The Perfect Baseball Hitting Drill?

The Perfect Baseball Hitting Drill?
By guest author: Jack Perconte

The sign of a good baseball hitting drill is one that forces the correct hitting fundamentals and that over time, causes the correct hitting action when a hitter goes without the drill. With that in mind, some drills are obviously better than others. The drill below does just that. It forces the correct action and works on all the important hitting fundamentals of staying back, compact swing, weight shift, hips opening and follow through.

Because this drill combines all the correct baseball hitting fundamentals into one drill, it makes teaching hitting easier and quicker, as long as it is performed correctly. It is a little complicated and requires some hitting tools that one does not usually have in the basement, or backyard. The local batting cages though will have the things needed - balls, protective screen, batting cage.

Here is the perfect baseball hitting drill:

1. The hitter stands very close (within six to 10 inches) from a net, facing the pitcher with the net being behind the hitter where the catcher stands. The hitters rear foot and hands should both be this distance away from rear net. Make sure a home plate is set and hitters stand their normal distance from the plate.

2. The coach sets up behind a protective screen with a bucket of balls in front of the hitter, beginning at twelve to fifteen feet away.

3. The coach flips balls to the outer half of the plate - firm underhand flips are best from this distance, trying to keep the ball level with no rise or drop on the flipped ball.

Result you are looking for? Because the ball is on the outer half of the plate, hitters should drive the ball to the opposite field by missing the net on the initial portion of the swing but hitting the net on the follow through. Read more.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Ripley

How to Analyze a Baseball Swing

How to Analyze a Baseball Swing
By guest author: Jack Perconte

Many people who have a basic knowledge of baseball can look at an inexperienced hitter and figure out what they are doing wrong. Certain things like stepping out, over-striding, swinging early or late, upper cutting, pulling off the ball and taking their eye off the ball are fairly obvious flaws. The solutions to these problems are not as obvious, and certainly not as simple as just telling the hitter what they are doing wrong. Muscle memory can be very tough to change and it is important for hitters and adults to have patience with players who are trying to make changes to their muscle memory. However, I am getting ahead of myself. The swing cannot be fixed until it has been analyzed correctly. Analyzing a swing when the flaws are not as obvious takes a much more experienced coach.

Following are pointers for coaches who are not as experienced to know what to look for when analyzing a baseball swing:

1. The best angle to watch a hitter is the side angle, as from the on deck circle.

2. The main thing to watch from this angle is the path of the bat barrel.

3. The ideal is when the bat barrel settles above the hitter's rear shoulder with the knob of the bat pointing down just as the front foot lands with the stride. A slight tilt of the bat barrel where it settles anywhere between 11 and 1 o'clock is best.

4. From this settled position, the ideal is to see the hands and barrel begin on a downward path towards the ball, while never traveling too far from the hitters head on the path to the ball. This is known as a compact swing.

5. The swing is begun by a break of the back knee allowing the hips to open, and with a pull of the lead hand.

6. The bat barrel starts on a downward path but will begin to level off quite quickly, especially on the lower pitches. As the back knee rotates towards the ball, the back elbow lowers and remains very close to the body on the initial portion of the swing. This prevents the hands from casting away from the body, another common flaw of young hitters. Read

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more.

How to Help Your Child Excel at Sports

How to Help Your Child Excel at Sports
By guest author: Connor R Sullivan

If you are the parent or guardian of a child who is athletic, you know it can be a challenge to help them excel. A few kids are naturally filled with athletic ability and they do not even need to practice to do well. Most though will need some coaching and a bit of time practicing to be comfortable and confident on the field or court. If your child is part of the majority who need to work harder to do well in sports, there are a number of ways you can help them excel. The first things kids have to realize is getting good at a sport require lots of practice. Many kids think showing up at practice with their team is enough to make them the star athlete, but in order to stand out from the rest, even the best athletes commit to hours of practice.

The trick for parents is to find ways to make practice fun and convenient for kids, while still balancing other responsibilities like schoolwork and household chores. A great way to do this is to make practice possible at home. Even without a practice buddy they should be able to take some time each day to practice their skills. A great way to do this is to have a baseball pitching machine on hand for kids who love this sport. Softball pitching machines work just as well, and even if a child is alone, they will be able to practice their hitting and fielding skills anytime they want at home. There are similar options for kids who enjoy playing football or tennis, and if your child is a fan of basketball, all it takes for at home practice is a net. Read more.

