One hour hitting practice

[TNSoftballMom]

Coaches - I want to get some ideas on how you would best utilize one hour of hitting practice for ten girls. I need to evaluate if I am getting the best use of our one hour of hitting practice. The age is an older 12U rec team. We have one hour for hitting at our park each week, though all of them either take lessons and/or come and hit with me for an hour each week on an individual basis.

The main issues they have I think are the typical ones you would run into with girls this age with a wider range of abilities:

Not enough use of the lower half (all of them)
Bug squisher (several)
Hands dropping, problem with high pitch (several)
No extension through zone (several)
Not swinging hard (several)
Swing plane problems (several)

We have the use of one full cage and two nets and with three tees, plenty of balls and TCB wiffles and three coaches. I'm generally the one throwing live pitching as I can throw with a full windup up to around 55 mph, though most of the pitching we face is around 40-48.

Generally the girls will go through a process where they hit, rest, hit, rest, hit rest. They are swinging/hitting for about 30 minutes of the hour.

Slow or "matrix" type swings (25) on a string
High tee (25 swings)
low ball drill or soft toss (25 swings)
Cage with live pitching from 40 feet (hitting/bunting/pitch selection)
Face the fire/Happy Gilmore drills (25 swings)
One handed drills

We either end the practice with a two-tee drill contest (tees 15 feet apart and front tee slightly elevated from back tee) or hitting off the tee in the cage trying to hit a target mounted on the back of the cage 50 feet away 8 feet high.

While we've been quite successful with this setup, I am always looking for ways to improve it, finding things to do to get more out of the time and things to challenge them with.

Any suggestions would be most welcome!

Sue

 

[Amy in AZ.]

It sounds like you are doing great. I, too, have problems getting my students to utilize their bottom half. Stressing that the hips can turn completely to the pitcher, but if the bat doesn't swing, you can still hold up, helps.

Also, show them how the bottom half works with the over hand throw - and with pitching. Ask them to try to throw without using their legs - it doesn't work very well.

I use the "hitting is the same as an infield throw" example, a lot. I put them in the box and instead of holding a bat, they hold the ball, like they are preparing for an infield throw. Then, after a few throws, replace the ball with a bat.

 

[mann]

One of the best lower end drills i use is from Parker training. I call it the Katie drill.
kate&spark : Baseball Batting Tees Video - YouTube

You lock up your hitters box, and use only the bottom half to turn to the ball. You can create stretch, add tip and rip, and extension, power v
mann

 

[mann]

Umm, and don't forget Hip coil, uncoil

 

[Momo'sDad]

A lot of coaches don't like the hitting stick, and for advanced hitters, I admit it's probably not a very effective tool except for pregame warmups.

For novice hitters, though, I've found it's a pretty good tool for teaching them to 'swing hard'. Even though their mechanics may not be sound, it allows them to experience what a good weight shift feels like.

I'm with Amy.