Stinging hands - help!

[SoftballMama]

My 9 year old daughter just moved from 8U (with the softie balls) to 10U with the 11" regular balls. She says her hands sting sometimes when she makes good contact and I am noticing she is not swinging through like she used to. Any advice on how I can help her through this? Is it her grip? What should I be looking for? TIA for any help/encouragement you can give!

 

[obbay]

Others will reply with better info, but IMO she's not making good contact when she gets the sting. I have tried having them do lots of bp (Tee work is BP)with baseball sized whiffle balls to get their aim and swing better. that has had limited success. The thing that worked best was to change from the lighter bats to a slightly heavier bat. The Easton Cyclone is a very good bat for young kids, not expensive either. has a fairly large hitting area so it's easier to make good contact. See if you can try out different bats first before you buy.

here's a chart to give you an idea of what length to buy:
Anderson Bat Company - How to Choose a Bat

I don't recommend moving up more than 1" at a time.

 

[SBFAMILY]

Read hitters post on proper grip. I would also say she is not hitting the sweet spot on the bat. A test that hitter showed me. Put White tape on the sweet spot of the bat. Mark a ball with a Black Magic Marker, I use the type my wife uses to mark Laundry. . It will leave a mark and you can see where the contact is on the bat. If you have a camera, and you can slow it down to contact, that will also show you where she is making contact.

 

[SnocatzDad]

In generalities, Sweet spot hits sting less than off center hits, Cold bats sting more than warm bats, so keep bats warm prior to using (i.e. don't keep in garage if it's -20F) Aluminum bats sting more than composites, worn out grips sting more than new grips. Also if your doing tons of reps, you don't always have to hit hard softballs. It's okay to hit softies or liteflites or whiffles off a tee when practicing.

Also IMO triples sting the hands less than singles, has to do with the blood flowing through your hands as you run the bases

 

[Mark H]

My 9 year old daughter just moved from 8U (with the softie balls) to 10U with the 11" regular balls. She says her hands sting sometimes when she makes good contact and I am noticing she is not swinging through like she used to. Any advice on how I can help her through this? Is it her grip? What should I be looking for? TIA for any help/encouragement you can give!

MPEG4 8 of 16, Fastpitch
Stop this clip at contact and note the relationship of the bat to the left forearm. This is the result of good whip/uncocking of the wrists. I'd expect your DD is pushing the bat and hands forward at contact rather than making contact toward the end of good whip.

 

[Hitter]

Read hitters post on proper grip. I would also say she is not hitting the sweet spot on the bat. A test that hitter showed me. Put White tape on the sweet spot of the bat. Mark a ball with a Black Magic Marker, I use the type my wife uses to mark Laundry. . It will leave a mark and you can see where the contact is on the bat. If you have a camera, and you can slow it down to contact, that will also show you where she is making contact.

I would start with the grip and how to use a hammer properly as that involves becoming aware that the wrist and elbow are a hinge and between the wrist and the elbow is a lever and so is the bat.

I would suggest using the one knee drill.... have her kneel onto a pillow with her back knee and stretch out with the lead foot to balance herself. Set the tee down low and let her hit a few balls to get the feeling of staying balanced as she does this. As SBFAMILY described using a layer of coaches tape along the entire area of the bat and then take a softball and make a one inch circle on a ball and color it in and let it dry a minute and then mark it again. I like to mark it between the the two seams and then place it on the tee so it is facing her. Prepare to hit by the top of the hands being at the top of the shoulders and allow a little space between the hands and shoulders. We usually take our hand and place it palm down and put it between the shoulder and hands as a reference visually. The lead elbow is down not shoulder level high and the back elbow is away not shoulder level high. Take the bat and tap the back of her helmet where if she was wearing a pony tail would be on the back side of her head. Now have her take her hands back wards a little and not to stop and begin her swing slowly, very slowly and very deliberately, allow the back elbow to lower as the lead elbow goes forward and the knob of the bat should be inside the path of the ball, leading the elbows. Then simply tap the ball off the tee into the net. Where is the mark on the ball? Keep repeating as she is trying to get her hand path correct so the sweet part of the bat hits the bat correctly or squarely each time. keep looking for where the black mark is on the tape. I circle the marks and number them to show progresses or lack there of. Some times pulling on a rope helps give that feeling of tilting and turning to hit the ball. When she is ready have her increase her effort to lead with the knob and release on time. The grip is an issue as we want to keep the bat out of the back of her top hand where the thumb makes a V and the index finger meet. We like keeping the bat in front of the pad of the index finger and across the hand. There are pictures in another thread where to hold the bat in our opinion and everyone else may not like it. Bat path is next as we do not want her hitting it off of the end of the bat or handle so the knob of the bat inside the balls path can be seen visually if she is going slow. If the knob of the bat is going towards the ball on the tee that is a huge reason why her hands sting.

As mark pointed out in the clip as she makes contact the lead elbow MUST be angled and not straight and flip the ball into the net and finish over her shoulder.

The reason she is on one knee is we take out the legs to isolate the problem of hand path. Striding and load and rotation all present different issues and corrections so we try to keep it simple especially for a 9 year old and mom.

Thanks Howard

 

[SoftballMama]

We are going to hit today and I will use these suggestions. Thank you! (I will even try to video our work and attempt to post it. Cross your fingers for me. )

One more thought - she doesn't complain when hitting off the tee and I assume that is because the ball is stationary and does not present as much force against the bat when she hits it.

I love snocats comment about the stinging not being as big of an issue when you hit a triple! How true is that!

Thanks everyone!!

 

[SoftballMama]

MPEG4 8 of 16, Fastpitch
Stop this clip at contact and note the relationship of the bat to the left forearm. This is the result of good whip/uncocking of the wrists. I'd expect your DD is pushing the bat and hands forward at contact rather than making contact toward the end of good whip.

Mark, I have not been able to view the video - my bum computer I am sure. It keeps telling me I don't have the plugin and I have tried several times to download it, but apparently it is not successful.

 

[Mark H]

As mark pointed out in the clip as she makes contact the lead elbow MUST be angled and not straight and flip the ball into the net and finish over her shoulder.
Thanks Howard

Actually what I'm trying to say is the bat and lead forearm should be approaching parallel at contact.

 

[softballphreak]

Mark, I have not been able to view the video - my bum computer I am sure. It keeps telling me I don't have the plugin and I have tried several times to download it, but apparently it is not successful.

My computer did the same thing. While messing with it I discovered by accident that if you click on the link the first window opens and then click on the same link again, opening a second window. Now, go back to the first window that opened and the video is there.

I would appreciate an explanation of why that happens if anyone knows. I use an older Mac laptop and the latest Firefox. Thanks.

And thanks to Mark for the links he uses for demo.