Posted by: coach ss () on Mon Dec 29 07:41:48 2008

Hey Jack, I was wondering in my original post where i could find a Gordie Gillespie's Power Hitting Vest. I had seen one used yrs ago with a young kid that had a bad casting problem with great results. I never knew what it was called until I saw it mentioned on here and i googled it. It came up but says that the item has been discontinued!

I totally agree with you about pinning the backside elbow. For yrs while coaching i would always try to correct a front arm casting problems by concentrating on front arm drills with very little success. I finally realized that if you teach the backside elbow to stay pinned or in the correct slot, you anatomically can't cast your front elbow.
Also, 1 of the biggest problems is incorrect knuckle placement, not lining up the knocking knuckles. Your back elbow involuntarily goes up and points straight back as soon as your knuckles aren't lined up.
I guess the 1 of the biggest problems with teaching kids how to hit is what they see on tv from Big League guys. Big League guys start in all crazy contortions but end up at contact in relatively the same place, palm up-palm down, back elbow tucked. Problem is kids just know where to start from and don't see where the hands and back elbow are supposed to get to on contact and not enough people coaching these young kids have a clue themselves!

Wanna laugh, I witnessed a guy at a hitting facility seriously teaching gary sheffield hitting to a 12 yr. I shook my head and laughed out loud!