DD and I went to a college camp ( perennial top 20 school D1) a short while ago and hitting instruction was pretty basic. Load, stride, get your rear elbow into the slot , stay inside and extend through contact. They demonstrated one arm drills front arm keeping bathead up, back arm punching through. Not bad advice I guess but not top tier instruction. We also did a private hitting lesson in the spring with one of the asst coaches. He spoke about kinetics and staying inside the ball. Haven't been back to him because of the intense summer schedule. They also spoke of push through contact at the camp.
Hitting advice from a college camp
- Thread starter CoogansBluff
- Start date
Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch
Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.
I guess they are teaching the old Ted Williams stuff. When he spoke of the inside out swing. Maybe that's good enough for college softball? Just my 2 cents...
- Jan 25, 2011
- 2,280
- 38
You guys have to remember. College coaches don't make players. They just assemble a team. I haven't heard of any college coaches recruiting a girl that has never played softball. The hard work of learning the mechanics to play is done by coaches and parents way before any college coach gets them. Sorry college coaches out there, but that is the truth.
- Oct 19, 2009
- 1,822
- 0
Some of the college coaches are good solid hitting coaches while others can be a little out of touch on how to teach good hitting mechanics.
An example one of the girls who played on my travel team received a scholarship to play at an NAIA school and after hitting below 200 her first season there, which was not like her. She came to me for help after a season of being taught hands to the ball and hitting down on the ball she came to me for help. I used a chuck-it to show her the swing she was using resulted in ground balls and showing her the correct barrel bath to hit line drives into the out field, she hit some line drives to the green and even a few out of a 190 ft fence, which she had not done in a long time,
What happens when she goes back to school and has to do the hands to the ball drill and hit down on the ball, will she go back to the swing that produced a BA under 200? I guess we will find out.
My suggestion is when someone teaches or shows you new mechanics in a swing or drill pick up a bat and use the mechanics to see if it gives you the results you are looking for if not then don't use it.
An example one of the girls who played on my travel team received a scholarship to play at an NAIA school and after hitting below 200 her first season there, which was not like her. She came to me for help after a season of being taught hands to the ball and hitting down on the ball she came to me for help. I used a chuck-it to show her the swing she was using resulted in ground balls and showing her the correct barrel bath to hit line drives into the out field, she hit some line drives to the green and even a few out of a 190 ft fence, which she had not done in a long time,
What happens when she goes back to school and has to do the hands to the ball drill and hit down on the ball, will she go back to the swing that produced a BA under 200? I guess we will find out.
My suggestion is when someone teaches or shows you new mechanics in a swing or drill pick up a bat and use the mechanics to see if it gives you the results you are looking for if not then don't use it.
Last edited:
FiveFrameSwing
Banned
Years ago I tracked the hitting performance of college players from Freshman year, to Sophomore year, to Junior year to Senior year. With the exception of some top college programs, a large percentage of players regressed over their college experience.
Is it possible that some spend way much time on the minutia of hitting theory and not enough time on practical application?
FiveFrameSwing
Banned
I would hope when people work with hitters that they do so to help them improve their performance. If players aren't getting better, then perhaps the points-of-emphasis being worked on are not well targeted ... or perhaps what is being instructed is incorrect.
As for the "minutia of hitting theory" ... winning is in the details ... that goes for base running, throwing, pitching, defensive play ... and yes, even hitting.
As for the "minutia of hitting theory" ... winning is in the details ... that goes for base running, throwing, pitching, defensive play ... and yes, even hitting.
So the reason for a college players success at the plate is due in large part to the instruction they learned before they got to college?
Unfortunately there is a fine line between effectively focusing on the details and full out mental masturbation.
I agree with this, but I think it is useful to know and understand the details. I have told this story before, but I will skim it again. DD's first pitching coach was HE style. I didn't know any better at the time, so I took for granted that DD was getting quality instruction. The pitching coach moved out of the area and I was tasked with finding a new one. The research began and that is what initially brought me to DFP. Needless to say, BMs threads were eye opening to me. I visited several other pitching coaches in the area but did not start up with any of them because each was teaching HE mechanics. Then when I found one teaching I/R (not by name), DD returned to taking lessons. I continue to review the pitching threads here (specifically Java's stuff) to ensure DD is still travelling what I believe to be the correct path.
Hitting is no different. I study the minutia, but rarely if ever, utilize many of those terms with DD. Although we did have an interesting conversation the other day about centripetal and centrifugal and I asked her to grab her bat so I could explain the difference to her...
My point is, if I didn't spend so much time reading the minutia, DD would probably still be going to an HE instructor and would still be squishing the bug with a leveled swing approach.
Similar threads
