At the risk of sounding very elementary and throwing out a "no duh" piece of advice, something that we've worked on that has helped with keeping the sequence with our girls is to change the mental approach to the pitch. I saw it somewhere, and may have even been here. Every "pitch" on the tee is a strike. The sequence is easy to keep. The girl knows that she will swing every "pitch". And thus, focuses on what she needs to be doing. In games I found our girls were timing incorrectly or simply having breakdowns in fundamentals. We aggressively at practice and in games started stressing that EVERY pitch is a strike. EVERY pitch was coming right down the pipe. EVERY pitch was right where we wanted it to be. Until...we saw it was a ball. Having girls read the pitch to see if it is a strike before they decide to swing resulted in reaction swings. Some early, some late, some right on time. But reaction swings all the same. Great swings are fine on a tee, or on a machine, or on controlled front toss where there is a high expectation of a strike. But getting those swings....THEIR SWINGS, as I like to call it, were fewer between in games. Approach every pitch as if you know for SURE it is a strike coming, until you see it's a ball, and the swing will be better....in my experience, anyway. A good cue for when they get this is that every ball they don't swing at, you'll get that pit in your stomach that says "oh my...she almost swung at that pitch"....
11 Year old dd swings.
- Thread starter IS4AU
- Start date
Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch
Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.
At the risk of sounding very elementary and throwing out a "no duh" piece of advice, something that we've worked on that has helped with keeping the sequence with our girls is to change the mental approach to the pitch. I saw it somewhere, and may have even been here. Every "pitch" on the tee is a strike. The sequence is easy to keep. The girl knows that she will swing every "pitch". And thus, focuses on what she needs to be doing. In games I found our girls were timing incorrectly or simply having breakdowns in fundamentals. We aggressively at practice and in games started stressing that EVERY pitch is a strike. EVERY pitch was coming right down the pipe. EVERY pitch was right where we wanted it to be. Until...we saw it was a ball. Having girls read the pitch to see if it is a strike before they decide to swing resulted in reaction swings. Some early, some late, some right on time. But reaction swings all the same. Great swings are fine on a tee, or on a machine, or on controlled front toss where there is a high expectation of a strike. But getting those swings....THEIR SWINGS, as I like to call it, were fewer between in games. Approach every pitch as if you know for SURE it is a strike coming, until you see it's a ball, and the swing will be better....in my experience, anyway. A good cue for when they get this is that every ball they don't swing at, you'll get that pit in your stomach that says "oh my...she almost swung at that pitch"....
JJsqueeze
Dad, Husband....legend
The threads tend to take on a life of their own sometimes, you have to go with the flow a bit. If you noticed, you did get a bit more feedback after your second request and you should be able to take this info and start working with her to fix the swing a little. Once you've clean up the foot and the bat dropping, I suggest you then repost. In the meantime, read and absorb. It is tough to follow and a lot is off topic but buried in all of the noise is some vey good information. Its just a matter of sticking with it, trust me, a picture of what you are trying to achieve will start to emerge....
JJsqueeze
Dad, Husband....legend
see how easy it is to go off topic?
That's awesome about the no hitter. You should get some video of her pitching as well and get some feedback in the pitching forum. There are a few people around this board that can give you some world class feedback. I don't want to blow anyone's cover, but there are some people around here with SERIOUSLY impressive credentials.
Last edited:
yeah I dont think im gonna post her pitching on here because she doesnt pitch like most people teach on here cough cough, interal rotation. right now she throws fast ball that really drops off more like a peel drop and a flip change, shes only been pitching about 2 years and just turned 11.
I'm looking for a new angle to teach my DD turning the barrel, too. I'm still struggling to get her to connect the dots on that feeling. In talking with my DD this weekend, I asked her about what part of her body she thinks contributes the most to swinging the bat. Her reply was "arms". Ah ha - a new clue on how to approach things with her! The focus needs to be on her hands. It makes sense to me that thinking the arms swing the bat is a big contributor to the ELAE issue (among other things). I'm finding more and more that it's not just showing them a new way to move, but also correcting the thought process behind it.
Ya, turning the barrel, is sure easy to say, and sounds like a good cue, but I have yet to find it useful to any degree.
MOST, of all youth, boys or girls, will lay the barrel back.
sequence, and getting to the position in this video, is crucial.
it is a battle to 'keep the barrel up".
I have been using both "serving pizza", and 'tom o hok" , with "fillet" thrown in for cues , these are all "hand and wrist cues.
I skip any mention of 'slotting' or dropping the rear elbow.
ConnectionDrill - YouTube
The "turn the barrel" concept is one I agree with. The challenge is how to translate it to a young student in way they can absorb, process, and execute. Reprogramming arm-swings and the mis-directed teachings of rec ball coaching only adds to the difficulty.
that's why I call the drill above, "the take drill"
I deal with so many girls moving up in competition, to girls throwing smoke.
they have been taught to step towards the outside pitch, and open on the inside pitch, therefore ALWAYS LATE.
So I teach that they must get to the position in the video on every pitch.
The drill also serves so many more purposes, such as NOT laying the barrel back.
Last edited:
