Bat Speed -- Baseball Hitting Forum

Posted by: The Hitting Guru () on Sun Sep 3 21:06:40 2006

> I have a 8.5 soon to be 9 yr old who just cannot get enough of baseball. He practices everyday, even by himself if need be. He has one problem; he if afraid being hit by the pitch, even though it has not happened, yet. He works on the tee and soft toss drills and fence drills and pitching machine and on a zip-n-hit. How can I help him over come his fear of live pitching? I've tried forcing him thinking that maybe if he just did it enough he might relax, but it usually turns into something ugly and I do not want to take fun out of it.
>
> MB

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Mr. Burch. Your son's fear of the ball only means he has common sense. Fear of the unknown the is a normal part of the learning process as you well know. But perhaps the best way to overcome the fear is to pitch to him with a rubber ball or tennis ball. Just make sure he wears a helmet. If need be, have him wear a face guard that is connected to the helmet.

Pitch him inside as well as pitches in other parts of the strike zone. Intentionally hitting him is not warranted. But if a pitch gets away, he should learn how to best avoid the pitch.

We should remember that many professional players also fear the baseball, as few of them are able to always walk away not hurt. This is why they wear the body armor (elbow pads, shin pads etc.)

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> > I have a 8.5 soon to be 9 yr old who just cannot get enough of baseball.  He practices everyday, even by himself if need be. He has one problem; he if afraid being hit by the pitch, even though it has not happened, yet. He works on the tee and soft toss drills and fence drills and pitching machine and on a zip-n-hit. How can I help him over come his fear of live pitching? I've tried forcing him thinking that maybe if he just did it enough he might relax, but it usually turns into something ugly and I do not want to take fun out of it. 
> > 
> > MB
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> Mr. Burch.  Your son's fear of the ball only means he has common sense.  Fear of the unknown the is a normal part of the learning process as you well know.  But perhaps the best way to overcome the fear is to pitch to him with a rubber ball or tennis ball.  Just make sure he wears a helmet.  If need be, have him wear a face guard that is connected to the helmet.  
> 
> Pitch him inside as well as pitches in other parts of the strike zone.  Intentionally hitting him is not warranted.  But if a pitch gets away, he should learn how to best avoid the pitch.  
> 
> We should remember that many professional players also fear the baseball, as few of them are able to always walk away not hurt.  This is why they wear the body armor (elbow pads, shin pads etc.)

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