T-Ball University - Batting Drills For Tee Ball Coaches and Parents

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T-Ball University - Batting Drills For Tee Ball Coaches and Parents
By guest author: David Comora

Baseball Season is just around the corner, so parents and parent coaches, start digging through the garage for your baseball equipment and begin stretching out those rusty arm and leg muscles. For many communities, children begin their baseball or softball careers playing the lead-up skill called Tee Ball, which is baseball, minus the pitcher. In Tee Ball which is also spelled T-Ball, children learn the fundamentals of batting, fielding and base-running. For the purposes of this article we'll be concentrating on batting. In Tee Ball, batting takes place utilizing a Tee which sits approximately waste high to the hitter. The Tee is a great tool for perfecting a child's swing. When used correctly, a coach can analyze all of the components used in a swing and make subtle or not so subtle adjustments to a child's swing, batting stance, hip rotation and foot work.

It is my opinion after coaching all these seasons that proper footwork is the most important aspect of hitting. If you have the proper footwork, the arms, hips, and head will fall into place with the required timing.

In order to achieve proper footwork, I will place the tee on top of home plate. I will draw a perpendicular line in the dirt with the handle of the player's tee ball bat from the middle 45 degree corner of the tee's base. The line length is approximately 12 inches. Adjust this length accordingly to a comfortable extension of each player's arms with the bat swing. I then will draw a perpendicular line from the first line and parallel to the edge of the tee base going back toward the backstop. Therefore, this line is in the shape of an inverted "L". I will squat down and point with my index finger as to where I want each foot to be placed along the parallel line. Drawing the 12-inch line allows the hitter to extend his or her arms when swinging to comfortably hit the tee-ball with the "sweet" spot of the bat.

I want each child to have a stiff front leg with feet square to the parallel line. The player should be placing their weight on the balls of both of their feet. The square front foot will prevent the front knee from buckling or bending. Imagine a bug underneath the back foot. I want the child to squash that imaginary bug with a pivot of their back foot. Approximately 60% of the player's weight should be on the back foot. This is called the "load" position. This pivot will open the hips toward the pitcher when "squashing the bug". The front foot should remain square and the front knee locked when "squashing the bug" also. The back leg can bend but do not take a large dip with the back leg. (This drill is presented in a short video on our http://www.tballu.com website, within the "Free Sample Video" section).

Most coaches and parents who played the game when they were young were taught to take a step toward the pitcher with their front foot when swinging the bat. Most coaches and parents remember taking a small step or a large step. I do not want the player to take a step with their front foot when "squashing the bug" since a step will cause the player's head to slightly dip when swinging the bat and therefore, the player's eyes will dip when swinging the bat also. The no-step will prevent an eye dip when attempting to hit a breaking ball (e.g., curve, slider, etc) later in the player's career when he or she advances to high school baseball or softball. Use a series of batting helmets as impediments to prevent the player's front foot from taking a step if they had been previously taught to do so.

Practice "squashing the bug" with a bat situated between the arms and the back's shoulder blades. Have the entire team practice this drill at the same time making sure they are a good distance away from each other. Keep an eye on a stiff front leg and the back foot should pivot on the ball of their back foot. Some players will pivot and raise the heel of the back foot such that the back weight is placed on the toe of the back foot instead of the ball of the back foot. The player's head should stay down while looking in the hitting zone. If the back shoulder does not remain in the hitting zone upon pivot, the head will lift up from the hitting zone and the front foot will automatically lift up as well where the hitter is pivoting on the heel of the front foot. This is called "rolling" the front foot. Repeat this drill 50 times each practice and before each game. The player can also do this drill 50 times daily in front of a full length mirror at home. This will provide the player great muscle memory to ensure a proper swing every time.

After more than ten years coaching youth baseball, it has been my experience that, despite the best efforts of parent-coaches, too many children do not learn the basics of hitting and fielding and develop bad habits from the start. As these children progress to coach-pitch and kid-pitch leagues, this results in coaches spending many hours trying to correct problems, which could have been easily avoided at the Tee Ball or Beginner Baseball level. Coaching children, whether your own or children in your community, is one of the most rewarding experiences you'll have. Watching children learn and successfully apply the skills that you've taught them is tremendously fulfilling. I wish you all the best of luck in your t-ball, baseball or softball seasons.

David Comora
T-Ball University
http://www.teeballuniversity.com

David Comora has coached Tee Ball and Youth Baseball for over 10 years. He and his partners Steve Polansky, Brian Leuthner and David Kalb have developed the T-Ball University system of coaching to help new parent coaches learn to quickly master the skills of coaching. Their program includes video drills, coaching forms, practice plans, lesson notes and more. Free coaching videos are also available at http://www.teeballuniversity.com.

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

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Coaching Youth Baseball Catching Drills & Skills Pt 1

Coaching Youth Baseball Catching Drills & Skills Pt 1

How to teach a young player how to catch through safe, repetitive drills that build player confidence. The video shows the development of a 5 yr old player catching pretty well and learning a little bit about baseball.



