Hitter:
1000% agree. Tibbets didn't understand anything other than how to fly the Enola Gay. And elite hitters as a rule understand VERY little about how the forces work in the swing.
Both are appropriate.
Tom isn't writing to hitters; he doesn't work with hitters. I have no actual idea WHY he writes, since he has stated in an exchange with Mark in the past that none of this matters, because no one reads it anyway.
But I assume Tom is writing to the coach or instructor.
In fact, that is who I write for on occasion, but I also write to dads whose kids are learning to hit.
The guy who designed the training for Tibbets to fly the Enola Gay DOES need to understand the forces in play. He doesn't necessarily have to explain them to Tibbets (though I suspect most pilots understand those forces, at least intuitively). But to get Tibbots to a point over Hiroshima where he can launch his bomb, someone had to design a training course to prepare him. And that person clearly had to understand some pretty technical things.
To get a hitter to where she can launch HER bomb (sorry, couldn't resist), SOMEONE needs to understand the forces in play to design HER training.
This is ESPECIALLY true in a sport like softball or baseball, where so much information is contradictory, and so much is just wrong.
Again, I differentiate between cues and reality. Any cue which works to tap into reality is great. And I listen to the cues which have been successful for people like yourself, who have worked with hitters. I pay no attention whatsoever to the cues offered by people who don't work with hitters.
I DO evaluate the INFORMATION offered by people, whether or not they work with hitters. And try to ascertain whether than information is credible, based on whether it is congruent with the physical principles of the universe, among other things. Where my own understanding is limited, I defer to the opinion of SMEs, such as physicists, kineseologists, etc.
If I bring any value at all to these discussions, I would imagine it is because I am sometimes able to distill these expert opinions into a format which is readable, understandable, and employable.
In my own work with hitters, I hope that I understand the forces in play well enough to know how to teach hitters. More importantly, I hope my understanding is adequate to know how to FIX hitters. Everyone goes bad at different times, and in different ways. How to fix whatever is wrong without breaking something else is where the rubber hits the road for an instructor. How to find a cue or illustration that works for the kid that nothing else is working for is also a challenge. We all have to come up with new and unique cues sometimes, because the ones we typically use aren't working for a specific kid, for whatever reason. Part of the challange of what we do.
My point is that when one has an understanding of the forces in play, it shapes the range of acceptable cues, and keeps guardrails in place.
Some instructors do this intuitively, even without a thourough understanding. That is based on experience, and working with hundreds of hitters. There are casualties for all instructirs during our learning curve, however. I've had them, for sure. Too many. I'd like to help instructors have a shorter learning curve.
Most of all, I write for the dad who faces a ridiculous challenge. He will NOT have time / interest in distilling the technical information. He is NOT interested in an amalgamation of information taken from dozens of sources and interwoven together as someone's intellectual exercise. That dad is interested in what will work to make Suzy hit better next Saturday and next year. Given the horrible limits of the written word, lack of visual evidence and feedback, and the frustrations of a post / repost (rather than realtime conversation) environment, I believe it is absolutely incumbent on someone offering advice to do his best to base that on sound physical principles.
The alternative being guesswork, and what the individual writing "feels." Or what he has heard others "feel." I DO NOT believe "feel" is universal. I DO NOT believe Suzy feels what Ethier (for example) does. And so I limit those kinds of references (although I occasionally do use them when posting).
In person with a hitter, I talk about feel a lot, because she can give me feedback. I can see the results imnmediately. We can converse in real time, and I observe what works, what doesn't. I've had a hitter tell me she felt the top hand was dominating, and a half hour later, had a hitter telll me she felt the bottom hand was dominating. Their swings were both effective, and in fact, looked virtually identical - even on video. I think almost anyone who works with hitters would have similar experience. Those who don't won't get it, and will continue to talk about universal patterns and universl mechanics, etc. In my experience, people feel differently.
Just like the two hitters referenced above, who FELT dramatically different things. As an instructor, I want to tap into the feelings. But I can't assume them for any one kid.
NO way to ascertain any of that while posting. Offering cues can help, and I have done it. Obviously, it is a crap shoot. However, if you can offer a dad a simple approach based on reality (the physical principles governing the universe and our bodies), and then suggest some guardrails, I think the dad has a chance. Which means the kid does, too.
My $.02, probably worth less than that. But for me, this is NOT a theoretical exercise. I'd like to help those dads out there, because people came alongside of me when I was learning this. And it helped, and my daughter has done OK, and so have oher kids I've had the privilege to work with as I became more and more involved in instructing hitters. I'd like to do the same for others.
Best regards,
Scott
