High School coach may ruin DD's swing

[Cannonball]

mkral, as you know, I was a long time coach. Have your dd keep doing what she is doing. The coach will now take credit for it if she hits well. Also, on the "hitting the back thing," have your dd tell the coach that she is uncomfortable with that action and that she isn't as confident trying to duplicate it. Then, have her ask the coach if the coach is alright with her trying to finish like she has worked on all summer. She won't lie to her coach. She won't have her parent interceed. I'm betting that everything will be fine. I think most coaches want some input. I don't think most are tryants. If they have good communication with their players, often, they are willing to work with the player. I know I was. Of course, I was never a cookie cutter coach and so, I did allow for some individuality.

 

[mkral]

Great advice CB I will let my DD handle it that way. Our HS coach is a good lady and I think if my DD puts it that way she will let her go with it. I also believe if she see's how much she has improved even over last year she may even change some other girls. Just my gut feeling. I am having all of our team finish high one handed and they all do look better and stronger.
Thanks again CB!!

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I do use 3 balls. I have never seen the drill with more than 3 balls, so I see what you are talking about, now. Thanks.

 

[Chris O'Leary]

I do use 3 balls. I have never seen the drill with more than 3 balls, so I see what you are talking about, now. Thanks.

I have seen people do sets of 5 or 10 balls, and the results are ugly.

The hitter spends most of their time working on an arm-y, top-down swing.

 

[Cannonball]

I am not a fan of this drill and stopped doing it soon after beginning to coach. Why? IMO, it teaches "arm hitting" and not use of the core. However, this is my opinion and so, do what you all have success with. I also don't believe in side toss at all. The only things my dd does with me all involve front toss, machine from the front and live arm. When we do front toss, we don't just toss the ball forward. We have a "load" sequence built into the toss. I show the ball, take it away on a plane from the hitter and then, toss the ball forward with some zip on it. As Hitter has mentioned, we try to have some focus involved. With the way we do it, showing the ball, the take away and then the delivery assist with this. We don't have the dd look at the ball all the way through. Rather, it is an area focus if that makes sense.

 

[jimginas]

OFTEN times the issue with Quick hands drill is tosser does NOT ensure CORRECT mechanics of the swing and rushes the batter too quickly. ANY drill if not properly done or supervised can have a negative effect. I've watched the best drills taught incorrectly hurts players skills/mechanics........... often times coaches SEE or read about drills but do NOT pay attention to the DETAILS of HOW the drill is supposed to work and what muscles are supposed to be affected.
** I tell all my girls that if a drill is not explained for WHAT muscles are they supposed to be concentrating on or purpose of a drill and if explanation doesn't make sense, I suggest DON'T DO IT! If I can't explain it and get buy-in that the drill makes sense...... maybe its not smart for the girls to do it.

Walk around and ASK your players what they are concentrating on, what is the purpose of the drill...... if they don't know, they probably are not getting as much out of the drill as they should. STOP and teach the team what the purpose is and what the SPECIFIC reason is (what muscles / mechanical skills are they training). REALLY you should teach EVERY DRILL before you ask them to do them. do NOT ASSUME they should know or were taught before you got them.

 

[Chris O'Leary]

OFTEN times the issue with Quick hands drill is tosser does NOT ensure CORRECT mechanics of the swing and rushes the batter too quickly.

Going fast is the whole point of the drill, and why it's fatally flawed. If you're not working at a fast pace, you're not doing the drill.

Here's the worst case version of the drill...

YouTube - Drill: Quick Hands

...and the worst case description...

This drill helps shorten the swing and focuses on trying to quicken the hands. Have your legs shoulder width apart, and just throw your hands at the ball using NO legs.

 

[jimginas]

Going fast is the whole point of the drill, and why it's fatally flawed. If you're not working at a fast pace, you're not doing the drill.

Here's the worst case version of the drill...

YouTube - Drill: Quick Hands

...and the worst case description...


This drill helps shorten the swing and focuses on trying to quicken the hands. Have your legs shoulder width apart, and just throw your hands at the ball using NO legs.

understand Chris, but not so fast that the proper mechanics suffer, otherwise the drill would ONLY be counter-productive.....

 

[Chris O'Leary]

understand Chris, but not so fast that the proper mechanics suffer, otherwise the drill would ONLY be counter-productive.....

The stated point of the drill is to do it as fast as possible.

If you're not doing it as fast as possible, then you're not doing the drill.

Which of course is a good thing.

 

[obbay]

Great info here thanks for continuing the discussion.
I asked DD after practice what she did today and they did that drill again. They do it at every practice and they hit 1/2 to 1 bucket of tennis balls each!
I asked her if there's anyway she can skip that drill without anyone noticing....
Maybe say it has been irritating her throwing arm.