I worked today with a younger brother (he was about 10) of one of our girls. It was a refreshing change. I started to explain to him why we use tees, and that the Cubs and Sox have tees under the stands that hitters work sometimes even right before an at bat. I asked him what baseball team he liked, and he said the Red Sox and that Ted Williams was his favorite player (!) and then recited all the facts from the book Ted and Me. Well let me tell you, he had me at hello : )
In our first bit of time together, I immediately saw that he was laying the bat flat and wrapped across his shoulders and back and swinging from there. So we worked on getting control of the barrel into the hands and working a more vertical barrel and keeping his hands at his shoulders at launch. He did a nice job with it.
So tonight I went looking for Ted Williams gifs to share with him, I thought he'd really like that, and I guess my memory was short because I didn't recall the very low handset Williams worked from -- almost counter to what I just worked on with the kid! Yes, he pumps them before he swings but still, I'm a bit flummoxed.
Is Williams handset something that a beginner can handle? Should I show him some GIFs and not "correct" him if he tries to emulate it? What do you guys think? (and yes I realize he could do a heck of a lot worse than emulating Ted Williams lol)
In our first bit of time together, I immediately saw that he was laying the bat flat and wrapped across his shoulders and back and swinging from there. So we worked on getting control of the barrel into the hands and working a more vertical barrel and keeping his hands at his shoulders at launch. He did a nice job with it.
So tonight I went looking for Ted Williams gifs to share with him, I thought he'd really like that, and I guess my memory was short because I didn't recall the very low handset Williams worked from -- almost counter to what I just worked on with the kid! Yes, he pumps them before he swings but still, I'm a bit flummoxed.
Is Williams handset something that a beginner can handle? Should I show him some GIFs and not "correct" him if he tries to emulate it? What do you guys think? (and yes I realize he could do a heck of a lot worse than emulating Ted Williams lol)
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