That's like saying give me a list of medicines that are most beneficial to most people so I can give all of them to my whole team at every practice. Drills are like medicine. They should be prescribed for a specific hitter for a specific problem and then changed if they don't work. Maintenance drills that a successful hitter has been doing forever should be continued. I have seen too many successful hitters screwed up by imposition of "beneficial" drills new to the hitter. If a hitter is successful against the best hitters they are likely to see, keep them on the same routine that got them there in the first place. And give them plenty of live arm bp.
when is it too late?
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That's like saying give me a list of medicines that are most beneficial to most people so I can give all of them to my whole team at every practice. Drills are like medicine. They should be prescribed for a specific hitter for a specific problem and then changed if they don't work. Maintenance drills that a successful hitter has been doing forever should be continued. I have seen too many successful hitters screwed up by imposition of "beneficial" drills new to the hitter. If a hitter is successful against the best hitters they are likely to see, keep them on the same routine that got them there in the first place. And give them plenty of live arm bp.
Sorry . It is the new Mike and he makes those comments in his part of the presentation.
Don has changed him.
Here are the two questions that was asked. I agree 100% with Mark H. Posting a bunch of drills will not help. Each drill is medicine for something. Unless they have something wrong. Example the top Hand drill and one leg drill for Extension that cshilt posted, why would you use it.
l Grip...off set grip bottom hand bat is laid were the fingers join at the palm of the hand. Top hand is set about 1/ 2 inch into the palm of the hand. Index and thumb are off the bat...have them hold a piece of paper between the thumb an d index fingers to make the point. Try driving a nail holding a hammer too tightly and you will bend the nail. So we line up the bottom fist knuckles to the top hand door knuckles so the top hand can rotate during the swing.
Stride...We say slow to load and soft to step on a flexed front knee and have them step to a 5 gallon bucket filled about half way with concrete. Also have used a concrete block .. We step towards the bucket so the edge of our foot and baby toe are slightly off the ground and on the bucket. We are looking for the knee to be flexed and for our weight to have went from a 30 70 or 40 60 weight shift at load and back to a 50 50 weight transfer. Because we are flexed on the front knee our hip structure will move somewhat linear and the weight moves more inside the back leg. We do not want our hitters stepping open or the front foot pointing towards the pitcher. The foot is not a result of the opening as it can only be moved or articulated so far...it is the leg moving inside the hip socket and we use the knee as an indicator of how far we are opening the front side. As a right handed hitter we feel the knee opening anymore than where the second basemen is playing normally would be too far and causes more issues as pulling off the ball. The bucket helps us make that point so the hitter sees it, feels it and fixes it.
As we stride to toe touch we want them to think toe to toe and keep the foot close to the ground and land on the edge of the foot, not flat footed so there is instability in the hip and it will move linear. Landing flat footed usually will cause the front side to open and rotation to start too soon. We want them to load on the pitchers up swing of the ball hand and be at toe touch when the pitcher is in the K position and we term this as dancing with the pitcher.
We want them to separate their hands rearward slightly keeping the hands at least shoulder level high however we are not teaching hands above the head or the back elbow being higher than the shoulder and we want that separation to happen as we stride and the toe touch is felt. How far we stride is up to the hitters feel as to weight transfer being 50 50 at toe touch. Not enough forward movement less power, too much and you could wind up being over your front leg as the head and chest are not back and somewhat centered and everything is over your front leg.
This is what I and many other hitting instructors were taught by a very good hitting instructor that we have learned from.
Don has changed him.
Here are the two questions that was asked. I agree 100% with Mark H. Posting a bunch of drills will not help. Each drill is medicine for something. Unless they have something wrong. Example the top Hand drill and one leg drill for Extension that cshilt posted, why would you use it.
l Grip...off set grip bottom hand bat is laid were the fingers join at the palm of the hand. Top hand is set about 1/ 2 inch into the palm of the hand. Index and thumb are off the bat...have them hold a piece of paper between the thumb an d index fingers to make the point. Try driving a nail holding a hammer too tightly and you will bend the nail. So we line up the bottom fist knuckles to the top hand door knuckles so the top hand can rotate during the swing.
Stride...We say slow to load and soft to step on a flexed front knee and have them step to a 5 gallon bucket filled about half way with concrete. Also have used a concrete block .. We step towards the bucket so the edge of our foot and baby toe are slightly off the ground and on the bucket. We are looking for the knee to be flexed and for our weight to have went from a 30 70 or 40 60 weight shift at load and back to a 50 50 weight transfer. Because we are flexed on the front knee our hip structure will move somewhat linear and the weight moves more inside the back leg. We do not want our hitters stepping open or the front foot pointing towards the pitcher. The foot is not a result of the opening as it can only be moved or articulated so far...it is the leg moving inside the hip socket and we use the knee as an indicator of how far we are opening the front side. As a right handed hitter we feel the knee opening anymore than where the second basemen is playing normally would be too far and causes more issues as pulling off the ball. The bucket helps us make that point so the hitter sees it, feels it and fixes it.
As we stride to toe touch we want them to think toe to toe and keep the foot close to the ground and land on the edge of the foot, not flat footed so there is instability in the hip and it will move linear. Landing flat footed usually will cause the front side to open and rotation to start too soon. We want them to load on the pitchers up swing of the ball hand and be at toe touch when the pitcher is in the K position and we term this as dancing with the pitcher.
