Posted by: Dr. Thomas Martens () on Sun Mar 2 11:47:10 2003

Actually Mr. O'Really, Zig can tell more about one swing in less than three minutes than any hitting instructor can in 6 months of daily lessons. Remember his system is data based so it is not driven but what he is able to see in an instant, nor is it driven by the outcome of the swings contact.

His education allows him to form conclusion based upon what the numbers say. This new 3D-skillcheck is the only fully automated analysis of its kind. It can tell an athlete where their bat speed or power comes from and what muscles are impacting the swing. With one of their systems, they can instantly analyze as many as 8 athletes in an hour (and they are currently spending about 6 hours a day) with multiple systems.

I have been with him at several of his clinics and it is an amazing thing to see.

You should redo your math. You see Zig and his staff are feverishly working to add over 1,000,000 athletes to their database within the next 18 months. So they can accurately tell you what 99.99% of athletes are doing and the impact strength and conditioning can play not only on preventing injuries, but performance. Not just general weight lifting, but specific exercise related to the athletes decifiencies. As a sports medicine physician, I am extremely interested in the Skillcheck results. I also have a niece who is a pretty good softball player and several patients who have improved thanks to skillcheck. From what i understand, last week three major league organizations have decided to use the analysis as a tool to speed up their minor league player development. Physical therapists for 11 teams will use it with their big league clubs to benchmark their players and identify potential deficiencies. This is so that if a player becomes injured they know exactly what position they have to return them to with respect to strength and flexibility.

You don't agree to the importance of credentials. I on the otherhand also believe credentials play a big part in the credibility of the teacher. As a medical practitioner, I find it difficult to accept information without knowing a little about the source from which the information is coming. Would you accept Mr. Mankin's reporting if he had not done the research he has done and have the credentials (resume) he has obtained through experience. The journals you have cited were written by individual with extensive credentials. I accept your interpretations of the data reports as fact. At the same time, however, I accept the data from Skill Technologies as fact and more accurate because it is a data based field study of what is happening. it does not rely on me nor is it impacted by my personal opinion. It is a big advantage to me as a medical professional.

From what I know about the research, no athletes are selected with previous knowledge of their ability level. In fact, unless Zig knows who a player was in advance he makes no assumptions about their ability. Zig doesn't assume that a major league player will have a good swing. Nor does he listen when a coach says, "This guys an all-American wait till you see his swing." "Or this girl has great bat speed, wait til you see her." The data tells all. Nomar Garciparra has younger brother, who Nomar told us two weeks ago is going to be much better than he is because he is better at now than Nomar was at 18 and 19. We review his swing and it is not exactly a model swing. In fact it is not even close. His knee is still not ready, and as a result, he has an all upper body swing.

I am sure you will get the swing clips you are looking for when Zig feels you are ready for them. If I were him, I might not want to share it with you, because I would nothing to prove to you. And from what I can tell, you are going to try to diagnose the video and guess at what you see. And if it looks like what you think a swing should look like, you will support it. But I know the data is much more important. And knowing how to make the improvements is the key to success. And it doesn't start with swing drills.

Thomas Martens, D.O.