Hitting form is excellent until game time

My daughter has pretty good hitting form and practices swings on the tee and with no ball or tee. Swings look great, they look good when taking wiffle ball swings. Sometimes we get wrist roll a little too soon, but not bad. Here's where the problem is...

During the game she looses all form and weight all goes out on the front foot and she gets no hip rotation. It's as though she's so anxious to hit the ball that all form goes out the window. I think this is all nerves. Maybe she just needs to get more games under her belt, but when you're not hitting, it's hard to stay in the lineup. (She's a 14U) It's so difficult to get game pressure during practices so it's hard to reproduce the problem until game time.

This is actually a pretty common issue. I think you're right, it's probably nerves, probably brought on by thinking too much about the consequences instead of focusing on the process.

Have her work on not thinking about what happens if she fails, and instead just focus on seeing the ball and hitting the ball, using her good hitting form. Make a successful outcome using that form instead of getting a hit. Congratulate her on doing it right, even if she strikes out or pops up. Keep the focus on the process.

Beyond that, try "renting" a pitcher to pitch BP to her, and put her in situations where she's under pressure. Change the count, put runners on base, tell her if she doesn't get a hit she owes you pushups or sprints or whatever. The idea is to give her practice dealing with pressure so she can learn to keep her focus where it belongs.

kenkrause said:

Beyond that, try "renting" a pitcher to pitch BP to her, and put her in situations where she's under pressure. Change the count, put runners on base, tell her if she doesn't get a hit she owes you pushups or sprints or whatever. The idea is to give her practice dealing with pressure so she can learn to keep her focus where it belongs.

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Agreed.

Her practice routine isn't close enough to a game situation to transfer over.

If you are the coach (or have influence thereover) - we on occasion use intra-squad drill competitions (base hit derby, bunting only games, 6 on 6, etc.) to generate a little game-like pressure. Losers usually have to rake field, pick up equipment, etc. Girls love it and helps break monotony of same old drills.

Diddo wrt what Ken wrote above.

Would suggest that parents refrain from giving rewards, such as cash, for hits. As Ken said, you want hitters being "process" oriented and not "results" oriented. Having a prize associated with obtaining a hit pushes the player towards being "results" oriented .... which is exactly what you don't want.

Along that line ... CO's & Lawdawg's recommendations above are good ... make practices as game-like as possible.

Contrary to popular belief ... hitters can't simply be brain dead ... they need to be able to make adjustments. Sure ... you don't want them having stray thoughts, but it if you are brain dead, and keep doing the same thing, then you can expect to keep obtaining the same result.

A very simple approach is to ask yourself the following three questions on every pitch.

Q1: Did you see the ball well? If the answer is "no" ... then you stop right there. No need to ask yourself the next question. Seeing the ball becomes your primary and only focus. Consider using brain assisted vision enhancement. Think "ball" and you will see the ball more clearly .... "ball ..... ball ..... ball ..... ball .....". See the ball!!

Q2: Did you make solid contact? If the answer is "no" ... then that's your goal. You are seeing the ball well, and you're now on a mission to make solid contact.

Q3: Did you get the result you wanted? For example, if the coach hasn't called for a particular situation, then the default will often be a line-drive. If the answer is "no", then that's your mission ... hitting a frozen rope. You are seeing the ball well, and making hard contact ... the mission is now a line-drive.

Hitting is a "process". You need to focus on what you can control. You can not control the result. You can not control whether or not you got a hit.

This can be confusing to a young hitter. Coaches, and even some parents, are often talking about batting statistics. Coaching decisions will often be made based on batting statistics. DESPITE this ... a hitter has to have a different perspective. They can't get sucked into being "results" oriented. They need to be "process" oriented. They need to focus on what they can control. From a hitter's perspective, the focus on every pitch should be on hitting the ball hard.

I much rather see a kid remain focused on a goal of making solid contact. Let me give an example .... You get up to bat and hit a line drive at the SS ... you smoked it!! The SS flinches, and in an effort to save their life, they cover their face with their glove ..... and as luck would have it, the SS catches the ball ... basically in self defense. Everyone in the park ... and I mean ***EVERYONE*** ... including the pitcher's mother ... knows that you beat the pitcher. They will remember you the next time you get up to bat. You did your job. You made solid contact. Even better ... you hit a liner. You worried about what you could control, and you succeeded.

Worry about hitting the ball hard, and not so much on getting a hit. Ken is on the money ... be "process" oriented and not "results" oriented.

Good topic ... look forward to reading more comments on the subject.

I don't know FFS, We used bribes to break a hitting slump with our All-star team, and it worked. Saved us from elimination.

I have a backyard drill we use with our 2 DD's that has been quite effective at building their confidence in the batters box. I pitch to them, and do not go easy. I try to strike them out, called strikes and all. If I get two strikes on them I start trash talking. After awhile it's amazing how hard it is to actually strike them out. At this age (7 and 9) they are seeing pitches from me that are harder to hit then most anything else they will see in a game, and they know it.

I also repeat to them over and over, if they stand up there and swing at the pitches they should, then they have done what they needed to. Your not going to hit every time, so relax and focus on hitting, not wondering what will happen if you miss. I think this is pretty much the same thing both Ken and FFS were refering to, and I know for us it has worked wonders to alleviate game stress.

sballsally said:

My daughter has pretty good hitting form and practices swings on the tee and with no ball or tee. Swings look great, they look good when taking wiffle ball swings. Sometimes we get wrist roll a little too soon, but not bad. Here's where the problem is...

During the game she looses all form and weight all goes out on the front foot and she gets no hip rotation. It's as though she's so anxious to hit the ball that all form goes out the window. I think this is all nerves. Maybe she just needs to get more games under her belt, but when you're not hitting, it's hard to stay in the lineup. (She's a 14U) It's so difficult to get game pressure during practices so it's hard to reproduce the problem until game time.

Click to expand...

I've seen a lot of girls do this, including my daughter. I think they have a fear of striking out in a game. ( don't want to be imbarassed) They just swing at the ball with their arms just hoping to make some type of contact so they don't strike out. I told her it was better to take a big cut at the ball and strike out, rather than just hit a SLOW grounder to pitcher and short stop every time and get thrown out at first. Told her she would be getting moved down to the bottom of batting order is she wasn't more aggressive like she was in batting practice. Sure enough, coach moved her down to the bottom and she wasn't very happy about it. I think it was a wake up call. DD started swinging more aggressivly and started pounding the ball out of the infield.

2DD ... I like it! I bet the more you trash talk, the more focused they become. If they can carry that into the game ... turning on focus when being put under the gun ... then that's a good thing IMO.

I'll see if I can post a couple of pics that illustrate a batting practice swing and a game day swing. I'll do some looking for pics.

Ok, hopefully this will work. One is a video of BP at home (don't laugh at the dog helping). The two pictures are the game time hitting. You may have to go to the next page to view the pictures. I had a heck of a time getting them to post.

[video=facebook;1377849088160]http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1377849088160[/video]