We want them to separate their hands rearward slightly keeping the hands at least shoulder level high however we are not teaching hands above the head or the back elbow being higher than the shoulder and we want that separation to happen as we stride and the toe touch is felt. How far we stride is up to the hitters feel as to weight transfer being 50 50 at toe touch. Not enough forward movement less power, too much and you could wind up being over your front leg as the head and chest are not back and somewhat centered and everything is over your front leg.
This is what I and many other hitting instructors were taught by a very good hitting instructor that we have learned from.
I respectfully disagree. If there are certain drills that coaches on this forum implement into their daily practice routine that are used as a foundation to teach young kids a baseline hitting technique, I do not see that as being nonproductive. I do agree that as the kids age, the proper drill would depend on the player's current swing.
Sadly, at least in our community, the high school program is coached by someone who gets a small paycheck and the title of head softball coach. There are no extra camps, there are no teams put together for close off-season tournaments; there is no extra effort put into the program. There are practice days in our h.s. program where the kids dont touch a bat and the batting average for the team reflects the coach's lack of motivation.
With that said, those of us who do try to put together travel teams or teach programs at the Y to introduce mechanics to these young softball players would benefit by such a listing of drills. If a succesful, knowledgable coach has a routine and specific drills that work, I think that others on this forum would like to hear that information and compare it to what they are doing. If one coach could add a solid, new drill into his or her practice regiment, I think that is positive.
If you are talking about blank slate 9 year olds or kids that completely stink, ok fine. Just don't force new drills on good hitters. How 'bout that? Having said that, any drill can be perverted without an understanding of the end goal and the intent of the drill. With an understanding of the end goal, coming up with drills is easy. So...I tend to feel uncomfortable with coaches asking for a list of drills the way I would be uncomfortable with a teenager leaving for a month long backpacking trip with his buddies asking for a bag full of good medicines in case anyone gets to feeling bad.
I thought this forum was for all skill levels; I didnt think that members had to be experts in softball to participate and I didnt think that only advanced mechanics are appropriate topics.
If a good hitter is hitting, why would any different drills be necessary? I would hope any coach would leave the hitter alone.
If a hitter is struggling, I would think it would be appropriate to introduce a solid baseline routine to try to reinforce the good mechanics that are working. At that time, it may be appropriate to see if there is a specific drill to help "fix" or at least attempt to somewhat correct an obvious deficiency (like rolling wrists, etc...)
If you arent comfortable posting drills, then don't. If others have a routine or specific drills that they use as a baseline to teach hitting that they would like to share, I would appreciate the input.
I am the first one on this message forum to say that I am learning as I go but at least I am trying learn the correct way to teach good basic mechanics. If my request is beyond the scope of this message board, then I will turn somewhere else.
I didnt find the How 'bout that? remark very appropriate from someone who markets himself as a softball expert.
It is for all levels. It's not my intent to say otherwise but I always post with the affect on the kids in mind.
Exactly my point. I agree with you.
I would hope too but we would both be very very disappointed. One, team coaches feel like they have to have everyone busy at a drill station during the hitting portion of practice so everyone does every drill. They read this stuff in practice organization books. Two, coaches tend to have an idea of how a swing should look. I watched a catcher transfer in for her sophomore year in small college. Looked to me like she was going to be conference mvp or whatever the award was. After one particularly great hitting game about a third of the way into the season, I saw the head coach over with her on a tee explaining what she needed to do better and giving her drills to get there. The rest of her college career she was never close to as good as she was before that conversation. Unfortunately, this is a common story at all levels. I too have opinions about what a swing should look like. But I'm not messing with the top hitters on the team until I get the lesser hitters to pass them up. For those kids who are hitting but do it differently than I like, my job is to figure out what they look like when they are on so I can help them do that when they struggle. As someone said, if my leading hitter is standing on her head in the batter's box, my job is to get her a pillow. Now that's hyperbole sure. If a kid is hitting well at the highest level they aspire to, leave them alone. If they are hitting rec pitching with a 7 frame bat drag swing and they want to play in college, that's a different story.
Yep.
I'd rather you focus on learning efficient swing mechanics. Know that, and the drills are easy, you will be able to recognize good drills from bad better and any drill someone gives you you will better be able to implement.
NO, no, no. I really want you to learn the about good mechanics and I apologize for offending you. I just want to encourage a different focus and approach. Study the swing first then add the drills later.
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Words do a poor job of conveying tone. I did not mean to offend with that remark. Probably should have added a happy face.
kgertie. Give me your e mail address via PM and I will send them. Way to many pages to post on here. Plus each drill has what we are trying to accomplish.
SB -
I am still curious why Bustos and her coach recommend getting the front foot to touch so early when this is not what you see in her swing or in the swing of any hitter that strides.
Getting the foot out there early may encourage stalling/pausing/restarting/etc.
I am still curious why Bustos and her coach recommend getting the front foot to touch so early when this is not what you see in her swing or in the swing of any hitter that strides.
Getting the foot out there early may encourage stalling/pausing/restarting/etc.
redhotcoach
Out on good behavior
- May 8, 2009
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Tucci, just what we did...that helped: I have a few videos, including the one you just bought. I worked with both my daughters on drills from the videos, but always, like you said, was worried I was teaching something wrong. I got recommendations from the best two high school coaches in the area for a hitting instructor, and signed my older daughter up for lessons. We both learned more in the first lesson, then from all of the videos, and the last year of surfing the net.
