When you teach hitting, where do you start? ...

[CoogansBluff]

Let's say you have a player who has a good batting stance and a good attitude and nothing else. ... She leads w/ the hands, doesn't use hips, can't hit B-level travel ball pitching. Might as well tear it down and start over.

Where do you start? I think I'd begin with the feel of the sidearm throw and how it's essentially the same as a the act of hitting.

What say you?

 

[coach james]

Sounds like you've been studying
Mike Candrea...
Start with basic rhythm drills.
Two parts, linear and rotational
Hands go back as weight strides forward
Hands do not move forward until the stride foot plants firmly
Make sure the hands have cleared the hips before the barrel is released
And lastly, most importantly, throw the bat head through the ball, as if your trying to hit the center fielder with the bat. JMHO and honestly without video of this kid we're shooting blind in giving advise.

 

[CoogansBluff]

Sounds like you've been studying
Mike Candrea...
Start with basic rhythm drills.
Two parts, linear and rotational
Hands go back as weight strides forward
Hands do not move forward until the stride foot plants firmly
Make sure the hands have cleared the hips before the barrel is released
And lastly, most importantly, throw the bat head through the ball, as if your trying to hit the center fielder with the bat. JMHO and honestly without video of this kid we're shooting blind in giving advise.

Thanks, CJ. ... Regarding your last sentence, it's not a matter of fixing a single problem. Virtually everything needs work.

 

[coach james]

Try to get a video of her hitting, from a few different angles posted, and you'll get a ton of responses as to where to start.

 

[CoogansBluff]

I can video her (or I can email a still picture of a key moment in the swing), but it's really not the diagnosis that is the issue, IMO. I might as well have said that it was a beginner, or that I have an exchange student from Somalia who has never seen softball before, and I've taught her the correct grip and balanced stance. Now what? Where do you start with swings need to be rebuilt from the ground up? Would you start w/ the load/stride and go forward? Or would you start w/ the key points of the entire load/stride/swing to give an idea of what the finished product looks like?

Or maybe I should've described me as the problem and not the student -- I'm confident in my abilities to diagnose hitting, but humbled by the challenge of teaching it.

 

[iMlearning]

If it were me, I would start with a "no stride" approach to keep it simple and work on proper hand path.

 

[redhotcoach]

Hand pivot point: turn the barrel around the hands.

Rear hip pivot point: rear leg internally rotating and back muscles resisting/pulling back.

Sync the 2.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

My opinion the BIG starting point is the hands. So many bat for sooo long never understanding "palms up/down" through swing. The rest just builds onto that.

 

[Alan Snedeker]

Hand pivot point: turn the barrel around the hands.

Rear hip pivot point: rear leg internally rotating and back muscles resisting/pulling back.

Sync the 2.

This is basically what I started my 5 year old DD out with. I have to keep it really simple.

1. Started with this: Turn the barrel (showing her the hand pivot point at her back shoulder. Turning the bat down and rearward opposite 2nd baseman.)
2. Added this: Use your rear leg as you pull back against it.
3. Synced up: As the pitch is coming drive your leg as you pull back, and then turn the barrel.

Took about 8-10 sessions. She hits the crap out of the ball now. Now I think at this age the child has to really want to do this, because I have others on my 6U team that just don't care and also don't have quite the awareness that my DD has. My 5 year old has been watching her big sister play for 2 years chomping at the bit to be old enough to play. She had very good attention span and took to instruction very well.

 

[iMlearning]

Hand pivot point: turn the barrel around the hands.

Rear hip pivot point: rear leg internally rotating and back muscles resisting/pulling back.

Sync the 2.

RHC, that would make a nice, short, E-book