Posted by: John Elliott (quakesbaseball@earthlink.net) on Tue Feb 18 13:49:58 2003

I just got back into town and read some of the posts on Jacks web site. It's funny that people can't conceive of the notion that a 12 year old can't understand torgue. I have had Tom House do 5 clinics at my facility and all he talks about is torgue and how to use it. If you can verbalize what you are thinking, and what the child is feeling, they will understand your point of veiw. The next step is for the instructor to be able to be patient and explain every step so they can feel what you mean. There are only three ways we learn seeing, feeling and hearing, so you must be able to make them feel, see, and hear everything you trying to convey. If you can't do that you are not qualified to teach. So if the information on this web site is to difficult for you to convey, try to undrstand it better before you teach it. This is no dig at anyone I think everyone is capable of doing it I just think you just have to have a open mind and try to get out of the habits that you were tought. Now there was a post on hitting dealing with strenght which is always good to see because if you are not in shape to be able to repeat a movement your not going to be consistant over a period of time. It takes almost the same amount of energy through the upper torso to hit as it does to pitch. So on that note, if you are not fit enough to maintain balance through movement you're not going to pitch or hit well at all. Strength is a huge component of hitting and mechanics will break down if your're not strong enough to maintain posture and balance period.
Head over chest, chest over bellybutton, through the movement, it's that simple. The biggest problem with the youth today is they are much weaker than those 20 years ago. Without exercise the body will not grow in strength at all, so from the time a child hits 10 through 18 there hormones are working the most they will ever in there life. Thats why the kids today need to work on strength and develop it early to be strong when they 18 years old and on. These are some ways that you see kids who work on farms bailing hey having an advantage over the kids who have a personal trainer and only workout for an hour a day 4 days a week. I just wanted to throw my opinion in to get feedback because I do like listening or reading differant opinions.
I also want to add that I can't type at all and I don't even have a clue about a computer, so please don't rag to hard on the typing errors to much.