Posted by: Sandman () on Mon Jul 7 08:01:19 2003

I guess the tire hitting might depend upon the player's age/strength. If too young (< 10?), it might be too much shock for tender/growing wrists and other body parts.

Though I have a friend in his late 30s, whose Dad setup a tire for him when he was about 10 or 11. The next season he hit 8 HRs, after having never hit one. Was it the tire or just an extra year of growth? (likely a bit of both)

Having read about another option, I've let our players hit a deflated soccer ball off a tee to try to get a similar feeling of "having to follow through", but w/ less strain for youngsters.

G'luck,
Sandman