Posted by: skip (piks5@sbcglobal.net) on Fri May 11 10:07:46 2007

> My son has great form, can hit my fast pitches and does well at the batting cages. Problem is, when he's in a game, he's not swinging. He says he wants to, but he just stands there like a deer in the headlights. Any Ideas?????

Frank,
I'd like to add something.
For risk-taking devil-may-care kids, it's no big deal for them to watch the flight of the ball and, when it's 10-15 ft away, "guess" that it's going to be hittable (in or around the strike zone) by the time it gets the plate. Based on this guess, they swing decisively and often on-time.
Other kids, by nature more cautious or less rash, know that they're supposed to swing at strikes. Being smart, they wait until the ball gets to the zone. Yup, that's a strike. But of course it's too late.

When you gotta decide what to swing at, the ball's still a good way from the plate... it's a gamble, or educated guess or whatever.. Make that clear to your son. Try to turn him into a gambler on the ballfield.
Never second guess his swing decisions. As the saying goes, one "aw damn" wipes out 10 attaboys. Another cliche: you got to learn to walk before you can run. You've got to learn to hit the ball before you even think about becoming selective at the plate. Bad coaches start too early talking about selectivity, and give their players "paralysis by analysis."

Skip