Hitting and Hitters Discussion Need help with Hitting problem

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Len what do you do for getting kids not to be afraid of the ball?

 

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Suggestions for curing the "fear factor" ???

 

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I think Len was just pointing out that there's more to it than just drill work. If a kid is straightening up when a high pitch comes in. Just like Len stated the girl is more than likely afraid of getting hit in the head. Before you go crazy with drilling this kid to death sit her down and talk to her. No she might not come right out and say she is afraid, but if you ask the right questions you might get the answer you're looking for.

Just curious how is her fielding? Does she pull her head when fielding hard grounders? Does she avoid catching fly balls with the glove in proper form? Just somethings to watch for.

Mike

 

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Len what do you do for getting kids not to be afraid of the ball?

Suggestions for curing the "fear factor" ???

A ton of confidence building through talking, a plethera of positiveness, and a multitude of live pitching, starting with Incredi-balls. Start off slow and work faster as progress is made. Always reinforce a job well done.

What do you guys do to help a child overcome their fear?

Len

 

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with some of our girls... time has been the key and is most our worst enemies... Others, drills as aforementioned by these fine OFC'rs... It is a case by case situation and getting down a knee with the girl and chatting as Lenski said has helped. Showing them "why" as opposed to just saying "put the bat on the ball" or "stay in the box" from third base and during the game can be a hard lesson (for the coach) learned, that is if the coach is honest with the situation. Take the time to figure out the player and address "her" specifically has worked.

 

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Nice post Lester. I agree it should be a case by case situation.

Mike

 

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There is a drill termed fear of the ball we use...explain at some point they will get hit with the ball and being able to be hit properly is what is important. We start off with showing them with a ball in our hand that if they and scoot back away from an incoming pitch and it is breaking in they could be hit in the ankle, knee, elbow, hand, fingers all of which could result in a possible broken bone.

Then we have them turn their back pivoting rearward and pointing the head of the bat towards the ground. This action causes the elbows to be tucked in, the hands to be totally protected, the knee caps to be protected , the ankle area protected. We explain the butt area is fleshy as is the back of the leg and their back and they can can play with a bruise but not with a broken bone. They see the logic and finally the thought is we don't want the ball to hit the bat for a strike. Again we stress trying to scoot, bend down or drop out of the way can cause more problems than simply learning how to be hit properly and minimize the chances of being hurt or injured.

We have the hitter set up in the box and then we overhand throw tennis balls to them and hit them in the foot, back of leg, butt, lower back, shoulder and helmet to point out nothing was broken only bruised. These kids are not stupid and will understand the difference. Most parents in fact do not even understand the difference until they hear it explained and the actual drill being done and the logic for learning how to be hit safely.

At a NFCA clinic Dr. Dot Richardson brought up the fact that who ever came up with the alligator method of catching the ball ( hand over glove) shourld come spend time with her in surgery repairing the broken index finger and social finger. Then she talked about being hit by the ball properly to avoid broken bones.

 

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Is it just me or could it be that she's TEN. If she's good off the tee and is listening to her coaches chances are this will iron itself out.

 

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Chico..Age is no excuse! Just kidding. The age has alot to do with it. I do think you have to address the issue though. At her age trying to break the fear is the difference of a kid playing or giving up. I don't think you need to go hardcore with the talk of broken bones and stuff like that. She is a little girl not a a 15 yr old girl who has been playing most her life.

Mike

 

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Chico..Age is no excuse! Just kidding. The age has alot to do with it. I do think you have to address the issue though. At her age trying to break the fear is the difference of a kid playing or giving up. I don't think you need to go hardcore with the talk of broken bones and stuff like that. She is a little girl not a a 15 yr old girl who has been playing most her life.

Mike

Mike I do not consider it hard core just realistic...one of my kids is 5' 11" and is 12 years old and Mom is taller than me and I am 6' 2.5 " and will be 13 June 26. What do you tell a kid facing her if she doesn't get it across the plate and by mistake actually throws one at you? If you have not prepared them how to move out of the way they are going to get hurt. So far none of the parents have complained on how we prepared them for this to happen.

Remember this is a game played by the kids and it is orchestrated and run by adults and adults do not like to loose to kids or other adults....you must admit you have seen this...so we must prepare the kids for adults who have and will take advantage of a kid who seems to be afraid of being hit. Just like the girl who can not field a bunt at first...do you coaches bunt to her or the girl at third who can field it. No you bunt to the weakest player and try to exploit her, for that is how the game is played by adults so you better teach them there are people who will pitch her ....lets say high and tight at any age not just 15 years old in my opinion. I have seen my share of broken fingers, bruises that could have been avoided IF we would have told them what was going to happen before it did....just my opinion.

 

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Thanks everyone there is alot of good ideas. Sometimes you cant seem to find the words that explain or click with that particular kid.
In this case the 10u is not afraid of the ball. On the high ones she says she thinks she needs to get higher to reach the ball. Totally not true but she cant seem to not go taller or perpendicular and turn which yanks her shoulder out and she cant extend through swiping at it. She is comfortable in areas where her hands are level or down with the ball and she stays in great, good touch, hip rotation contact and extension. When above hands it falls apart and she stands up.

