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Jun 17, 2009
15,105
0
Portland, OR
It is my belief that if the beginning of the sequence is correct, timing issues will be solved. When a hitter gathers in balance, timing is really not thrown off unless a pitcher does their job and throws off timing. Learning how to load is not overrated and is crucial to the rest of the swing imo. Learn everything about the ‘gather’ or ‘load’ of the swing.

I have found that once the ‘load’ of the swing is mastered a hitter can change their loading ‘style’( no stride, toe tap, high leg kick etc.) and within a few pitches can find their timing quickly once again. Solidifying that, the load in itself is huge. This fundamentally is not an option but a necessity.

When learning the feel of a good gather I key in on: the back knee should never get over the back foot. The COM should not get back until the forward move. Leverage the ground, not a body part. The stride should be a result of the gather.

What is being loaded and when in the swing does this loading occur?
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
She'll get there, just keep throwing to her. Once she does the only the person who won't be relaxed when she is in the batter's box will be you :p
 
Oct 13, 2014
5,471
113
South Cali
What is being loaded and when in the swing does this loading occur?

Let’s answer the easy part first. The ‘load’ happens during the ‘back’ or negative move in the beginning of the sequence.

As for what’s being loaded during the negative move. For me this would be the whole back half of the body from the back oblique down. More importantly when done correctly, the frontside of the body is ‘primed’ to load(stretch) and unload in a sequential, efficient manner. It’s not a guarantee. Other things have to happen as well.
 
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Try making her practice taking the pitch. Make her load and stride just like it was a low or high pitch. After about 20 it’s going to start getting boring. Tell her to notice the feeling her mind her shoulder tightness ab tightness. So that this is how she has to be until the point of fire. The more takes she does the more time she has to realize when the anxiety takes over and then learn to control it.
 
Feb 12, 2014
648
43
I would recommend the book Play Big by Dr. Tom Hanson. It is a great book and probably would by okay for her age (maybe a bit too advanced).

As she ages, make sure you both read Heads Up Baseball 2.0 by Ken Ravizza. It's outstanding but probably more directed a middle/high school age through adults.

Anything that you can get from Dorfman would be helpful for you to read so you can pass those ideas on to her. The Mental Keys to Hitting would be a good place to start.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
What mistakes are you referring to?

Any mistakes. I think it was more of a general comment on my "more hitting, less instruction" approach, which I agree probably won't work for everyone. He
has had qualms with me saying this sort of thing previously, which like I said, I can understand where he is coming from. Thing is this isn't a 12 YO girl or even a 10 YO
girl, it is an 8 YO....
 
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Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
Many hitters that take this approach look very similar years later. You don't get better by simply repeating the same mistakes.

Fair enough. Explain what you would do with an 8 YO to fix the issue, or better yet show us the progression of an 8 YO hitter you have worked with who has had this problem and
the instruction you used with him/her.
 

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