6-12 year old number one hitting correction needed?

[Rotation 123]

What have you seen as the number one hitting correction needed? This would include any element from setting up in the box to completing the swing.

 

[straightleg]

Arm swing / Not balanced / Dropping of hands in that order


Straightleg

 

[Ken Krause]

Defending the ball instead of attacking it. In other words, instead of having an intention to hit the ball, the hitter sort of waves at it so she doesn't get a strike called, or because she thinks she's supposed to swing.

Mechanically, I agree with Straightleg. Was going to go with hand dropping first, but that's probably more of a symptom of the arm swing. A hitter with good mechanics, i.e. a non-arm swinger, is probably less likely to drop the hands. Although it does happen.

I would add taking the hands to the ball instead of the fat part of the bat. Which sort of aligns with hand dropping anyway.

 

[Chris O'Leary]

Arm swing / Not balanced / Dropping of hands in that order

That's a pretty good list.

I would lump "not balanced" under the general category of poor posture at set-up.

There's some interaction between an arm swing, bat drag, and posture problems.

Of course, this leaves out all the bad stuff kids are coached into (e.g. level swing).

 

[mkral]

Great question and so far list of answers. Mental, like Ken said, to me is the first on the list. Treat every pitch as the one you are going to hit then decide not to. To many girls do it the other way around and simply don't have enough time to do that. However if you are asking mechanics then Straighleg has hit it on the head IMHO. I have several of our girls who struggle week in and week out with all of what he is saying. Or at least they did before the season and are getting a lot better with practice. Small triggers and drills are helping. Most of which Straigtleg and Howard were part of for my girls, unknowingly. The overhand drill, Face The Fire Drill, & several of their tracking drills have helped a lot but it all starts with good mechanics.

One frustrating thing I see with my girls is timing issues and I am working on that every day. Timing from one pitcher to another and from one pitch to another is critical as the girls get older. They must identify what they are seeing and act on it. For us I would say outside of normal mechanics, timing is the next step.

 

[Rotation 123]

What part of arm swing?

 

[Rotation 123]

Any comment on 6,8,10 yr. old as to older?

 

[RichK]

I've come to think the number one problem with younger girls (10-12, mainly, but younger I guess too, though I think before 8/9 just generating interest in the game and having fun is sufficient) is a poor mental image of what a swing actually is. Some of this is poor coaching and cues -- swing level, hands to the ball, squish the bug, back elbow up, etc. -- but a lot of it is not watching and emulating major leaguers on TV like boys do. Young girls are just trying to accomplish something very complicated without a solid base from which to start.

I think it's why Howard's stuff was so appealing, it started to build a mental image from the ground up for girls as to what they were doing and feeling and why. You just can't underestimate how important that is and how almost impossible it is to break a poor mental image (and the actions that flow from it) without something concrete and well-thought and well-taught to replace it with.

 

[Chris O'Leary]

What part of arm swing?

Lack of hip and shoulder rotation.

 

[Dragoncoach]

Being ready

Id say getting into an aggressive ready to hit, balanced position with proper bat angle, hands back,etc prior to swing.