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  1. FJRGerry

    Weight Distribution at Toe Touch?

    Rather than highjack the "Squish the bug" thread I thought I'd ask separately "What is the weight distribution at toe touch?" I've been teaching my daughter 70% back & 30% front at toe touch, so at heel plant she has the ability to drive her hips when pivoting them into contact where weight...
  2. FJRGerry

    Right mix of Plyometrics, Cardio & Strength Training?

    Asking regarding a nearly 14 year old girl. Currently we've been doing three sets of the following: After about 5 minutes of dynamic warm-ups: 1) Thirty to fifty jumping jacks (Cardio) 2) Reverse lunges with overhead presses using 8lb. dumbells (10 reps each side - stability, cardio &...
  3. FJRGerry

    Hitting Coaches Post your Videos!

    Are you a hitting coach? If so, can you post a video of yourself teaching the basic softball swing (maybe using a tee)? I think the ideal would be talking through the progression of the swing while demonstrating, followed by a few hits at full speed. As a dad who's been focusing more this...
  4. FJRGerry

    Best Articles Supporting Dynamic Warm-Ups?

    Hi, I have Marc's article supporting using dynamic warm-ups but wanted to find at least a couple more to share with my daughter's new coach. Unfortunately he's of the "jog around the outfield once then static stretch" variety so I wanted to have some good proofs of the importance of using DWUs...
  5. FJRGerry

    Video of Me Using a Heavy Bag for Hitting

    I thought I'd post this separately from my other hitting post since it would have been buried in the other post. The video is of me practicing stopping at contact by hitting against a heavy bag using a tee ball bat. The idea, as I posted before, is to work on reviewing contact positioning, as...
  6. FJRGerry

    Using a Heavy Bag for working on hitting?

    I dusted off my old heavy bag today and hung it up so I could have another option for burning off some calories from my 40-something body. I also have an old wood tee ball bat laying around the garage from many years ago. Since I'm in the process of learning Mike Epstein's hitting method I...
  7. FJRGerry

    Has this method of bunting been tried?

    I'm thinking it has but I haven't seen it used. The batter would stand in her normal position relative to the plate, then as the pitcher starts her motion the batter shifts up and shows bunt. She would shift by quickly bringing her rear foot up to her front foot then step forward to show bunt...
  8. FJRGerry

    Video & Brief Review of the New Pop Toss Tee

    I've had the Pop Toss tee (the purple model) a couple of weeks now and have hit a couple hundred of balls off it so far. I find it easy to use and find it does what is advertised when using 12" softballs - the balls pop straight up about four feet. I haven't tested it yet with foam balls...
  9. FJRGerry

    What tee do you use?

    I'm looking to buy a new tee soon since the current one is starting to fall apart. Looking for recommendations on a quality tee that aids in learning to hit inside/outside high/low. Thanks!
  10. FJRGerry

    Recommendation for Aluminum bat?

    I need to get my daughter an aluminum bat for machine pitched balls since her composite bat doesn't recommend it being used for such and her old aluminum bat was left somewhere (Grrr...). I'm looking for a -12 bat that is 21/33 in size. I saw a few options on JustBats.com, but am looking for...
  11. FJRGerry

    What constitutes a "B" team?

    My daughter and I are one tournament away from finishing our first year of travel softball (at the 12U level playing & coaching) and just ended a state USSSA B tournament this past weekend which was dominated by two teams. I had asked our head coach what defines a "B" level team and his reply...
  12. FJRGerry

    Using the glove arm to increase speed and accuracy

    How important do you think proper use of the glove side arm is in increasing speed and accuracy? I have the feeling it's an often overlooked aspect of the pitching motion - at least with the younger (12U) girls. I see alot of girls barely lifting and dropping the glove, and/or extending it...
  13. FJRGerry

    Valid method to work on bat speed?

    I haven't tried this yet, but I'm thinking it might work on increasing bat speed. Essentially it's simply asking the batter to wait-wait-wait on the ball until it's just reaching the plate (or even at the plate?) then swing FAST keeping good mechanics of course. I would expect alot of balls...
  14. FJRGerry

    Is this a good method for working swing mechanics?

    I'm always trying to think of ways to work on improving my teaching good hitting mechanics so I had this idea the other day which I tried with my daughter the other night - she thought it was "stupid" ( 13yo ;) ), but I think it may have some merit. Essentially it's using a slow motion swing to...
  15. FJRGerry

    Pitching in wet conditions

    This past weekends 12U tournament ended up getting rained out after the 2nd inning of our second Saturday game (bummer) but it made me think of what advice to give the pitcher when pitching in such deplorable conditions - muddy pitching circle & wet grip. Both teams were toweling off the ball...
  16. FJRGerry

    Best "Phrases" for teaching good hitting?

    We all know (I hope) "squish the bug" isn't one of them - although I admit to using it in the past - but what are some good phrases for teaching hitting? If you can offer one or two with a BRIEF "common man" description I would be very grateful! A couple I use are "keep a still head through...
  17. FJRGerry

    Why only slap hit or bunt from left side?

    I understand batting/slapping from the left side puts you closer to first base - although I question this as a true advantage since the left sided batter needs to pivot to run while the right sided batter is already facing first base. To me if a hitter can slap hit/bunt from the right side she's...
  18. FJRGerry

    Hand Towel for Hitting Warm Up

    At our local LL there's a no swinging bats policy for safety reasons. While I understand the reasoning, personally I think with adult supervision it should be allowed, but that's for another thread... On this particular night there was some rain before the game so we had hand towels (about 12...
  19. FJRGerry

    Safety during pitching warm-ups

    The other night at our first play-off game for our local LL I had my daughter and another pitcher staying loose by having a catch using the windmill motion (something we've done all season) when the field umpire notices and states LL rules don't allow this. I haven't been able to confirm the...
  20. FJRGerry

    Using a yardstick for working on swing mechanics

    I tried using a yardstick a couple of winters back for working on swing mechanics in front of a mirror (hey I was in my bedroom and it was handy :) ). I found it helped in keeping the palm up/palm down position at (imaginary) contact and I could really feel the yardstick cutting through the...

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