 

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Thanks everyone there is alot of good ideas. Sometimes you cant seem to find the words that explain or click with that particular kid.
In this case the 10u is not afraid of the ball. On the high ones she says she thinks she needs to get higher to reach the ball. Totally not true but she cant seem to not go taller or perpendicular and turn which yanks her shoulder out and she cant extend through swiping at it. She is comfortable in areas where her hands are level or down with the ball and she stays in great, good touch, hip rotation contact and extension. When above hands it falls apart and she stands up.

Think elbow making a good first move a good first move of 2 to 4 inches and then knob of the bat inside the path of the ball and release the bat head to the ball.

The lead arm elbow is above the hands and the hands are above the bat head and the barrel is below the hands.....take two Advil and call me in the morning!

 

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She is 10, it's the best time to keep with the tee work and working toward's linear-rotational style of hitting. However, sometimes too much info can be just too much, you may be looking for an end result that hasn't clicked yet. Dont rush it, it will happen or it wont. It could be everything is perfect in the box just as it is with the tee, but timing just hasn't caught up to the mechanics. Dont RUSH it, it's early right now, give it time and dont over instruct!

 

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"Mike I do not consider it hard core just realistic...one of my kids is 5' 11" and is 12 years old and Mom is taller than me and I am 6' 2.5 " and will be 13 June 26. What do you tell a kid facing her if she doesn't get it across the plate and by mistake actually throws one at you? If you have not prepared them how to move out of the way they are going to get hurt. So far none of the parents have complained on how we prepared them for this to happen."

Howard, nowhere in my post did I say not to prepare them. We just have different methods, that's all. I'm yet to have a kid break a bone because of my way of teaching. I do beleive keeping instruction age approriate is key.

Mike

 

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okay...you can do this with a tee or live hitting (preferably pitching machines). get a piece of wood (i dont know what their call haha, a 4 x 4? - something that brings her off the ground a good couple inches and is a bit longer than her stride). you might want to try this first with the tee. have her swing. if she truly stands straight up, she most likely loses her balance and that could be why she's pulling her shoulder and swiping. If she does lose her balance, she's going to fall off the piece of wood. have her do this repeatedly, every practice, even continue when she doesn't fall-practice makes permentent. worked for me, but i attacked the ball a bit too much and was losing my balance.

another thing. you know those, i dont know...tees? they're like 400 dollars, it's like a tee, but it revolves so you hit it, it goes around and around and wraps a rubber chord around the base until it unravels and revolves back toward you so you continuously hit it. do this with EVERYONE. this was the ONLY thing that continuously helped me. if the stick/ball wobbles and bounces when you hit it, you're not hitting it solidly, and this could detect and help a lot of problems with a lot of girls.

the one thing i think i take with me to the plate every time i go to bat, whether on a tee, in a cage, or in a game, is something the best coach i've ever had told me.
"stay on the plane of the ball"
if the ball is low and you go for it, go in for it low(er), hit it low, and stay low through the swing.
if the ball is high and you swing, don't reach (it's obviously a ball then) but go with the pitch, hit it high, stay high through your swing, and finish with your bat high.
"stay on the plane of the ball"


i hope that works.
and remember
"stay on the plane of the ball"

 

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Thanks everyone there is alot of good ideas. Sometimes you cant seem to find the words that explain or click with that particular kid.
In this case the 10u is not afraid of the ball. On the high ones she says she thinks she needs to get higher to reach the ball. Totally not true but she cant seem to not go taller or perpendicular and turn which yanks her shoulder out and she cant extend through swiping at it. She is comfortable in areas where her hands are level or down with the ball and she stays in great, good touch, hip rotation contact and extension. When above hands it falls apart and she stands up.

Okay, I'm confused. Why is she swinging if the ball is above her hands. Wouldn't that mean that the pitched ball is at least chin high? Tell her not to swing at pitches up in her eyes and that should solve the problem.

Len

 

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I am having trouble getting through to a girl with a hitting problem and looking for any drills that may help.

She gets into a nice stance but when she steps she constantly stands straight up, pulls her shoulder resulting in a swipe at the ball. I have tried everything and am frustrated because we can drill and work a tee and when she hits live balls it is like we didnt do a thing.

I would recommend an "age appropriate" chat with her. Watch her body language during this chat. This will give you clues as to how to talk with her. TMI, and you'll get lots of eye rolls. With boys, you can beat the dead horse to get a point across, but with girls, you'll lose your audience. Tell her once, then let it go. You mentioned that she told you she "stands up straight" to reach high pitches. Explain the strike zone to her, pointing out pitches she should let go by, then briefly explain how the lead elbow guides the hand path to pitches she should be swinging at. Follow up by helping her practice proper swing mechanics.

The most frustrating thing is when she gets it right she has good legs, crazy whip and for a young 10 year old can smash it. But the problem is resulting into fouls, bloops and just plain poor contact so she is an average producer when she could be tearing it up.

When she "gets it right", it's probably only when the pitch is exactly where she can hit it well with her current swing mechanics. As she gets older and faces tougher pitching, this will only get more frustrating. There are many, many high school age players that are in this situation - great hitters at 12, then hitting well below the Mendoza Line in high school. It's NOT rocket science, but just diligent work on some proper swing mechanics. There is no magic overnight cure.

Never had one quite so hard to work out a kink like this one.

Again, age appropriate talk. Her body language will tell you how hard she really wants to work at this age. We're talking about a 10 year old here? Honestly, I wouldn't sweat it if she doesn't take it too seriously just yet. If I was her coach, I'd probably buy her an ice cream cone, and send her to the pool to play with her friends - but that's just me...