Rotational Hitting

[Pops]

Website

Mark H,

You can find out more info about Mark Doran at his website Diamond Sports Academy or call 815-464-0900.

Best Regards,

Pops

 

[Mark H]

Thanks, I'll check it out. Apparently there are several public figures named Mark Doran but I figured your guy wasn't the guitar picker.

 

[KAT]

wanting to learn

Dr I just know that as a parent I spend alot of time learning about the swing, the more people with knowledge I can partake in the greater my knowledge becomes. I never played softball...ok I did but a recreational league when I was 24 and it wasnt fastpitich it was modified pitch so that doesnt count. But I do feel like as a parent I have given alot to my DD by learning and transferring it to her maybe not as quickly or as well as if I was an Elite athlete but still. I do think you have much to offer but have a hard time getting around the tone that comes off here, of course we all know that there are many things that don't come across in text well, so maybe you are that type of person. And I often think that many elite athletes have a problem transcribing things to the lesser player. One of my DD's best coaches (Basketball) sorry I know a different round ball sport. Was never a standout in basketball, he was an average player but OMG can he coach and sees things I never see. Whenever I am with him and talking its like OMG he has more knowledge in his little pinky then I have in my whole body. Now his wife is a former pro basketball player, played mainly in Europe before the WNBA she has played with many of the older WNBA players. Beautiful beautiful shot, still at 46 dribbles and shoots like a dream....but she is not the coach her husband is and she will be the first to admit it. Her husband was actually her coach in Europe. So it doesnt always transpose from great player to great teacher not that of course it cant. If it always transposed we would have one hell of a Pro basketball team with Michael Jordon coaching..

 

[Mark H]

Well I signed up on myteamzone but I don't see a way to search for anyone's videos?

 

[Hit Dr.24]

MarkH I've been thinking on this for awhile,I'm starting to think we may be talking about the same stuff with different verbage and that my be confusing.I guess all im trying to say is make your teaching process as simple as possible.Video is great but the process is what gets results try to make your body movements as natural as possible then hitting can be easier than you think.

 

[Mark H]

I agree with all that. Absolutely.

 

[Hit Dr.24]

My take of what you are saying is that the RVP stuff is probably the best tool to help teach and I truly believe it show the movements best.However where I tend to disagree with you is the process to get to those spots. But then again maybe its the way you express it.

 

[Mark H]

I think the RVP software is good and a good idea. The catalogue of MLB clips at 60fps is valuable. The catalogue of female swings I saw awhile back not so much. I think the video comparison software is very useful for pointing out where and when the inefficiencies are. How to/the process for working on a particular inefficiency depends on the problem, the kid etc. Swing exposition is better than most. Drills not so much IMO. Back in the day, I recommended Epstein. Now the process I like is Englishbey's approach. Doran and Yeager are on my to read/watch list. I think Jim Dixon had some very seminal observations and was before his time. Nyman's hitting for numbies internet download is very good.

As far as process and expressing it, yeah, words are weak tools for describing ballistic movements as well as motor learning protocols and theories and or drills. Till we understand each other's definitions or until we are standing in front of each other demonstrating what we mean, to the extent my old body and skills allow, words will continue to fail us from time to time. You ever get down toward Houston, I know where there are some fields. I'll bring the tee, balls and bats.

 

[Hit Dr.24]

I've asked alot of the college coaches in the Houston area as well as nationally and they have never heard of Englishbey.Howard Dobson is from the area and he has never seen or heard of any kids he's worked,he was the hitting coach at Houston and Oklahoma and those teams hit.Who has Englishbey worked with?

 

[ifubuildit]

Oh Really?

That is not what I am saying... but you have to have practical knowledge along with video knowledge to be able to teach it effectively. If you do not have the practical knowledge, you need to talk with or gain knowledge from the top athletes before you refute it.

Doc,

I have been swinging a bat since I was six. Now 52 and still swinging a bat. You do the math. Have pretty much seen it all and I didnt get any of it from a top athlete. Just because you have played the game and have been exposed to it at a high level doesnt mean your good at teaching it at a high level.

I have learned from 40 plus years of experience that wasnt at a high level and that doesnt mean I cant teach a swing that is high level. There are a lot of people like me teaching and their students excel at EVERY level both male and female. Not just in MLB. There are guys in the MLB who are lucky to stay a few points above the Mendoza (Not sure on the spelling of that one) line every year. Yet they play at a high level and never get it. No matter who their instructor is at that high level. But when they are done the resume says "Played MLB" on it.

There there are those who say what they do but when you watch them on video, as Mark suggest, they are not even close to what they thought they did when they took a cut and described it. It was their version of what they thought they did with a bat. And from their perspective it was the truth. When viewed in slow motion it wasnt reality. Have seen this with a number of MLB hitters.

Williams said it wasnt his hands that made him a great hitter as many said about him, it was his hips. At least he got one right. It is about the hips and the core. Not the legs and the arms.

Elliott.