If you had to teach a swing, to kids new to ball, where would you start?

They can hold the bat, have a pretty good stance. I'm on my third player, the first two are pretty good hitters. Now I've got a whole team of 10 year old girls....and we gotta start somewhere

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Now I've got a whole team of 10 year old girls....

Sounds like you are a gluten for punishment!

Start with the feet.

I'd start by running. Away. Quickly away.

Not an option? Then I'd shoot myself.

Good luck...from what some guys tell me, young girls are often easier to teach than boys of the same age.

On second thought...forget the gun. All the chanting/cheers from the dugout will probably drive you insane.

Then the Legs...

You guys are wrong..just plain ole wrong!!

Ok, you all don't have to help. But they are all going to hit like boys!!

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Originally posted by 1BDad:
You guys are wrong..just plain ole wrong!!

Ok, you all don't have to help. But they are all going to hit like boys!!

Yes, have them hit with one swing. There isn't a baseball and/or softball swing. There is a swing. At some point, I'll try to send you a pm on this. If I forget, then pm me until I respond. I'm real busy now but will try to find time. If I respond in too much depth, we won't like where it goes.

Ground up, make sure they maintain their pyramid (knees inside feet, hips inside knees). Stay grounded through the inside of their feet.

Agree 100%. Create a strong foundation to work from.

I start with throwing drills and bunting to learn zone.

Walk up drills and self toss then front toss.

When they are ready I start epstein bat on deltoid progression with stride.

I am going through this now with my 9U daughter in softball. I have started with the lower half. We work constantly on proper use of the lower half...from set up to stride to contact. After they have a base to work from, then we work on upper body/hands. One mother came to me and told me she "caught" her daughter working on her stride in the bathroom, using her toothbrush as a "bat". I smiled from ear to ear.

Luckily, my daughter has paid attention to all of the teaching to my 14U son and has a solid swing.

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One mother came to me and told me she "caught" her daughter working on her stride in the bathroom, using her toothbrush as a "bat". I smiled from ear to ear.

That's what it's all about, huh?

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Originally posted by redbird5:
I am going through this now with my 9U daughter in softball. I have started with the lower half. We work constantly on proper use of the lower half...from set up to stride to contact. After they have a base to work from, then we work on upper body/hands. One mother came to me and told me she "caught" her daughter working on her stride in the bathroom, using her toothbrush as a "bat". I smiled from ear to ear.

Luckily, my daughter has paid attention to all of the teaching to my 14U son and has a solid swing.

Redbird, that's neat. Enjoy it. Mine is 14 and I think she knows more about hitting than have of the coaches in our area. It is really neat working with her and having her tell me what she thinks she did wrong either in an at bat or given pitch. I'm very blessed that she loves doing it. Believe me I can remember when she was 9 and I sometimes wish she were now. Off to a great start and now is .400 with more doubles than singles. Of course, she took a comebacker to the face Wednesday night and is hurt a little now. She'll be ok and she got the out before she started crying. Redbird, keep her out of the circle if you can.

I remember my daughter playing at this age....LOL

The best and only advise I could give that she seemed in most dire need to hear was:

SWING THE BAT!!!

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Originally posted by CoachB25:

quote:

Originally posted by redbird5:
I am going through this now with my 9U daughter in softball. I have started with the lower half. We work constantly on proper use of the lower half...from set up to stride to contact. After they have a base to work from, then we work on upper body/hands. One mother came to me and told me she "caught" her daughter working on her stride in the bathroom, using her toothbrush as a "bat". I smiled from ear to ear.

Luckily, my daughter has paid attention to all of the teaching to my 14U son and has a solid swing.

Redbird, that's neat. Enjoy it. Mine is 14 and I think she knows more about hitting than have of the coaches in our area. It is really neat working with her and having her tell me what she thinks she did wrong either in an at bat or given pitch. I'm very blessed that she loves doing it. Believe me I can remember when she was 9 and I sometimes wish she were now. Off to a great start and now is .400 with more doubles than singles. Of course, she took a comebacker to the face Wednesday night and is hurt a little now. She'll be ok and she got the out before she started crying. Redbird, keep her out of the circle if you can.

I find this a bit similar to what my daughter is seeing.She has some fairly good mechanics,to the point her freshman coach made the comment to the varsity coach that her mechanics were almost perfect(they aren't but they are decent)Then he starts putting down the previous freshman coach's teaching methods and says certain things don't happen and are wrong but those are the EXACT methods that were used to teach my daughter.(not by the previous coach but by the varsity coach)

I really feel it was the teacher and not the methods that were the problem.


I hear many of the girls and their parents complaining about some of the things that were taught previously and how bad they are but my dauhter has if not the best,second best mechanics on the team.AND she has to learn the art of slapping at the same time.


Once she gets the timing figured out with her new found bat speed,I think we will have a hitter on our hands.

We haven't even had the first game yet.First 2 games were rained out and we are on spring break this week but Monday we get started.

What I find similar is that she has been taught to start with a solid base and work up.

Then she has yet to have a coach that understands rotational hitting mechanics(epstein approach) other than the varsity coach.BUT,her current coach,even though he likes what he is seeing,doesn't understand how to teach it.Even though he likes the style,is putting down the very drills that were used to teach it.

The assistant on the otherhand seems to have a great grasp of what she is doing(probably because she just graduated from a good college program) and works well with her but the other guy with his squash the bug and hit the ball out front cues is causing some issues.


AND it does bother me but that is the situation.He does do a great job with everything else though.


I was not saying that her skill level is similar because I doubt that to be the case,she has only played for 3 seasons and this is her first year of high school ball.She hasn't even had a full season of travel ball.She was hit by a pitch the very first game of travel last season and broke her arm and missed the whole season,except the last game.

Not to hijack this thread,but her timing issues started about the same time he started saying this to her and now she is way out front.

I was looking at some of our video and she was hitting around the front knee before and now she is trying to hit in front of the front foot,that was the whole reason I started the thread on the subject,good part is that she was smoking the ball in practice the other night off of live arm and was still a little out front but not as bad as before.

Now back to the regularly scheduled thread.

All of the guru's here should learn one thing quick. Its not the cues, nor the terminology, But the Results. Regardless of how they're achieved, its the RESULTS.
Like CoachB said, one swing for all, we're hitting not dancing.

tfox, very smart observation that sometimes it is the teacher and not the method. In the classroom I think I'm pretty good. However, I've gone to guidance before for the sake of a kid and said to them, "I'm just not getting through to ??? and so, for their good, you need to change them to another teacher." My HS coach used to often say that every teacher we had was good but the lessons we take from them might be hard to swallow. Mr. Scharf used to threaten me every day but you know what, I got an A in his class. I did so to spite him.

With regards to hitting, I'm in a conversation on another board (17 pages now) with a guy that I totally disagree with. However, I'm betting he is a good teacher. I think several posters on this site would be enjoyable watching as they perform their lessons.