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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?
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?