DD Getting Told To "Squish The Bug"

[1st_&_3rd]

I saw this in an email from Marc and it has great timing in regard to my daughters hitting.

"Believe me, I've seen and heard plenty of things in practice facilities over the years that have made me cringe. Some of it is just bad advice (such as get your back elbow up to hitters), while other things are just patently incorrect (such as squish the bug)."

Currently my daughter is getting told by a coach on her team to do just that. My basic question is why is this incorrect to teach?

To clarify my daughter goes to a very good, established hitting coach and frankly she starts getting a lot of advice from others when she just averts from his teachings and then starts hitting weak at the plate. Now I wonder how I handle all of this without pissing off her teams coaches.

 

[KevinC]

Tell your DD to smile and nod and do what they suggest until they go away. Then go back to what her hitting coach says. If he keeps after her to do it the "wrong" way she could just say "my hitting coach tells me to do it this way".

My DD is now 11 and I've started telling her that when she gets advice from a coach or instructor that is different that what she has been told before should should try it but that she's getting old enough to figure out on her own what works for her.

For this particular issue if you explain to her that when her hips rotate her back foot will pivot and appear to squish a bug without any conscious thought from her she'll understand what she's supposed to be doing, even if the coach does not.

 

[PEPPERS]

How many times I’ve heard this and my daughter has experienced it in hitting and pitching.

The old saying “To Many Cooks Spoil the Stew”!

One time she pitched as a pick-up player and she struck out the first 9 kids she faced, ever pitch the coach yelled some instruction at her that was different from what her pitching coach had taught her. I finally went to him and told him that his instruction was different than what her pitching coach taught and it was beginning to distract her. The next inning same thing I went back to him I gave him the name and number of her pitching coach and suggested he call him and discuss what he is teaching is wrong, but if he continued I would take her home that I paid good money for instruction. Needles to say this got his attention.

I’ve seen it get in her head on the hitting side and affect her hitting when a coach would give improper instruction on the swing in practice, and she would get an in between swing and her stats would suffer. She attended camps at Georgia and Alabama and was taught rhythm and movement dance with the pitcher movement and the middle school coach kept screaming at her for doing that.

Some coaches never change, this is what I learned 20 years ago and I teach it today, and wonder why their team batting average is less than 200.

 

[obbay]

For young girls who plant their feet and swing from the waist up, the 'squish the bug' metaphor is a good cue to get them thinking about their feet and legs into the swing. if the player is already incorporating the feet and legs in the swing, 'squish the bug' will send the wrong message as the weight is actually supposed to come off that foot as it basically raises up on the toe- though the extent of this will vary depending on pitch location.

'Squish the bug' has a very limited window of applicability.

Kevin's advice to 'smile and nod' is on the money and a skill she should learn to perfect. Until she goes away to college, as long as she plays softball she will have well-intentioned adults (some will be her coaches) giving her advice that she would be better off without.

 

[nanotech14]

The reason behind not squishing the bug if I'am correct is it a lost energy .

 

[Wellphyt]

Squish-the-bug is bad because it teaches the player to spin their back leg. Spinning the back leg to open the hips is strictly cosmetic and adds little to the swing. There is no weight shift of the hips with squish-the-bug. The coach is trying to create the "look" of the hips opening, rather than teaching the weight shift action that causes the back knee to turn down and in.

 

[SBFAMILY]

Easy think of throwing a ball. Do you Squish? Try it and find out how much less power you have . Hitting is throwing same weight shift.

 

[BB875]

Easy think of throwing a ball. Do you Squish? Try it and find out how much less power you have . Hitting is throwing same weight shift.

Great analogy!

 

[RayR]

This not necessarily a bad queue....plenty of good hitters start with their elbow up....

I saw this in an email from Marc and it has great timing in regard to my daughters hitting.

"Believe me, I've seen and heard plenty of things in practice facilities over the years that have made me cringe. Some of it is just bad advice (such as get your back elbow up to hitters), while other things are just patently incorrect (such as squish the bug)."

Currently my daughter is getting told by a coach on her team to do just that. My basic question is why is this incorrect to teach?

To clarify my daughter goes to a very good, established hitting coach and frankly she starts getting a lot of advice from others when she just averts from his teachings and then starts hitting weak at the plate. Now I wonder how I handle all of this without pissing off her teams coaches.

 

[Wellphyt]

Easy think of throwing a ball. Do you Squish? Try it and find out how much less power you have . Hitting is throwing same weight shift.

I also think this is a good analogy to demonstrate to the coach why you don't think "Squish-the-bug" is a good Q. Similar to how Hillhouse uses the analogy of finishing the overhand throw down to the throwing arm side thigh to demonstrate why you don't want to finish the windmill pitch with the throwing arm at the throwing arm side shoulder.