug out the old Far Side cartoon "What the dog hears" as a way to demonstrate how she should filter; "blah blah blah blah looping blah", instead of "you're not keeping your weight back and squashing the bug or lining up your knuckles, so you're looping instead of swinging level"

 

[JJsqueeze]

I don't think many of the coaches know what half this stuff means...I think they just parrot other coaches. It does not take long to adjust. I've told a few girls to move back in the box and have received enough puzzled looks that I started devoting practice to it.
Head down is one of my favorites....this doesn't even mean anything. I just tell them to watch the ball as long as they can and try to see it hit the bat.