Always swinging late--never loading!

[GatorGirl]

We have tried to explain it to our 11 year old in a million different ways and can't seem to get through. All of her coaches just say, "you are swinging late and quick hands", but that doesn't mean anything to a kid.

I have tried to research it telling her the "yes, yes, yes, no" idea from here, start moving when the pitchers arm comes up. I found a girl on youtube doing pitching drills so she could "start moving" with her. I just can't figure out how to get through to her.

At our game, the girl threw 3 strikes in a row and DD just stood there and was then pissed. I told her, what do you expect, sweetie? You can't hit if you don't swing and you can't connect if you don't start moving before the ball leaves her hand. It is too late after that. She doesn't realize that the pitchers know she won't swing, hoping for a walk and they can just strike her out easily by throwing a strike instead of trying to throw super hard or special pitches.

The next at bat, she swung late at balls at her ankles. Grrrr....any ways that you have helped a kid and seen it work would be great. Simple as possible please. Thanks!

GG

 

[redhotcoach]

Make sure and celebrate the swings at bad pitches. At least she swung. Let her get comfortable striking out swinging.

Show video how hitters are loading and starting to swing at every pitch, movement.

During all batting practices have her getting "flow" and "rhythm" such as rocking backing and forth between feet, maybe some bat waggle. It seems like if they are already moving a bit the reaction reflex can kind of take over more then if they are standing like a statue.

And try to relax with her (believe me I know it's hard), I would say about 1 in 4 or so go through it, (my dd was one), and nearly every girl I have seen has broken through and now has success.....as I was thinking about my dd, I remembered something about when she started basketball too, she was a good point guard, would have some great assists, but we started to notice she would rarely shoot the ball. I guess she was more worried about missing, then she was excited to score one.

 

[GatorGirl]

Thanks Red. That is a different perspective.

 

[PEPPERS]

This is not an uncommon problem, fear of failure, poor vision, not knowing the strike zone, not tracking the ball and ETC.

I would have her eyes checked for vision and for depth perception. I would practice hitting from a tee and a lot of front toss. When hitting from the tee have her visualize a pitcher and track the ball from her release point to the ball on the tee. I will get on one side of a net go through a pitching motion and throw a softy ball into the net and the batter on the other side of the net tracks the ball to the tee.

Work on the way to take a pitch in other words when doing front toss have her stride into ever pitch and tell her to hit or take at the last minute. Just some suggestions that may help, good luck.

My daughter started out making bad grades and she was smart and we could not figure it out and one day she advised she could not see the words on the board and reading the words was difficult a trip the eye doctor, glasses and A’s every since.

 

[Westwind]

I think you have to tell her what To do mostly and minimize telling her what Not to do if that make sense. I know that is dime store psychology but it has helped me communicate with kids when I do it.

If you have read the other posts, you are already talking to her about how we plan and prepare to swing at every pitch, we don't decide to swing, our decision is to Not swing at the bad ones. And how our goal is to "hit, hit hit" and our goal is never to "not strike out". Sounds to me that she isn't ready to make any decision yet, so here is what I would do. Set a new goal, which is "I want you to take three hard swings at every at bat. I want you to hit the ball hard." She is going to strike out. Its ok and be positive so she gets past the fear of striking out. Be very positive and let her know she did well when she swings hard. After all, that is what you want her to do. Be patient, she will start hitting the ball. Then your message morphs to "I want you to hit the ball hard". Then you work on pitch selection, and the message is " I want you to hit a good pitch hard." This process will take time. She has to get over "trying not to strike out" vs. "trying to hit the ball". Hope this helps.

*edited to add: agree with above posters, we were all typing at same time apparently

 

[Jim]

There is a drill she could do that forces her to begin the loading process earlier and on time...

During front toss or off a pitcher in practice, have her get into her stance but instead of having her hands and bat in position, have her hold the bat straight out, pointing at the pitcher's feet, with her bottom hand only. When the pitcher starts, she should then swing the bat up into both hands into her launch position then it should flow right into her swing. The entire movement should be one fluent motion.

Since she doesn't have the bat in position, she will feel the urge to start the process of the load earlier.

 

[Westwind]

Another drill we did was one I called "hit 'em all". It was front toss and they had to hit every pitch, even the non-strikes. Emphasize figuring out how to hit every pitch hard, even the ones that she shouldn't swing at. Ask her after every one if it was a strike or a ball.

Long term you have to work on picking good pitches to hit but right now this girl might benefit from it.

Jim, I like that drill, did you ever put a name on it?

 

[GatorGirl]

Jim, I like that. I hope I am picturing it right in my head. If you have any visuals that would be most welcomed. Westwind, thanks to you too. She has really struggled keeping an interest in this game. I feel like if she could get some decent at bat's it might get her more interested. It may not be her thing and we have to let it go, but we are still going to give it our all until she finally says "no more."

Her younger sister really grasps things a bit better, has more interest and takes direction better so I hate to that she keeps getting better and the older one goes no where. I have stressed that she has to find what interests her and it is fine if softball isn't it.

GG

 

[About Them]

Any thoughts on getting a professional Hitting Coach? All too many times parents and coaches are giving instruction but the words don't seem to make sense once they get between the player's ears. I've heard it from my DD many times..."I hear what you are saying but don't know what you mean". I laugh when her PC tells her the same thing I've been saying (but in a different way) and she actually gets it. Don't get frustrated, but know your own limitations.

 

[T.J.]

There is a drill she could do that forces her to begin the loading process earlier and on time...

During front toss or off a pitcher in practice, have her get into her stance but instead of having her hands and bat in position, have her hold the bat straight out, pointing at the pitcher's feet, with her bottom hand only. When the pitcher starts, she should then swing the bat up into both hands into her launch position then it should flow right into her swing. The entire movement should be one fluent motion.

Since she doesn't have the bat in position, she will feel the urge to start the process of the load earlier.

I second Jim...My daughter does this exact thing; she holds the bat (with both hands) straight towards the pitcher, then when the pitcher starts her motion my DD starts her loading process by bringing the bat back and into her stance and load position all at the same time...the net result is a nice fluid swing.

She was in the habit of loading too soon where after she loaded she became a "statue" again, so we tried this to help with that and I have to say it has helped....[of course we also own the bat jack, so that helps too! ]

To Gator Girl...The best way I can describe my DD is....She is in the batters box, holding the bat with her normal grip..she is holding the bat parallel with the ground (or slightly up) and the barrell end is pointed at the pitcher; she is loose, dancing a little, waving the bat just a little, legs flexed, etc (she is not in a static state)...with perhaps a slight lean forward by not much. When the time is right, she sweeps the bat and her weight back to a normal balanced position, and continues into her loading position and then into her swing.

Everyone is different, and we found this to be a good solution for her...hope this helps.