Throwing sidearm... and then?

[whatsup]

I continue my efforts to screw up the swings of as many girls as possible before figuring out how to teach this...

Had some girls, who are not particularly adept at transferring their weight during swings, take a stance similar to how you guard someone in basketball and prepare to receive a tossed ball with the instruction that they were to catch the ball, take a step and make a hard sidearm throw. They did so, and while there were a few girls who would do an arms only cross-body throw, many of the girls naturally and very effectively transferred their weight during the throw.

Good connection, walked off their back heel, turned hips well... I was really very impressed.

The problem is I didn't find an effective way to get them to incorporate what they were doing naturally with the throw into their swing. Throwing, they'd do great. Hitting, not so much. Repeat...

Tried having them do some rapid-fire hits off the tee so they woudn't be thinking about the swing.... better, but no where near as good as when they were throwing.

So, you have a girl who transfers her weight well during a sidearm throw. Not so much when she's swinging the bat.

What do you have her do next?

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Me personally ..... I go from the sidearm throws, to one-arm top-hand swings, to split-grip swings, to walk-ups, to regular swings.

 

[lhowser]

been there...done that. Not necessarily the throw thing. But the frustration you are experiencing. here are some side questions that may be relevant to the discussion:

What are the ages of the girls?

How many are you working with at once? If it is more that 2 or 3 at a time and you are trying to teach this concept it will be a struggle. A player needs very much individualized work to personally take ownership of new concepts.

Are you showing them what it looks like and what they look like?

One thing you can do is have them backwards chain in slow-mo (some here call this Matrix like the movie) carefully observing a correct bat path and then slowly returning to contact.

It's all a process.

 

[RichK]

My two cents: I've evolved how I approach things to use the throw to teach sequence, not so much to teach weight shift. Sequence being: in the swing, as in the throw, the hands go up and back as the stride goes forward. I think it demonstrates that very well. If a girl has a good athletic throw, she probably also has a natural hip cock or coil in there, which you can get her to feel. You can use that to start to establish coil/uncoil, which is really how the weight should be shifted anyway.

To put a bit more emphasis on the weight shift (while keeping the sequence in place) I too like walk-up drills. The challenge there is to make the weight shift still be controlled by coil/uncoil even as you add some momentum. You don't want pure momentum in the walk-up drill.

I don't think there's a magic pill, it's a progression of things that build up.

I think the difference, at this point, between some different approaches is how much emphasis is then placed on adding a good stretch, ie, a stretch and fire in the upper leg/hip with the lower back/upper back stretching further and then the hands and barrel tightening it further then the click-click-click release backward through all those elements that should result in a good whip/powerful swing. But that's another story I think...

 

[whatsup]

I'm typically working with 2-3 girls at a time, who range in age from eight to thirteen, in ten minute stints as they rotate through stations. In a typical session, I'll see each group of girls twice.

For the younger kids this is often the first formal hitting instruction they've received so there's an element of mass production here... intent is to efficiently instill a decent starting point. We don't have the luxury of 45 minute one on ones.

 

[lhowser]

Others here will likely offer drills etc so I'll give you something else to think about: Player Feedback - do you ask them what they think they should look like based on the sidearm drill and ask them to show you in slow-mo. Watch and listen carefully. It will help you know whether you need to slow down or add additional drills and explainations.

 

[cshilt]

I don't think there's a magic pill, it's a progression of things that build up.

Teaching the sequence as a progression of steps is very useful, in my opinion. We use a progression of 7 steps to teach the swing pattern. Of course there are fine points to each step, but it provides stopping points where we can "press pause" on the Matrix drill and make corrections or place the hitter in the proper position.

 

[lhowser]

Teaching the sequence as a progression of steps is very useful, in my opinion. We use a progression of 7 steps to teach the swing pattern. Of course there are fine points to each step, but it provides stopping points where we can "press pause" on the Matrix drill and make corrections or place the hitter in the proper position.

I've seen this progression (Howard's right?). It's a really good starting place and system for players. It gives reference points to hitters and parents who are at a variety of skill levels and ages which is really important.

 

[cshilt]

Teaching the sequence as a progression of steps is very useful, in my opinion. We use a progression of 7 steps to teach the swing pattern. Of course there are fine points to each step, but it provides stopping points where we can "press pause" on the Matrix drill and make corrections or place the hitter in the proper position.

An example of is my avatar to the left. That would be the "contact" position (step 4) and we can check the positioning of the various body parts and get the hitter to feel it.

 

[cshilt]

I've seen this progression (Howard's right?). It's a really good starting place and system for players. It gives reference points to hitters and parents who are at a variety of skill levels and ages which is really important.

Yep! It is something you can always go back to even with advanced hitters, it is good to make corrections as needed.