Load or no load?

[reagansdaddy]

Got to go with Bouldersdad here. I'm not nearly smart enough to comment on the swing part, but the idea that you're paying someone for a service and are afraid that they may find out that you've gone elsewhere for that service while they were no longer offering it is a huge red flag. I'd really consider spending my money with someone else.

 

[iMlearning]

load

Hitting is like breathing....
Soft breath in gets a slow exhale out.
Hitting for power is like a sneeze. In order to spray it across the room you first must inhale what your about to exhale.
So yes, my vote is to absolutely load, but load it up during the stride/ linear phase.

Nice post.

 

[CoogansBluff]

If he does not tolerate lessons that should be a flag to leave on its own. If someone gives you advice and cannot justify the reasoning except to say because I told you so. That is 2 major reasons not to allow him to coach your dd. A waste of time is not a justifiable reason.

Yes.

And not only that, wouldn't good travel ball coaches want the kind of players who are getting hitting lessons? That's a sign of dedication and parental support. Those are the kinds of families I want as a coach. The ideal situation is to have all players in hitting, pitching or catching lessons. Then, the travel coach can focus more on developing the team as a whole rather than 12 individual players and the team.

 

[Buttermaker]

Not sure how you would be able to perform any athletic movement without some kind SSC. No loading sounds like the coach is just trying to limit movement to cover the fact that he/she has no idea how to teach hitting.

 

[Eric F]

Not sure how you would be able to perform any athletic movement without some kind SSC. No loading sounds like the coach is just trying to limit movement to cover the fact that he/she has no idea how to teach hitting.

Since we're only getting a small slice of the story, told by someone who is (admittedly) not a swing geek, I'm not sure it's fair to make assumptions about the coach's knowledge or abilities.

That said, this statement may be completely on target...

Very high probability that the coach is a moron...

 

[maksoftball]

Well now I can't wait to show y'all videos next week. Will do one from each coach (Tuesday and Wednesday)...should be interesting.

 

[coach james]

We had a guy in our area that was a self proclaimed expert on fastpitch and there wasn't an issue that a kid had that he couldn't fix! He constantly said "Oh, I can fix that!" Anyway he wanted all the girls to not load or stride and insisted that he was teaching college level mechanics. He called a few of my players and asked them to quit and come with him because I was an idiot compared to him.
My 14U team played his team last summer. The game got called in the third inning because the umpires said "the score had gotten out of hand"...(I believe the score was something like 25-0.) In fact my dd pitched the first two innings and I believe she only saw 6 of their batters. 3 up, 3 down. Worst team we've ever seen.
He has since quit coaching due to no players wanting to play for them. I see the same fate for your coach in the near future.

 

[maksoftball]

We had a guy in our area that was a self proclaimed expert on fastpitch and there wasn't an issue that a kid had that he couldn't fix! He constantly said "Oh, I can fix that!" Anyway he wanted all the girls to not load or stride and insisted that he was teaching college level mechanics. He called a few of my players and asked them to quit and come with him because I was an idiot compared to him.
My 14U team played his team last summer. The game got called in the third inning because the umpires said "the score had gotten out of hand"...(I believe the score was something like 25-0.) In fact my dd pitched the first two innings and I believe she only saw 6 of their batters. 3 up, 3 down. Worst team we've ever seen.
He has since quit coaching due to no players wanting to play for them. I see the same fate for your coach in the near future.

Well...he is very well known, and I have heard/seen good things about him. We are often confused by his hitting suggestions, and a couple of players do what he asks during practice...but in games, they resort back to what feels natural. With DD being youngest player on team, she is, of course, more impressionable. So it's hard to not "listen and do what they say"...especially when young. Guess it takes some wisdom and experience to truly know what is right for you. Anyway, I will say he has helped her pitching tremendously, and with what he's taught her, she has been able to work on her craft without his tutelage all summer. She really gets it now. AND he is incredible in teaching game situations. Sorry, I had to jump to his defense in that respect.

 

[Ken Krause]

You need a load to maximize power and speed. Think of Newton's first law of motion - an object at rest tends to remain at rest. If you don't load, you're going to expend a lot of energy just getting the body in motion.

The analogy I generally use is hitting a hammer with a nail. Ask the coach to make a fist as his imaginary hammer. Put your hand out in front and tell him it is a board with a nail in it. Ask him to pound the nail in with one blow. If he doesn't take the fist/hammer up rather than going straight down toward it I'd be mightily shocked.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the load occurs before you need to get going quickly. It is basically a pre-motion, like a pitcher winding up. As long as it occurs before the hitter has to start her swing it really doesn't take up any time for the swing.

Amazing the stuff that gets taught.

 

[obbay]

Very high probability that the coach is a moron

Amazing the stuff that gets taught.

there's a lot of good info here for the OP, but I liked these two the best.