Crystl Bustos's Swing

[nanotech14]

I think this is like beating a dead horse. You have to find what works for the player. I think what Howard and Crystl teach is right for some and not for others. I would love to take my dd to them , just to see what they teach. Do I have to change my dd's swing? No but does that mean that she won't learn something from them? That answer is no too. I think Crystl is a great hitter , I can not argue that at all and from what I hear Howard is a real good coach and gives alot of himself to young girls to improve.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I rarely post under hitting, but here I am with one of my baseball students, today at noon. It was 94 degrees. The hat is a new addition to my "avoid skin cancer" campaign.

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[Tewks]

I spent about 6 hours with Howard the Friday after Thanksgiving. I was in the Youngstown area to visit family and work up at about 3 AM to make the trip to Cincinatti. I spent the most of the day in his garage taking swings, talking about instruction (especially the differences between male/female instruction) and covered a lot more than just swinging the bat. I definitely got a little chill when I swung a Bustos bat. Howard is very creative and intuitive in his teaching. You should see all of the teaching tools he has created. Having info posted makes him an easy target, but ultimately people have to choose what to follow. Post count does translate to credibility on forums, so

I had written a post in this thread yesterday, then deleted it. I don't want Ken to ban me. The comments with the "hitting is hitting, words are words" type stuff really bothers me. Changing movement patterns is a very difficult, mental process. We (the internet hitting community) can argue all day about teaching styles, how to achieve changes, etc... but the actual goal for the swing should be clearly defined regardless of what the goal is and the hitter and instructor should be working toward that. With female hitters, there are huge obstacles with weight shift. Understanding the differences between male and female hitters is very important in being able to teach females.

I firmly believe that swinging the bat is the best way to become a teacher. The better the student, the better the teacher. I made it further than most in baseball, but looking at how I teach now compared to even two years ago I feel like my playing career held me back from being objective. Feeling the swing, feeling different cues, feeling failure... You can look at as much video as you want, but unless you film, try to duplicate, go through the trial and error then you are just guessing. Even if you have ideal mechanics, it doesn't mean you can teach them.

 

[Tewks]

I rarely post under hitting, but here I am with one of my baseball students, today at noon. It was 94 degrees. The hat is a new addition to my "avoid skin cancer" campaign.

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L-screen!!!!!! (<------ that's my avoid personal injury campaign!!)

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I am only stupid a little bit. Those are TCB whiffles. I used the large ones and the golf sized ones. He was not advanced enough (he is a young 9) to drive the small weighted ones.

 

[Wellphyt]

I would have to agree with the last two posts. If someone is spending 12 hours a day posting on internet sites then how do they teach or work with kids? Here is a PM that I have cleaned up, because I didn't want Ken to shut this down. You can understand many that no longer post on here because of what starsnuffer and others feel. Why spend your time defending what you teach to someone that is an internet hitting guru and we all know does not coach or teach hitting. Not my feeling but many others that will no longer post on these type of sites. To me that is our loss.

Talk about missing the point of a discussion board. When another poster challenges something you say, that is an opportunity to further the discussion. For every person who post on a board like this, there are many more just reading along trying to learn. They are the audience, not the person who is challenging you. The person challenging your ideas is probably not going to change their mind no matter what you say, so you use their critique as a way to help others who are reading along. IOW this isn't about defending what you teach or what Howard teaches, it's about sharing your experience. If someone doesn't like what you have to say and challenges you, so what. Use it to your advantage to share more information.

Obviously if what you teach doesn't hold up to video of what the best hitters actually do, then you will have a credibility problem with some posters. However their are many more who could care less if what you teach matches video of the best. My town is full of parents who send their kids to instructors that teach stuff that doesn't match what the best do. Most parents don't care, even when it's pointed out to them. There is a niche for everyone.

Personally I don't care for the linear-rotational debate. I would rather talk in terms of being more or less efficient. IMO Bustos has a very efficient swing for fastpitch. Whether she actually understands what makes her swing efficient is another story. Without talking to her, I have no idea. I had the opportunity to attend a clinic with a well known pro/international fastpitch player recently. Nothing in her presentation convinced me that she had an advanced knowledge of hitting mechanics. In some cases she seemed to be repeating what her coaches and instructors taught her in college. I did not sense a lot of original thinking. When you are playing the game you do not do the same type of critical thinking necessary when you are actively teaching others. Teaching requires a totally different approach. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the overhand throw motion is a great example of coaches not understanding what they do when they throw overhand.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

You're quite like a broken record on this. Howard never said vertical, you did. He said "stacked", but that does not mean to have a vertical forearm just that the hands should be stacked over the forearm at connection.

Regarding the distance of the elbow from the body; this is dependent on pitch location primarily. Clip after clip of HLBB hitters show this.

I know you like to pull out your carefully edited clips that show Howard's forearm perfectly vertical or where straightleg's daughter's elbow is too far away from her body, but you're taking those examples out of context and you know it.

Regarding the first 'bold' ... I agree. That has been my point. That's the Hanson Principle at work.

Regarding the second 'bold' ... No, within the context of swinging a bat, having the elbow far displaced from the body, as SL demonstrated, has multiple disadvantages. It isn't part of a 'good swing' ... and for a good reason.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

I can't speak for others, but I feel like I need to be more restrained with what I say on this site. Some of the baseball sites allow more give and take, and they are more conducive to challenging what others teach. IOW, on those sites I don't feel like I have to be as concerned about how I word stuff. You need a thick skin on sites that are more loosely moderated, but If you can handle the back and forth it's a great way to learn. I personally like to have my ideas challenged and don't consider challenges on what I teach an "attack".

The fact that you think a critique of what Howard or anyone else teaches is an attack, suggest to me that you get irritated when your beliefs or perhaps Howard's beliefs are challenged. Why is that? Why not just respond and back up your beliefs or Howard's beliefs on those sites where they are being challenged?

Excellent post Wellphyt.

Not sure why certain people take hitting discussions so personally. It should be about the extraction of information.

 

[eddie35]

I keep on seeing on this board the Hanson principal. If your a female hitter shouldnt you compare your swing to Crystl Bustos?
The last time i checked Crystle batted over 400 ten years in a row. Crystl not only hit for average but for power as well. Nobody has ever done what she has done. People have the nerve to critique her swings and make statements like i like most of her swings. what the hell is that. Would you critique Ted Williams?? With respect to all the baseball greats nobody has ever dominated their sport like Crystle has hers from a hitters stand point. And the only guy thats ever posted on this board that has ever worked with Crystl is Howard Carrier.
Howard has shared his hitting teachings with hundreds if not thousands of girls and as far as i know has not charged a single penny for his instruction. I am tired of hearing the Hanson principle, we should call it the Carrier Principle compare your swing to the best hitter that ever lived male or female Crystl Bustos.

 

[whatsup]

On this site, at least, there seems to be more discussion about people discussing Crystl's swing than discussion about her swing itself. Since Crystl has reportedly requested that all vidoes of her swing be removed from this site and since Howard no longer posts here, this topic, and the many others like it, provide virtually no useful information to those of us here for the purpose of discussing fastpitch softball and potentially learning something.