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How to Get Your Kid Interested in Baseball

How to Get Your Kid Interested in Baseball
By guest author: Sarah Calvin

Most parents will always want the best for their kids. They work hard t give their children the best education, nutrition and equipment. There are a lot of things that you want your child to engage in. You always want him to excel in every activity that he does.

There are sports activities that you always like your kid to join. One of the best sports that he can ever join is baseball. This sport has lots of benefits. It can make your child physically healthy and will surely improve his confidence. This can also improve his social skills. There are some ways to get your kid interested in baseball.

BEGIN EARLY

One best way to get your kid interested in baseball is to start while he is still young. You must expose him to baseball as early as possible. You can do this by putting baseball themed toys in his room. He will surely put much interest in things that have been familiar to him since he was just a small kid. You can watch baseball games with him and tell him how interesting it is. Read more.

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How To Motivate The Young Player In Youth Baseball

How To Motivate The Young Player In Youth Baseball
By guest author: Stephen K Reynolds

Motivating young baseball players is always a challenge for the youth baseball coach. Many times coaches get wrapped up in the game and forget why they are coaching and don't remember to keep players motivated!

Coaches will get negative because a player made a mistake. Instead of You should talk to the player about what he did right followed by what ever error he made mental or physical and then follow up with a positive comment to close it out...commonly referred to as the sandwich technique!

Here is something else coaches need to be aware of when it comes to their relationship with their players.
Coaches need to be prepared at practice get your stuff done with the players and then on game day kick back call the shots and then let the players have fun and play the game. If players are making mental mistakes then it is back to practice the next day and its the coaches turn to get it going. Game day should be for the players. Read More.

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Pitching Drills & Techniques

Pitching Drills & Techniques
LNersesian
The Youth Sports Club is a leading producer of sports instructional videos and DVDs. Coach Marty Schupak's newest release, "Pitching Drills & Techniques" explores some of the best drills that are beneficial for youth players, ages 7-12 years old, who have the desire to pitch. This video simplifies the pitching process, and includes more than 20 drills which show youth players the importance of the different body parts that make up the perfect pitching motion. This instructional video walks the player through the wind up, front leg lift, release and follow-through. Also included are important tips for the youth coach and parents on how to recognize when a youth pitcher is getting tired during a game. A pitch count chart is also included which shows the recommended number of pitches to be thrown in a game at various ages plus the proper amount of recovery time. This is a must for any youth baseball coach or parent of aspiring young pitchers. For more information on how to purchase any of these titles, visit: www.youthsportsclub.com

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Baseball Tips - Unruly Parents - Here is a Solution

Baseball Tips - Unruly Parents - Here is a Solution
By guest author: Tom Read

My wife was a self described bad sport. She had been thrown out of games, argued with the other teams' parents, yelled at the umpires, and embarrassed my son and I. I would talk with her before and after games, reminding her to not get out of control, but it did not help. Someone from the other team would say something, or the umpire would make a questionable call, and she would start in. What was I going to do?

It Can Start At the Beginning

When I was coaching tee ball, I once had to break up a verbal fight between my first base coach and the other team's coach. Another time, I noticed that a dad, who had been to every practice and game, started missing the games. I asked him at a practice if his work was keeping him from the games. He told me no, Johnny was feeling too much pressure with him at the game. This is still tee ball. I guess it was good that the dad at least realized where the pressure was coming from. Most of the time parents do not realize that the things they say can put undue pressure on their kids.

Travel Teams Are the Worst

It seems travel teams have the most vocal parents, good and bad. I have always assumed the reasons for this are either one, they have spent a lot of time and money involved with this team and are expecting a big return, or two, they are on the road and friends and family are not around. But, on the other hand, I've seen travels teams stay home to play and behave just as badly. And I have seen bad behavior at recreational games. So it can happen anywhere.

Solution - Put My Wife in Time Out

Back to my wife; a few hours after the game would be over she would feel bad about her behavior. I thought about asking her to stay away from the games, but she really did enjoy watching our son play. Finally it came to me. I needed to remove her from the home plate area, get her away from the other teams' parents and away from our son when he was batting. We moved down the outfield line; pass the dugouts and about half way towards the outfield fence. Out there we didn't hear the other team, the home plate umpire couldn't hear us, and the game became real enjoyable. Our view wasn't as good, but that was a small trade off. We were having fun again.

