Posted by: Lamber () on Fri Jan 23 07:39:05 2004

Lamber,
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Its very easy to take shots at what other people say. Much more difficult to come up with something substantive. If memory serves me correct you quote Epstein a lot. What RQL has said here has a lot more merit than the fence drill that Epstein espouses which lets face it, is ridiculous. Nick
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Save the manners lesson. I could care less. And, if you'll notice, my reply is to grc not rql
> > > > >
> > > > > lamber...i you miss the point...the idea is to get close enough that you can take a good, sound swing without casting and without drawing in the hands....if you need further details you will have to do a search...i previously covered this topic under bart...
> > > >
> > > > No, you missed the point. "You stand close enough to the fence that you can take a good, sound swing....." Obviously, then, the fence has nothing to do with your good sound swing. And the fence drill is ridiculous if everyone can stand different distances from it.
> > >
> > > you still don't understand...step 1....determine the ideal balance between swinging without casting and swinging without drawing in the arms/pushing forward linearly with the arms...step 2....once you have established the correct swing that is between these two extremes, then get close enough to the fence that you are just barely missing the fence...
> > >
> > > the fence drill using an arbitrary distance such as one bat length will NOT help...the key is that you have to FIRST determinne for yourself the exact distance that you should be whereby you (1) just barely miss the fence (2) you are doing so without having to draw in the arms (too close to fence) (3) you are doing so without casting
> > > (too far from fence)....
> > >
> > > the value of this drill is that once you have established the correct reference point from the fence & established that you are indeed not casting/not drawing in arms, you cam use the drill to repeatedly practice mechanically-sound swings....
> > >
> > > now i have explained it and i am much too busy to engage is argument...if you can use this info, fine, if not, that's fine too...good bye...
> >
> > If I can determine the ideal balance between casting and not casting without the fence, then why do I need the fence.
> >
> > The "feeling" or "muscle memory" of what I have to do to not cast should be good enough. The fence is useless.
> >
> > Hey Lamber,
> I don't teach the fence drill, however it could have its place. indulge me here. grc explained the proper setup to practice the proper rotational swing. it could be used for the student that is in the process of mastering the proper mechanics and needs the reinforcement of the rude correction of hitting the fence. or it could be used by the veteran that is trying to increase his/her batspeed... if you're comfortable swinging the bat at 85mph and want to get comfortable at 90mph but don't want to lose the mechanics by casting maybe the fence can keep one honest. conjecture on my part.
> Be cool, Rich

That's fine. And I agree if you mean the fence can not be useful in teaching good mechanics. It's usefulness is as a barrier to tell someone their good mechanics have gone south. Which is exactly my point, setting a kid by a fence and telling him to swing will teach him nothing unless he's already been taught how to do it.

What I see is coaches lining up their players a certain distance from the fence and without any real coaching they say "swing" and the goal is to swing without hitting the fence. There is just short of an infinite number of ways to do this and very few (one maybe) will also hit a baseball thrown 90 mph. But the kid believes that no matter how he did it, if he missed the fence, he was correct. So he goes home with motivation and uses his fence and with repetition reinforces his new swing which is still incorrect. It won't hit a baseball but he can swing really fast and miss the fence.

In other words, the fence teaches nothing. The coach teaches everything. The fence may teach learning not to cast. But learning not to cast PROPERLY, so he can hit a baseball will not be taught by the fence.