Is it just me?

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Jan 22, 2009
331
18
South Jersey
or does most of the conversation about hitting turn into a debate over who teaches it best. I am not a doctor or trainer, and I have no idea about kineseolgy (sp?). What I want to be able to do is build a sound swing for my 9 yo DD, so at least she can hit the ball out of the infield. I admire the passion of the people on this board, I just wish some of you could talk down to a "newsoftballdad".
 
May 12, 2008
2,214
0
Yes, that gets lost which is a shame since that's really the reason I still bother. I can give you my recommended reading list. I can give you my recommended resources. I can look at clips and tell you what I see. I can answer questions. But then it all turns into a wrangle. Which is fine. Many learn from it but the problem comes when the debate is not, IMO, in good faith and some misrepresent what some others teach. I suppose it's human nature. You want to pm me questions or email me clips I'll help all day long to the best of my ability. You want to do it on here I suppose it's going to turn into what it always does, but there is good information to be gleaned from those threads too.
 
May 27, 2008
106
0
Indiana
and some misrepresent what some others teach.

Classic!

Newsoftballdad,

Pitch to her, pitch to her, pitch to her. Let her have fun at this stage and having fun hitting the ball. In the meantime, you can begin learning at your own pace on this board, baseball-fever.com, mikeepsteinhitting.com, batspeed.com, hittingillustrated.com, and yes, even englishbeyhitting.com. You need to be able to make up your own mind about things.

Tee work is good, but at 9 years old, that can get a little old quick. Front toss is best, IMO, and if you can get her to learn to toss the ball up herself and swing, that can allow her to learn about hips leading the way, hitting the ball palm up/palm down, and getting off the back foot.

Obviously there is more to it than that, but you do want to keep it simple and fun. At the same time, I would recommend working a lot on her overhand throw, as the synching of upper and lower torso movements are very similar.

I would probably recommend Epstein drill work, and Candrea's RightView Pro hitting CD. No one's stuff is perfect, but those can get you started in the right direction.

Mike
 
I really agree about hitting on many threads it gets complicated by so many people who want their idea to be the best. When I coached at the JO and high school level and if a player was not taking lessons from some one. I used a tee and front toss to work with many players. load, hands first, hip next and finish your swing were the basics I taught. Many parents ask me what should they do to work with their daughters with hitting. I tell them to get 2 tees. Put one in front the other and lower the first tee the bat will make conact with so the bat goes over top and hits the other and do about 40 swing every other day. Of course we talk about mechanics of hitting and proper body stance and follow thru. But the reason for 2 tees is so they do not develop the back shoulder drop and develop a level swing.
 
Jan 22, 2009
331
18
South Jersey
Guys,

Thanks for the advice. Front toss from about 10' with wiffle balls I am assuming. It is still winter here so our work is in the garage of the tee mostly. She has good hands and a pretty solid turn. We work on "Load, stride, heel down, swing" I am trying to get her to get a good solid front leg with most of her weight moving forward. I was told "squish the bug" is out, and that the back leg should have almost no weight on it. Correct? She is a small 9 yo, only about 55lbs, so she needs everything she can put behind it.


Stan, with the two tees the ball is on the second (further away) tee?

Thanks
 
May 12, 2008
2,214
0
Classic!

Newsoftballdad,

Pitch to her, pitch to her, pitch to her. Let her have fun at this stage and having fun hitting the ball. In the meantime, you can begin learning at your own pace on this board, baseball-fever.com, mikeepsteinhitting.com, batspeed.com, hittingillustrated.com, and yes, even englishbeyhitting.com. You need to be able to make up your own mind about things.

Tee work is good, but at 9 years old, that can get a little old quick. Front toss is best, IMO, and if you can get her to learn to toss the ball up herself and swing, that can allow her to learn about hips leading the way, hitting the ball palm up/palm down, and getting off the back foot.

Obviously there is more to it than that, but you do want to keep it simple and fun. At the same time, I would recommend working a lot on her overhand throw, as the synching of upper and lower torso movements are very similar.

I would probably recommend Epstein drill work, and Candrea's RightView Pro hitting CD. No one's stuff is perfect, but those can get you started in the right direction.

Mike

Well since we are making recommendations, I recommend reading everything Englishbey has, all of Boardmember's posts on here and Baseball Fever, see if your library can get you a copy of the late Jim Dixon's book "The Exceptional Athlete" and if the pocket book allows, get Right View's software. But get the MLB comparison clips. Skeptic on here is pretty sharp and there are some others if I thought about it for a minute. RightView's cd is pretty good. Avoid the rock skipping cue and careful of hip slide (the front hip joint continuing forward after heel plant during the swinging of the bat) if you go that way.
 
Jan 14, 2009
1,591
0
Atlanta, Georgia
I started teaching my DD at 9 years old also. She is now 12 and is average size.

One thing to keep in mind is that coaches, parents and instructors can not speed up mother nature. Your DD is only capable of learning what mother nature will allow her to learn. We adults sometimes have a tendency to get frustrated with younger kids if they can't perform a drill or movement correctly. I can't tell you how many times I've told my DD over the past 3 years "don't worry, you'll get that next year".

One challenge you are going to have is trying to figure out which rotational method to teach. Yes, you heard that right. Apparently there are now different versions of rotational hitting.

My advice when selecting material is to use good old fashion common sense. Keep it simple and don't get caught up in all the details about what bone or muscle is turning or pinching when or where.

Also it is very important to remember that much of hitting involves involuntary (instinctive) movements. Not everything you see ML hitters doing in video clips are learned movements. A big part of hitting involves instinctive on-the-fly adjustments.
 

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