That's ridiculous. Both are essential skills that should be practiced daily. On the other hand, anyone who would have this policy probably isn't capable of good instruction in either skill.
Is it unreasonable to assume that club coaches will develop hitting?
- Thread starter kibadbo
- Start date
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"It was such a smart play by Jenny, swinging and missing strike three. She avoided the double play." Hitting is a fundamental and essential skill and should be practiced daily. And it can't be properly done at home with just a tee and a net and no supervision.
- Jun 5, 2019
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This is a great thread. My kids hit with me at least 3-4 times a week depending on the time of the season. 90% is front toss and I would say we get a minimum of 100 swings in. This is when they get better at hitting not at team practice! I coach my sons team and during the season there is never more than an hour a week for us to hit due to having to teach game situations and fielding. Even if we do hit with 12 kids split between 3 coaches there just isn't enough reps and time to really fix anything and kids standing around turns into a shirt show real quick. I will tell the same kids the same things week after week. With my daughter, who I do not coach the team, she hits with me before practice because when she does hit at team practice she probably gets about 20 or so balls thrown at her and the rest of the time is spent doing silly tee drills. This keeps the kids occupied but does very little for developing a hitter. In my opinion in a perfect world the kids would get live BP at practice or at a minimum a coach throwing hard at them and the majority of fundamental stuff needs to happen on the side. My kids are taught to treat practice like a game. Team practice is an opportunity to see if what we do on the side is working it is a competition with them to be the best hitter on the team.
- Apr 11, 2016
- 133
- 28
DD has been on 5 travel teams since she was 7 (she is currently 14). Every team is different. It all depends on what the HC knows and what the parents are willing to pay for private batting lessons or not.
In her very last team, they spent about 20 mins per practice on hitting, but NO ONE knew how to coach it. Only 2 girls took private batting lessons. I had to teach them from what I learned at DD's batting lessons, but I could only do so much due to time constraint. I often wonder how the parents and coaches were all upset when they couldn't hit during tournaments. I was just shaking my head, esp. since none of the parents work with them on batting during the week.
On this new team, an entire 2 hours of practice is on batting in the cage. Live pitch from all the pitchers. Then on weekends, they spend half of the 3-hour practice working on tee or live pitch outdoors. DD's batting is getting even better. Her new HC knows how to teach batting, and I'd say, she's probably the best I've ever seen. Thankfully, DD's private slapping/hitting coach teaches similar technique. Now DD can focus more on situations, such as when she should soft-slap, hard-slap, drag-bunt, or hit away.
In her very last team, they spent about 20 mins per practice on hitting, but NO ONE knew how to coach it. Only 2 girls took private batting lessons. I had to teach them from what I learned at DD's batting lessons, but I could only do so much due to time constraint. I often wonder how the parents and coaches were all upset when they couldn't hit during tournaments. I was just shaking my head, esp. since none of the parents work with them on batting during the week.
On this new team, an entire 2 hours of practice is on batting in the cage. Live pitch from all the pitchers. Then on weekends, they spend half of the 3-hour practice working on tee or live pitch outdoors. DD's batting is getting even better. Her new HC knows how to teach batting, and I'd say, she's probably the best I've ever seen. Thankfully, DD's private slapping/hitting coach teaches similar technique. Now DD can focus more on situations, such as when she should soft-slap, hard-slap, drag-bunt, or hit away.
- May 23, 2018
- 93
- 18
That sounds like an organized practice! What I don’t get is there usually three or four coaches on a team so there’s absolutely no way you shouldn’t be able to work on hitting, catching and pitching simultaneously. I’m not a big believer in pitching machines. Yeah, you can crank it up to 60 miles an hour, and the girl feels great making contact at that speed. However, other than timing, I think the machine is relatively useless. It also gives a false sense of security – batters Feel good about hittingBecause there is no fear of getting hit in the pitch basically in the same spot each and every time. No speed variation, no location variation, and no fear of the ball (younger kids). The other thing that bothers me is I see a lot of coaches setting the machine up so that the pitch coming in is slightly above the waist. In TB You’re not going to see that unless the pitcher was horrible.
Which is a far better off having a live pitching, live hitting, and live catching.
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I always thought we should hit more than we do. I agree, hitting should be done as often as possible. As many hear have said, it is up to the player to do so outside of practice. We were a first year 12U team (2nd year now). Lots to work on. The fall was rough. The first baseman would bring out 2 balls between inning to warm up because she new they would not make it around the infield before one went over her head. But this org has sent almost 40 girls on to play in college in the last 3 years. THey know what they are doing. They've added a practice this year dedicated to hitting.
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