14yo struggling with SO

[Pwrhitter]

What's up with that funky flying back elbow? That is ridiculously high and serves no purpose. It's got to be causing problems with her top hand grip. You can't get the elbow that high without relaxing and letting go a little with the hand. I would try eliminating that to simplify her action.

HATE that dang elbow in the sky. Been trying to get her to correct it since 8u and that is the one thing she pushes her heels in on. She absolutely refuses to fix it. Batting coach gave up on it and said there are plenty of good hitters that do it, but if shes going to it cant be quite so high and she has to get around to the ball fast enough with it like that. Which of course, she doesn't. I wish he hadnt said that there are good hitters that do it, even though she had already decided that for herself from watching college ball. But that from him reinforced the behavior even more. Still working on her on this one. I dont give up easy either. LOL. Ugh.

PS, the knucklehead that taught her to do that in the first place in 8u, because that's how they used to do it? .... Me.... Doh.

 

[Pwrhitter]

Why does she do the fake bunt pull back when she gets to 2 strikes? I know some coaches teach that as a timing mechanism but it should be helping not hindering and I think here it’s just making things worse.


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Yep. Agree. This is a call from head coach that's coaching from the 3rd base line. It's not particularly successful for her, but what coach calls during the game is what goes.

 

[Pwrhitter]

We've been there.
1) admit there is a problem. The problem is not that you can't hit. You can hit. We've all seen it. That's the real you. The problem is that your brain is not letting you hit right now. And that's normal. It's being human and it happens to everyone. Its caveman brain stuff. You have to face what is going on and she has to admit it. OK, now we can work on the issue. Beyond admitting the problem, try to keep everything patient, supportive, positive.
2) I'll say this for the third time, I'd stop seeing the hitting coach for a while. Is it helping? He says her swing is great. OK, thanks, your work is done. That's not what she needs help with. Can he help with the other thing? More front toss is not the issue.
3) you don't need to be perfect. Stop measuring in batting average or comparing with others. Break "success" down. It's going up with a good approach. It's showing confident body language. It's dad "knowing" and "seeing" you were ready no matter the results. It's competing, having a tough at bat. It's seeing pitches. It's moving the Runner. It's having "good" fouls. Then hitting it hard, safe or out. Build from little wins or accomplishments. Throw out results. It's showing glimpses of the "real" you bit by bit. Just like you would retool your swing, retool your approach and confidence. Tell her late is okay as long as she knows what she is doing. Give her small goals so she can build on having some sense of control
4) just like you learn to feel your swing and how to adjust, learn to feel your confidence and how to adjust. It's going to go up and down. Realize this is normal and know you can make tweaks. It's not the end of the world. You can come back next time. You don't have to be perfect. Just keep coming back.

It's a long road. The whole thing is. You have to look at it that way. She's the greatest girl in the world isn't she? Just be there for her. Get ice cream no matter what. Talk about other things in the car unless she insists. She's 14!

I know how hard it is. I also know she can do it. Ask me how I know. (Don't, I don't want to jinx it.) You will be OK

When you can, try to forget about softball and just be her dad.

There is lots of wisdom in these words, thank you. I will need these reminders often I'm sure so will have to refer back now and then. You have some great ideas here on framing these convos. I will strive to aim the majority of my efforts towards building her up. I appreciate you sharing your experience with me.

You may get a chuckle out of this - her batting coach fired HER a little over a month ago from 1x/wk. Only wants to see her 1x/mo. for maintenance. Consider that box checked for us, whether we like it or not. LOL

 

[Pwrhitter]

Wow, there is a lot to fix here and I can't believe a seasoned hitting coach or 3 seasoned hitting coaches have not addressed these problems.

In short, Scott Sarginson may he RIP, often discussed a "fix" for players such as yours. The goal was to take all of the "crap" out of the swing and get it down to basics. He called it a "Fall Back Swing." My DD used it all of the time. The basics of a Fall Back Swing:

• It starts with the bat on the shoulders and at 45 degrees. The hitter will lift the bat off of the shoulders as the load begins. The hitter "tips and rips" meaning the hitter has a very subtle tip of bat toward the pitcher. Again subtle.
• The player can stride or use a no stride. My DD used a no stride and did what is called a "knee chase." IOWs, she took her front knee and turned in inward toward the back knee and then slammed the front heel down.
• The hitter has to master the "go position" which is where the hitter commits totally to the swing. That means that the hitter has to be able to unload the hips, get good stretch between the upper and lower halves and then swing.

I apologize that I can not put a video of what I mean here. I have tried and for whatever reason, I am being prevented from it uploading here. I have posted the video several times here. Anyway, think the above through and see if it makes sense. If not, good luck. Again, if this were one of my hitting students, I'd go all the way back to basics, work on the hands and the relationship of upper and lower body.

Makes sense. When in doubt use the KISS method, right? She wont go for that much change to her everyday swing, but maybe if I phrase it to her as a "fall back" as you suggested, for when shes really struggling, she'll try it out. Its worth a go. Appreciate you trying to load the video, I will look at your profile and see if I can find a previous posting of it.

 

[Pwrhitter]

Do you ever have her bunt in the cages? For a while we would do rounds of bunt left, bunt right, hit. Repeat. It really helped my daughter with getting the bat on the ball more consistently. Now we do a lot of hit the left wall with the ball, hit the right wall with the ball, hit it straight. I am a totally uneducated parent- but letting her know she could actually learn to control at that level made a big difference. We put the machine at 60 and try to hit the left wall - then turn it down to 37 and try to hit the right wall. Just messing around about adjusting a lot timing wise. New challenges seem to take off some of the pressure.

Thank you. We will try utilizing more bunting in practice and see if that helps her time the ball.

 

[Cannonball]

Makes sense. When in doubt use the KISS method, right? She wont go for that much change to her everyday swing, but maybe if I phrase it to her as a "fall back" as you suggested, for when shes really struggling, she'll try it out. Its worth a go. Appreciate you trying to load the video, I will look at your profile and see if I can find a previous posting of it.

My daughter used the Fall Back Swing in games where the pitchers threw serious heat. The link I can't seem to link up here is of her hitting a home run off of an All-American Pitcher.

 

[Pwrhitter]

Tee work from yesterday. Working solely on not dropping the hands. This is more true to her swing when she isn’t rushing through.

 

[Pwrhitter]

My daughter used the Fall Back Swing in games where the pitchers threw serious heat. The link I can't seem to link up here is of her hitting a home run off of an All-American Pitcher.

Would love to see it, will it allow you to private message me with it?

 

[chappellestherobot?]

There is lots of wisdom in these words, thank you. I will need these reminders often I'm sure so will have to refer back now and then. You have some great ideas here on framing these convos. I will strive to aim the majority of my efforts towards building her up. I appreciate you sharing your experience with me.

You may get a chuckle out of this - her batting coach fired HER a little over a month ago from 1x/wk. Only wants to see her 1x/mo. for maintenance. Consider that box checked for us, whether we like it or not. LOL

Lol we are on our second kid going through this so we've learned a lot of perspective the hard way. It's a long road. Wish I had more wisdom with our oldest lol. But he made it in spite of me. And our middle is figuring it out at 15 knock wood, knock knock knock. I am in awe of her mental skills.

Your daughter is going to make it.

 

[Work=wins]

Tee work from yesterday. Working solely on not dropping the hands. This is more true to her swing when she isn’t rushing through.

Be aware that when the pelvis line rises you are getting farther away from the ground.. you’re getting farther away from timing the ball at the speed perceived. A form of drifting. The back leg should maintain angles for the most part unless adjusting to an off speed pitch.