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Youth Baseball Digest - 11 Simple Batting Terms Every Tee Ball and Little League Coach Should Know

Youth Baseball Digest - 11 Simple Batting Terms Every Tee Ball and Little League Coach Should Know
By Nick Dixon

1. Grip - The first thing every young player must be taught is how to properly grip the bat. The bat is gripped with the "knocking knuckles" on the top and bottom hands aligned perfectly in a straight line with each other. The purpose of this grip is to place the bat handle in the fingers away from the palms of the hands. This grip allows the hands to be move quicker and to have maximum control of the bat. Tension is a batters worst enemy when it comes having a quality swing. Gripping the bat improperly often causes tension throughout the body. A relaxed grip on the bat allows the batter to react with better bat speed and hand quickness. Feeling relaxed at the plate is a key to a batters confidence.

2. Stance - A batters stance is how a batter initially stands in the batter's box to look out at the pitcher. A batter's stance is the position of the hands and feet prior to the start of the swing. The feet should be shoulder width apart with toes pointing toward the plate. The feet should be square to the plate. Square to the plate means that they are an equal distance from the plate. The stance also refers to the position of the hands and the angle of the bat. The hands should be no more that several inches from the shoulder. The stance should comfortable and should allow the batter to look at the pitcher with ease.

3. Stride - The term refers to the batters weight shift or step prior to the swing. The stride should be short and only about three to four inches if the front foot moves. Many batters simply pick the front foot up and replace it without moving it forward. If a step is taken, it should be a little step forward with the toes pointing toward the pitcher. It is important to teach young players that they must stride to get ready to hit. They do not stride to hit, but rather, they should stride to get ready to hit. The batters stride foot should be set before the pitchers front foot lands.

4. Hip Turn - Hip turn refers to the process of a batter generating power by driving the hips through a power rotation. Only pitches over the middle and inside 3rds of the plate allow a batter to get full hip turn. The closer the pitch is to the batter, the more hip turn is needed to properly hit the ball. Pitches on the outer part of the plate require little hip turn to hit. The hitter will rotate his hips open farther on an inside pitch than an outside pitch. The batter should rotate the hips on a level plane. Player should not lean forward over the plate or lean back away from the plate. The batter's back foot must pivot in order to have good hip rotation.

5. Balance - A batter must have good balance to be successful. Balance refers to proper weight distribution prior, during the swing, and at the finish of the swing. Good balance allows the hitter to have more control at the plate. Good balance begins with even weight distribution with a proper stance. The batters ability to control the body during the stride is the key to good balance.

6. Bat Speed - The speed of the bat during a swing. The bat the batter used must be the correct length and weight for a batter to generate optimum bat speed.

7. Squash the Bug - This term refers to the pivot the back foot during the baseball swing. This foot action allows the hips to open up or turn.

8. Shoe Laces to Pitcher - The best back foot action is not a squashing action with downward pressure. The best motion is to turn the back foot with the shoelaces toward the pitcher. This turn should be performed with a "light-weight" pivoting motion with little downward pressure. The batter pushes off from the ball of his rear foot to shift weight to the front side. Putting downward pressure on the ball of the back foot as it pivots and the hips rotate tends to constrict the quickness and power swing.

9. Trigger - Load - Both have the same meaning. Batters must learn to trigger or load to get ready to hit. The loading or triggering process is a batter's final movement of the body and hands to the optimum bat launching position to get ready for the swing. Different batters use different movement as a triggering mechanism. Many batters turn the front knee and should slightly inward. Other batters simply take the hands slightly up and back to what they call their launch position. The loading or triggering action should be a very slight movement.

10. A, B, C Baseball Swing - The "A, B, to C baseball swing" means a baseball swing that is not fundamentally correct. The term describes a swing that is not compact and not direct to the ball. The batter sweeps the bat in a slow long arch.

11. A to C Swing - Used to refer to a sort compact swing that take the bat from the "A" launch position directed to the "C" or contact position. The perfect baseball swing is a short compact "A to C" Swing.

For more articles on coaching baseball visit the Youth Baseball Digest, Little League Digest and the Baseball Coaching Digest.

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Nick Dixon is the President and founder of Nedco Sports, a sports training company established in 1999. Dixon is also an active and full time high school baseball coach with over 25 years experience. Coach Dixon is better known as the inventor of the BatAction Hitting Machine, the SKLZ Derek Jeter Hurricane Hitting Machine, the SKLZ Target Trainer, the SKLZ Derek Jeter ZipnHit Pro, and the SKLZ Strikeback Trainer. Dixon is also a contributing writer for BaseballCoachingDigest, the Youth Baseball Digest, the Baseball Parent Guide, the Baseball 2Day Coaches Journal, and Blog4Coaches.

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

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Coaching Baseball - 12 Things That 3rd Base Coaches Should Say to Baserunners

Fewer things in baseball are more embarrassing for a young baseball player than to make a base running mistake that cost his team a run. Some of the most devastating and demoralizing mistakes in baseball are made by baserunners at 3rd base. When a runner gets to third, the team momentum and confidence is increased. The team and the player, and the fans feel like they are going to soon score a run. But, to have that chance of scoring removed by a blunder by the runner or coach can take the momentum completely away from the team.

