FiveFrameSwing
Banned
You can start at about that amount and work up to 18-24 for the baseball size.I really shouldn't weigh in on the TCB debate. I acknowledge that most of you have forgotten more about the swing than I will ever know. But what the heck, I haven't had anyone get mad at me for a while so I figure I'm overdue.
DD is on a very good team. First year 16U tied for 33rd at ASA/USA in VA after finishing T9 last year as a 14U team at ASA/USA in Normal. So.. not exactly PGF champs but very good. This year they implemented TCBs as part of their hitting routine. They used them extensively. Being conservative, i would estimate that each girl took about 125-150 cuts with TCBs prior to each tournament game. Well, not each game. i mean not if they were playing back to back, but you know what I mean. I believe they also took a TON of cuts with TCBs at practices too.
My observation? Something funny started happening with their swings. Can't quite put my finger on it, other than the swings universally became more "choppy," and several of the girls seemed to just quit after contact with hardly any follow through. That seemed counter intuitive to me. I mean TCBs would help you drive thru the ball even better, or so I would have thought. But that definitely did not match my observations. A lot of us were left wondering - what has happened to these girls' swings? And why were the swings so choppy?
I don't know. My anecdotal "evidence" proves absolutely nothing. Could have been a coincidence. But after reading this thread, which took me by surprise by the way because i thought TCBs were universally loved, I am starting to think that overuse of TCBs negatively impacted DD's team.
I don't see anything wrong with TCB balls but I believe the amount of cuts you should do should not exceed the manufacturer recommendation.
Anyone have that number? I think it is around 7
DD does about 10-20 most practices mixed in with wiffles and normal balls.
Based on what I observed this part summer I'd go with the recommendation of limiting their usage. Rather than going up to 20, I'd consider going down to zero. In all sincerity ... limiting their usage is a good idea.