Hitter

[Hitter]

Hitter,


IMO using a heavey bag/football blocking dummy is very useful in developing a hitters swing.. I find many hitters have to learn how to get to contact and the Heavey Bag helps. I understand and agree powering through is important and safty is important when using the bag.

Erik

EL

I use to use the bags about 10 to 11 years ago and have discovered other ways to teach that appear to be working. So it may be an individual instructor thing. For some parents, instructors sometimes it is overused and hitting tires crops up and then something else.

I still prefer thinking to the ball and through the ball to extension and finish over the shoulder.

Thanks Howard

 

[Erik]

I still prefer thinking to the ball and through the ball to extension and finish over the shoulder.

Thanks Howard

Hitter,

don't you find if the hitter can get to contact correctly they get through the ball and get to extension correctly in most cases? I know the grip has a lot to do with it also. Thanks!!




EL

 

[Hitter]

Hitter,

don't you find if the hitter can get to contact correctly they get through the ball and get to extension correctly in most cases? I know the grip has a lot to do with it also. Thanks!!




EL

Erik

Getting to contact correctly has a lot of possibilities depending on who is teaching it and what they believe is correct.

The females we know have not used an axe or hammer and for the most part do not understand extension or how the wrist work. Look at how they finish, usually they hit their shoulder or finish up at a sharp angle between the shoulder and neck because they folded the lead elbow as soon as they made contact with the ball. This is why we teach the hand over drill after the grip is understood. The bat is a lever and how we grip it will determine how much leverage we can apply. Same thing they feel when we teach them how to use the hammer as they feel the hammer head move un restricted by un hinging the wrist and because of how they grip the hammer or bat grip.

Thanks Howard

 

[straightleg]

Hitter

I have been on many hitting sites and you have been one to share your knowledge freely. You keep it simple for a lot of dads and moms to help there kids at home.

So many either talk so far over your head you have no idea what they are saying, and make it impossible to comunicate that to a boy or girl or completly talk around the question with out giving you any helpfull information.

Thanks for sharing and I, like many still continue to learn different parts of the swing by reading your posts.


Give and you shall recieve - I am 100% for sure that saying works.




Straightleg

 

[Hitter]

Hitter

I have been on many hitting sites and you have been one to share your knowledge freely. You keep it simple for a lot of dads and moms to help there kids at home.

So many either talk so far over your head you have no idea what they are saying, and make it impossible to comunicate that to a boy or girl or completly talk around the question with out giving you any helpfull information.

Thanks for sharing and I, like many still continue to learn different parts of the swing by reading your posts.


Give and you shall recieve - I am 100% for sure that saying works.




Straightleg

Gerry thank you very much...we work with kids trying to take it to the next level, with moms and dads trying to help them.

 

[Hitter]

Guilty... At least now that you have armed me with so much knowledge. Seriously though, thank you for all your posts, you have given us a couple books worth that I would have paid $30 a piece for. I guess it is up to me to learn how to pass it on in a non confusing manner. Question, what order do you fix a swing. Say a student has nothing desirable, what is the order of importance, Stance, grip, lower half, upper half etc...? Also, I am sure it varies from student to student but when do you move to step 2, (damn got side tracked on here and burnt my brats) after you show her step 1 or after she gets it?
Thanks

Mike
p.s. I would love others take on this also, I just wanted to thank Howard.

Mike thank you for the PM explaining your success with that girl. I never get tired of hearing stories about when the kids GET IT! We teach kids at the clinics to throw before we teach hitting so they will understand what a weight shift actually is. I can not believe we as males have over looked teaching the girls how to use their lower body to throw properly!

It is always funny to hear the parents say our daughter knows how to throw and then when it is over they say well we thought she knew how to throw!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Again thanks for taking the time to tell me about it.

Howard

 

[Mike]

Mike thank you for the PM explaining your success with that girl.

Your welcome, just wanted to let you know your not wasting your time posting. I have had kids do the hand over drill before but I didn't really no why until now, after a few swings she laughed and said "I should hold the bat like this all of the time" it was the perfect segway to talk a little about grip and keeping the top hand a little loose, and keeping the bat out of the palms. I will never help a kid with hitting untill we have a catch first again, I have always been a stickler about throwing technique with my players, but never tied it to hitting until recently. She was always the type of player that nobody wanted to "mess up" so they let her do what she always did. It took 20 minutes teaching her how to throw and use her lower body, weight shift, slow to load, soft to step on a flexed front knee, fire the hip and release the back foot, follow through across the body. Then we did your ball in the top hand drill, hand over drill and she was a totally different hitter. I am very slowly incorporating your thoughts and drills as I begin to understand the true meaning behind them, like Markh always says any drill or idea can be perverted and create new bad habits.
Thanks

Mike
BTW, I started coaching t-ball and am currently at the 12-U level. The girl in reference in our friends 18yo daughter who just made her community college team. Her attention span and level of understanding is much greater than I am used to working with

 

[Dragoncoach]

Making a difference

I also have been putting all this good advice to good use, keepn it simple yet perfecting their mechanics, and although they havnt been tested or is my work done I can already tell they are dramatically improving their swings.I actually stand behind them sometimes and grap their hands raise them to wear they need to be and Ill load their hands as they step slowly and softly on a flexd knee, then Ill back off and let them swing. after about 5 fully assisted swings. this is workn and I mean faster than one would expect. We allow the rec players to practice with us in an academy style drilling then seperate into stations and then we finish with a game of wiffleball.(winter)
Thanks again
Eric

 

[Hitter]

I also have been putting all this good advice to good use, keepn it simple yet perfecting their mechanics, and although they havnt been tested or is my work done I can already tell they are dramatically improving their swings.I actually stand behind them sometimes and grap their hands raise them to wear they need to be and Ill load their hands as they step slowly and softly on a flexd knee, then Ill back off and let them swing. after about 5 fully assisted swings. this is workn and I mean faster than one would expect. We allow the rec players to practice with us in an academy style drilling then seperate into stations and then we finish with a game of wiffleball.(winter)
Thanks again
Eric

Eric when we work with a group or team after we have completed throwing which includes balance first, we have the kids get in lines so no one can hit each other and have them take a few swings to see what we are dealing with. The ones who hit their shoulder or back and the ones who do not understand extension other wise they would never hit them self. We get the entire group in a circle and demonstrate the grip while they are looking over my shoulder as that is their view of the world and I do not know who may be LD so I always do it from their point of view. When we line them back up no one is hitting their backs after doing this drill. Then we bring them back in and show them the grip and test for it and we are on our way! At the stations we are all working the same drills at the same time so when we call them into a group to explain something they can all relate too what we are doing while laying the foundation.

Thanks Howard

 

[redzuk]

The ones who hit their shoulder or back and the ones who do not understand extension other wise they would never hit them self.

Thanks Howard

Its annoying when they do that, but I've noticed it doesnt seem to have correlation with how they hit. I'd like to get a video of a good hitter slapping her back in the hitters circle and compare it to her making a good hit just to see what changes.

Carl