Posted by: nativetrout (nativetrout at earthlink dot net) on Thu Apr 20 14:29:10 2006

Mike

Though this is a bit off topic I have to agree with you absolutely about the problems posed by working off a tee, especially where kids are concerned. Tees are tools for skill building, not for developing the gross motor skills required to swing at a moving ball! After coaching my 6 year-old LL t-ball team for a month this year, I have concluded that tee work is NOT the way to teach hitting mechanics and the swing to young children. Try as I might, I cannot get the kids in the proper position relative to the tee. I even set them up at the plate without the tee and then put the tee down, whereupon they move! Meanwhile, my son (who should be playing coach or machine pitch except for the local tee ball league coordinator telling me he should learn the "fundamentals")learned to hit in the backyard with me (or his older brother) throwing wiffles or tennis balls and I have considered quitting till next year. And I have to wonder how many kids have their baseball experiences ruined by well-meaning coaches and programs that hold onto myths that fly in the face of reality.

It really has begun to dawn on me that we need to re-think our beliefs about how we introduce organized baseball to children. As Epstein notes on his site, kids USED to learn (and still do in other countries) by emulating their heroes. That and playing sandlot baseball all day long as I did as a boy. I really hope that people like Jack Mankin and Mike Epstein can begin to penetrate the youth baseball coaching fraternity and begin busting the myths that are so commonplace and, I believe, are contributing to the lack of popularity of baseball as a youth activity.

And regarding the back foot: the toe 'balance' occurs for a split second, owing to the forces pulling the axis of rotation forward (Sheffield's toes almost always come off the ground). I have a hunch that it's not possible (or helpful) to TRY to get on your toes while taking dry swings without artificially moving the rotational axis forward. Better to have someone videotape one's swing while hitting to see if the rear leg is at the proper angle, foot 'on pointe' etc.