Practical Hitting Drills Progression & Checklist

[Indiana's DH]

I have a team that is moving from 14B to 16A this spring (a HUGE jump and challenge).

With regards to hitting, I developed the linked 8 Level Hitting Progression and the girls have been moving through it over the course of 3 nights per week since the end of the HS season here in early October (HS season here is in the fall), plus they all take private hitting lessons 1x per week. After about 40 practices they are currently finishing Level 6. So, they have learned 50 or so different tee drills, side toss, front toss, machine drills, etc and I believe the next step is personalized instruction for each kid, going back and focusing on those drills that address their individual needs.

So - to aid in this next step I created a "Hitting Analysis" package, the first of which is also attached, to identify the individual needs of each player. In looking over these 2 documents, both of which are heavily influenced by various threads on this forum, I thought an 'open source' approach might make the documents even better and aid in situations where somebody posts a video of their daughter and asks what the board thinks. Anybody can paste freeze frames from a video into the Hitting Analysis, run thru the check points, and then refer to Levels in the Hitting Progression with useful drills for that particular player.

Both documents were created in powerpoint, but they were too big to post on the forum even as .pdf. If you want the .ppt files so you can customize them yourself, PM me with your email address. Here are the links to them on Google Docs (which by the way makes them look a little worse than in the .ppt)...

Progression:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzbfTLx5VwA1d1U2WGRaM3ZoUUE/edit?usp=sharing

Analysis:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzbfTLx5VwA1LUgzTm5PM05Eem8/edit?usp=sharing

I am not convinced that these documents are perfect - and I'm open to any or all suggestions to improve the documents, but keep in mind we should move to the Technical Hitting forum if we stray too far from the Practical Hitting topic. Thanks in advance for any ideas you have about this Progression and the Analysis, and I hope someone can find them useful!
Coach Steve

 

[CoogansBluff]

Looks like you've put a lot of work into it. Makes me think you enjoy what you do and are dedicated to getting players to hit better.

One quick (and perhaps minor) observation - One checkpoint you have is ''elbows have an upside down V'' in the stance. That's a style issue, IMO. Having elbow up in stance is fine. For some, it makes it easier to load the hands when they begin with back elbow pointing back.

 

[Indiana's DH]

Sure - maybe "elbows comfortably flexed".

 

[FP26]

I really like the attention to detail and thought that you put into these files. Nice job! I especially like the "analysis" piece. Thanks for posting it.

 

[mleber]

Great job. I appreciate the time and dedication your documents show.

 

[humpty]

Well done. Can a few turn the barrel guys chime in. Is his diagram of turn the barrel accurate? Im yet to be clear on "turn the barrel"

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Well done. Can a few turn the barrel guys chime in. Is his diagram of turn the barrel accurate? Im yet to be clear on "turn the barrel"

What was your interpretation of what was described?

What is unclear about turning the barrel? Do you view it as simply having the top hand "pull the barrel around". As you view the GIF below, and focus on the top hand, do you see the top hand "pulling the barrel around"? The top hand has a pretty simple job ... swivel ... turn the barrel.

 

[humpty]

In the diagram. I viewed it as the hands working independently of each other to do the swivel move. "turn the barrel"

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

In the diagram. I viewed it as the hands working independently of each other to do the swivel move. "turn the barrel"

Consider this ....

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

In one thread RDB posted the following GIF ....

To which I followed up with the following ....