It Is Easy to Involve Others

Other parents were asking us why we were sitting so far down the line. My wife did not hesitate to answer that she was in "time out". Like a child, she couldn't be trusted to behave properly when located near a potential bad situation. Soon, others that had the same problem were joining us. A few games into this idea, and half the parents were down the line with us. It became an enjoyable social event. Maybe it even helped a few marriages.

Start Your Own Cheap Seats Section

There are certain situations where adults will act like little children. If you have these types on your team, ask them to take a stroll down the line with you. Everyone, especially their sons, will thank you.

Preaching to the Choir

I know most of the people reading this are not the problem. Parents with bad behavior usually do not seek out advise. But in the right way you can make a difference. To see other baseball tips and stories I have written please visit my website at http://baseballknowledge.info

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Read

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What You Need to Become a Great Baseball Player

What Your Son Needs to Become a Great Baseball Player
By Guest Author Jack Perconte

I am not sure that I can write anything about how to become a great baseball player that you do not already know or that is not stating the obvious. Having played major league baseball though, I will discuss some of the ingredients that I believe helped me make it to the major leagues. I will not go so far to say that I was a great baseball player, but I believe I reached my potential using the attributes listed below.

First of all, it is important that a player develops a "Love of the Game." This may not happen at a young age but develops somewhere along the way. Many young athletes are like I was, where they are in love with all sports at a young age and developed a love of baseball when greater success came at baseball. Love of the game often leads to the next ingredient, which is necessary to become a great baseball player - a never give up attitude.

I often tell people that if all the current major league players quit playing baseball when they were told, at sometime in their life, that they were not good enough, there would be a whole set of different major league players. Just like in every aspect of life, a never give up attitude is essential to make it to the top. I always had the thought process that no one would make the decision when I would hang up the spikes but me.

The next ingredient that is necessary to reach potential is focus. Players, who stay focused on the goal, have the edge when it comes to competition. Many talented players play to prove something, where as the great players play with the idea of constantly "improving." Obviously, the players with this latter attitude are the ones who usually go the furthest. Even though there were times that I lacked confidence when playing, I remained focused so that, in the end, I reached my goal of becoming a major league player.

All of the mentioned ingredients allow players to have the next ingredient necessary for development into a great baseball player - a solid work ethic. Baseball, not unlike many sports but maybe even more so, requires fundamentals that need to be repeated over and over. It has often been stated that, "hitting a baseball may be the hardest thing to do in sports," so great fundamentals are needed. Pitching and fielding a baseball are equally tough, so players must combine the dedication and motivation into a great work ethic if they hope to have success. One thing that I am proud of was the work ethic I applied to playing baseball, and even to the point of over-working, which became detrimental to good performance at times.

The next ingredient is similar to focus but is an added characteristic of great players. Great baseball players have the ability to "calm the mind." Many players have talent and qualities to be good baseball players but lack the ability to tune out distractions, which come either during games or in their everyday lives. Many a great athlete had their career end because of off the field distractions that did not allow them to keep a clear mind during play. Many players become distracted easily and lack the intense mental focus necessary to excel under game pressure. When I first made it to the big leagues, I had a difficult time believing it was still just a baseball game. This led to a lack of a calm mind, leading to many misplays and wasted at-bats. Eventually, I overcame this and was able to keep the mind calm and play baseball like in the "back yard" when growing up.

All of the above ingredients lead to confidence. All great athletes play with self-confidence in their abilities, believing they belong where they are at the top level of sport. The intense pressure packed game moments or the major league atmosphere does not overwhelm them. As mentioned earlier about a calm mind, it took me a while to gain the confidence necessary to be a somewhat successful major league player. Playing with confidence leads to a long successful career for many, whereas a lack of confidence often leads to an abbreviated career.

Finally, there is another ingredient that leads to greatness and that is the overall physical attributes that players are genetically given. This is not to say that all of the other ingredients are not necessary to become great, but players who are more physically gifted than most, obviously have a higher athletic ceiling than those less gifted. When they apply the above characteristics with their physical abilities, a great baseball player is the result.

Former major league baseball player, Jack Perconte gives baseball hitting tips and batting practice advice for ballplayers of all ages. His baseball playing lessons, books and advice can be found at http://www.baseballhittinglessons.com/baseball
Jack is the author of two books, The Making of a Hitter and Raising an Athlete - his positive parenting advice and books can be found at http://positiveparentinginsports.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jack_Perconte
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