Hitting and Hitters Discussion bat drag, muscle memory and better teaching methods

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I have never grasped the female mind. I am sure my wife can attest. With so much estrogen around me I had best learn to do a better job.

I am realizing that to help my daughter improve her skills I need help in learning to communicate with her and get her brain to understand so she can make changes.


One of the issues I want to help my daughter with is bat drag. So I have her do Howard's matrix most nights, 100 reps. She will do front arm and back arm swings, another 25-30 each arm. We work on hitting with a rear barrier (rear fence) and also hit off a high tee (tee on bucket). She has seen video of her bottom elbow getting ahead of her hands and I have physically pulled her elbow into this position so she can feel the difference between that and a stacked postition or pinched forearm to biceps position. Alas, go live and she reverts to what she always did.


Back to the drawing board. I began to think I am just impatient, not enough reps, not enough time for muscle memory and then I read there is no such thing as muscle memory. Yeah, google it! So the brain has to be enganged in the process to learn and repeat something new. This makes sense now. I have often thought she's not doing something the correct way after she's been taught because she just isn't making herself do it. Now there's some truth to that. I know it's not just my daughter. I have seen other kids do the same thing with a variety of skills and drills accross sports. I have heard a hitting instructor tell his students that they can't keep repeating something that wasn't correct and not make adjustments he's shown them. How do you coaches and parents tap into your player's mind? Better yet, how do you get your players minds to make the body do what they need it to do?


I really want to cherish this time I get with her and to see her grow from it. I don't want to become one of those dads that just ruins it for the kid out of my own frustration. Before that happens, I turn to you. What have you done that worked?

 

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man what a great question. I have struggled getting my own kid to make adjustments that last from the tee to the fields also. here is the bad news , it can worse as they age, then the response you get is " I know that " .

 

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man what a great question. I have struggled getting my own kid to make adjustments that last from the tee to the fields also. here is the bad news , it can worse as they age, then the response you get is " I know that " .

You summed it up well. Hoping one of the coaches who pride themselves on teaching or someone with some sports psychology insight might have something to offer.

 

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Your the father thats the reason...let someone else work with her that knows what and how to teach it you will be surprised!

 

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Girls are audio visual learners. When doing clinics we have observed some girls watch the presenter, some look at the screen where information is being explained and some actually stand up and try to understand it.

Girls want to see it, feel it and fix it. We try to explain things in measurable and observable terms and then test to see if they can feel it.

One example is balance. Bend at the waist first and soften the knees second in exactly that sequence. To test for it we gently push on the chest and back alternately and they should feel very stable and the weight is on the balls of the feet.
If they are rocking heel to toe then we need to adjust and start over.

Once they understand it they will feel it. Then we show them balance works only one way and have them soften the knees first and bend at the waist second. BE CAREFUL and as you test them gently push on their chest and they will rock back onto the heels.

When you teach using this method they adapt and learn very quickly in my opinion.

A good book to read is The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle. He describes Deep Practice as doing it slowly and that is anything you are trying to learn.

The rule of 10 or about ten years is what it takes to become elite at the activity and they cite several examples.

When you understand the process of what you are trying to teach it helps.

I use two very large mirrors so they can see it and feel it while they are doing the activity and it really helps.

My nets are marked and when we make an adjustment we should expect to see the results and if not what went wrong and try again and it translates to the field.

Another good book is Raising Daughters by Dr. Dobson especially chapters 4 and 16 if I remember it correctly as it has insights on the female that are useful in life in general in my opinion.

Bat drag/ bat lag can be felt using the Bungee Bat. We use it during the matrix drill and at parallel to contact we have them reverse the motion and go backwards and then forward and it seems to help.

Howard

 

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That's certainly more along the lines of what I was looking for. I could improve recognizing what gets her attention and focus, if she actually feels the difference between what she does and what she should do.

As for that book, do you mean "Bringing Up Girls"?

 

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Yes, my bad that is the book.

Howard