Why?

[wichita]

Even major league players hit off a tee almost everyday just to stay sharp and mechanically sound

 

[efastball]

Many kids this age do not stride on every pitch. Is she?

 

[PA SB Dad]

Kids need to learn not to use the private coach as a crutch.

Uh huh. Yes, there are many 11 year olds out there that retain good habits and mechanics after a few lessons with a coach. Good grief.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

One of the girls I worked with this past weekend had a parent that thought the kid was in a slump. Truth was the kid had poor mechanics. The kid plays b-level ball where her swing is effective. Her swing will not scale, so when she occasionally sees good pitching she is shut down. It isn't that she is in a slump, it is that her swing is largely deficient.

The thing about slumps is that I like to see the kid's swing ... frequently enough it is that the kid's mechanics are being exposed by better pitching.

 

[Mike-Coach Q]

Totally agree with tee work. Im wondering if that coach gave your daughter some positive strokes that lead to a confident hitter at the plate. She might be focusing on whats wrong and not on whats right. It is a game of failure and managing your disapointments is a big part of it. I have a player, that when she over thinks it, her bat speeds drops off just enough to make her late to the contact point. When she is relaxed and has a clear mind her bat speed goes up and she usually makes solid contact. Good luck.

 

[Ken Krause]

A high-performance swing is like a high-performance vehicle. You constantly have to keep tuning it if you want the best performance out of it.

 

[John T]

I/We (DD and I) have found that if we only have 10-15 minutes to work we will use the tee. She has a whole routine that she follows, given to her by her hitting coach, and all I do is watch and put balls on the tee. I used my cell phone to video the drills while the coach was working with her and we look at the videos of the drill from time to time while we are on the tee to see if her swing is the same. We still see the coach when things really break down but the video seems to extend the time where she is in the zone. She is a HS senior now and knows the value of tee work (We have been doing it since she was 10).

 

[BT3100]

What a difference a few weeks and a new Tee can make.
I picked up a Tanner Tee and just did what her hitting coach did (single hand swings - both hands off tee) Happy Gilmores, and tons of hitting and.... her swing is back and better than ever.
She has hit 4 HR's in Rec and 2 in TB in the last 3 weeks. We played on Saturday and she went 7-9 with one BB and one S/O. Coach has her hitting in the 4 hole and she is as confident as ever.
The thing I like most is that she is swinging on first pitch strikes now. Last month she seemed tentative and unwilling to do so.
Thanks for all of the help.

 

[obbay]

This thread is great- prerfectly addressing a problem DD is having - Started out the first half of the season hitting well (maybe above .600) then the 5 games since her batting has dropped off. Pitching she is facing is not difficuklt for her, but she's not hitting as well as she should be. She knows she's in a slump because the coaches have told her so and she is frustrated. The good/bad thing is she is not making excuses, she knows something is wriong, but doesn't know what. I told her we need to get back out and work the tee. playing games every day and practice every other day does not equal working on hitting!

In the off- season , she did a lot of tee work (Zepp made this more interesting)

 

[BT3100]

Tonight was a proud Dad moment.
DD just turned 12 last week and was asked to play up to our 16U Rec tonight.
Not travel but still bigger and stronger girls. She went 2 for 3 with a single and moon shot HR. She pitched 2 innings and gave up 2 runs and walked 1 with 3 K's.
Her hitting has improved so much over the past month. Tee work is so important IMO. I am a true believer.