Coaching Baseball - 4 Things the On-Deck Batter Should Always Do and 4 Things He Should Never Do

Baseball coaching is teaching the big and little details of the game. Every position or location on the field requires a player to observe and to be aware of what is happening. Many young batters on deck often do no pay attention to what is happening. They are often guilty of looking into the crowd or even talking to someone through the fence. On-deck batters that do not closely observe the pitcher and the catcher are missing a greatly opportunity to "scout" the opponent.

Baseball Pitching - Coaching Pitchers to Succeed by Starting With the Basics

The coaching of baseball pitchers does not require a degree in "pitchingtology". There is no such degree to my knowledge. I just made that up. My point here is that coaching baseball pitching is not rocket science. However, having a basic knowledge of the terms and mechanics is a must.

Coaching Baseball Pitchers - The Use of Visual Anchor Points For Curve-Ball Accuracy

The skill of throwing a good curve ball accurately is a skill that must be taught and coached. Teaching curve ball control and accuracy is vital to a pitcher's success at any level. Here I discuss the method I use to teach and coach our high school pitchers to vary their curve ball location and to accurately control the spot to which the ball will break.


4 Baseball Pitching Drills For Little League Players

Teaching, training and developing young baseball pitchers takes a lot of time, patience, and practice repetition. Many young pitchers need to practice pitching skills daily. To keep the interest level high, it is best to use a variety of drills on alternate days to prevent boredom. Here are 4 baseball pitching drills that can be used to train youth and beginner pitchers.

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Best Baseball Hitting Techniques For Beginners

Best Baseball Hitting Techniques For Beginners
By Peter S. Smith

If you are a beginner, then learning from the start the best baseball hitting techniques is mandatory, since this will help your game tremendously. This article is intended to do just that, so you will be able to learn the right techniques right from the beginning.

The first thing you want to do is to have a good batting stance. This means the position of the bat and body while waiting for the pitch. You will want your feet to be shoulder wide apart, and the foot closer to you should to be lined up near the front edge of the home plate.

Your knees will have to be slightly bent, and you should also have your waist slightly bended.

The way you hold your bat is also very important. You will want to hold the handle as close as possible to your back shoulder, and the barrel of the bat should be just above your head. Needless to say, you want to grip in the right way. This means that you shouldn't squeeze the bat, but rather keep it loose.

When the ball comes at you, you should keep your eyes solely on it, until you hit it. Remember that your head shouldn't follow your body as you hit it.

These techniques will help you tremendously in bettering you game, so take great care in mastering these basic baseball hitting techniques. Once you do that, you will be able to master more and more advanced techniques, but always remember that baby steps are needed before you get to be good at this game.

More comprehensive information on hitting techniques can be found here, so you should check it out.

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10 Tips to Help Players Get Through the Baseball Season

10 Tips to Help Players Get Through the Baseball Season
By Jack Perconte

In my opinion, there is no sport that requires the whole body skills and concentration that baseball requires. Hitting, fielding and throwing are all difficult skills to perfect. Inevitably, all players endure disappointing performances at some point in the season. The most obvious evidence of the difficulty of baseball is that college drafted players almost never make it to the major leagues without years of continued grooming in the minor leagues. This is different than any other major sport where the best college players are proficient enough to go straight to the big time.

Because of this difficulty, great patience is required by all as baseball players develop skills and knowledge of the game from year to year. Disappointment and frustration can easily set in playing baseball. Additionally, there is very little time between games in a baseball season so once a slump sets in, the season or career can be ruined if people panic at these difficult times. It is important that parents and coaches help players get through these times so total frustration does not set in and so players do not get to the point where they want to quit playing. Unfortunately, many talented athletes leave the sport at a young age because there is not adequate patience shown and encouragement given by adults.

Following is advice for adults when ball players inevitably struggle:

1. Encourage kids to have long-range goals so they do not feel overwhelming pressure to do well each and every game. For example, making the high school team is a good goal for young ball players. A good goal for all players to have is simply being better at their skills at the end of the season than they were at the beginning of the season; this is not always a given.
2. Do not show own frustration in front of kids. Stay as upbeat as possible.
3. Give kids a few days totally away from the game during a rough stretch, if possible, and keep the talk about baseball to a minimum during this time.
4. Remind hard working players that practice pays off eventually, and remind not so hard workers that good results only come with hard work.
5. Remind players that you always believe in them and that they are so much more than what they do on a playing field.
6. A little joke about their play, at the appropriate time, can get them to laugh about it and release some of the tension.
7. Along the same lines, occasionally reminding them of times they did well is good.
8. Watching a bloopers tape can provide some laughs and help players realize everyone makes mistakes, even the great players.
9. Trying to get players to "smile" when on the playing field can relieve tension and help them understand that they should not take the game and themselves too serious.
10. False praise is never advised, but trying to point out little things where the player improved at or did well in a game can be helpful.

Finally, saying "forget about it" to your kids after a tough game when it was apparent that they played hard can go a long way to keeping it all in perspective. Of course, these are helpful tips that can be used with athletes of any sport.

Jack Perconte 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. 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.

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

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