Posted by: Mark H. (mark_h45@hotmail.com) on Mon Oct 6 17:52:15 2003

I am a head coach for a 10U girls fastptich team. I recently purchased your video, and have been studying it religiously. Two questions:
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> > > 1. while on the bag, the girls are really executing the proper form, but when he hop on the tee, or soft toss, they break down and revert to old linear type hitting???
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> > > 2. What kind of expectations should I have for these girls in regards to the type and power of balls being hit at this age level??
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> > > I never knew how hard core girls were, they suprise me every day with their passion for the game. Thanks for an great video!
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> > > Joshua,
> > i think you can expect great results. keep them hitting the bag. repetition, repetition...... it the name of the training game. i've heard that it takes 1,500 swings to unlearn old habits. keep going thru the cycle and back to the bag. spend more time on the bag, it's the best training tool there is, period. i focused my daughter on striding to the bent front knee and straighten at contact untill she had it down and could transfer it all the way to the machine. then i concentrated on the tight elbow tuck in the slot. and while we focused on the elbow, low and behold the front knee was automatic. when the elbow became automatic we went to the bottom hand torque. then the final piece, which we're putting in this winter, is the top hand torque. one point though, my daughter always rotated around her axis smoothly... so if they don't have a nice axis of rotation i'd make sure that is their foundation. good luck, rich
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> Rich, thanks for the points, I really appreciate it! I am keeping them on the bag alot. They actually like hitting that thing. I will be using your ideas, and hopefully come spring they will be sroking it. Thanks again....
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> JW

Top hand dominance/linear habits is/are a bear to get past. Thank goodness you are starting early. Get a tape of University of Washington vs AZ in the 2003 WCWS if you can. Washington's 3 through 8 hitters are just a clinic. Especially Rivera. Good tool to have when the other fastpitch coaches tell you you can't do it like that in fastpitch. One of these days I will convert some of those swings to mpeg.