- Dec 11, 2010
- 4,713
- 113
Ok- I’ll admit this sounded like a bad idea to me. And I have heard the horror stories about hitting basketballs off tees. Might have changed my mind for certain situations. Want to know what you think of this in the exact situation I am going to describe:
DD went to a prospect camp at a large school awhile back. So: we are talking mostly strong kids kids that can hit. One station is front toss behind a screen and front tossed volleyballs were the prey. I was seated close to that cage so I was watching several stations, but I saw a lot of that station and lots of hitters. I was not very impressed or interested in this station until I heard both players and the hc explain the purpose, (and they explained it to all campers.)
Stated purpose was to stay back and drive the ball up the middle. Explanation was that the ball looks huge and hitters tend to swing too soon, get out on front foot and either hit a pop up or grounder. Which was pretty much EXACTLY what happened to most until they adjusted. Some couldn’t adjust. Some drove the ball on a laser trajectory early and often. HC made a point to say that you could tell a lot about the process of the swing in this case by looking at the result. I liked that because I have heard her talk about a process driven approach to mechanics several times and I think she’s right.
I was interested enough that I bought a cheap yellow playground ball and tried it. It took adjustment by the hitters but it happened. I asked the hitters if they had any pain or if there was anything they didn’t like about it and no problems. Again: these were all pretty strong hitters. One said it was like hitting a total control ball, just not as heavy. (And for what it’s worth, I don’t care for TCB’s, I sold all of mine a couple years ago.)
I can’t come up with any detriment to this as an OCCAISIONAL fun drill for certain older kids who already have solid mechanics. I think the plus is creating a situation where an adjustment has to occur. The ball booms like thunder too, which is kinda cool. Thoughts?
DD went to a prospect camp at a large school awhile back. So: we are talking mostly strong kids kids that can hit. One station is front toss behind a screen and front tossed volleyballs were the prey. I was seated close to that cage so I was watching several stations, but I saw a lot of that station and lots of hitters. I was not very impressed or interested in this station until I heard both players and the hc explain the purpose, (and they explained it to all campers.)
Stated purpose was to stay back and drive the ball up the middle. Explanation was that the ball looks huge and hitters tend to swing too soon, get out on front foot and either hit a pop up or grounder. Which was pretty much EXACTLY what happened to most until they adjusted. Some couldn’t adjust. Some drove the ball on a laser trajectory early and often. HC made a point to say that you could tell a lot about the process of the swing in this case by looking at the result. I liked that because I have heard her talk about a process driven approach to mechanics several times and I think she’s right.
I was interested enough that I bought a cheap yellow playground ball and tried it. It took adjustment by the hitters but it happened. I asked the hitters if they had any pain or if there was anything they didn’t like about it and no problems. Again: these were all pretty strong hitters. One said it was like hitting a total control ball, just not as heavy. (And for what it’s worth, I don’t care for TCB’s, I sold all of mine a couple years ago.)
I can’t come up with any detriment to this as an OCCAISIONAL fun drill for certain older kids who already have solid mechanics. I think the plus is creating a situation where an adjustment has to occur. The ball booms like thunder too, which is kinda cool. Thoughts?
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