Posted by: chip () on Mon Apr 15 14:31:27 2002

My 7th grader went to an afternoon camp put on by our local high school coach and was taught that you need to "chop some wood" in order to be the kind of hitter the coach wants- nothing deep, put the ball in play. He actually said that they will score runs with defense. The boys are to practice one of the coach's favorite drills all week so they can be real good for the second camp session next weekend.
> > > > > No doubt this is a well-known drill, but I had never heard about it and had to share with any other fellow ignoramuses that hadn't tried this. You sit on your butt with your legs flat on the ground making a V and, if you're a righty, you chop down with the bat onto your left toe at a 45 degree angle, so as to burn in the ideal swing angle. Thankfully, my son realized how ridiculous it was, though I have no idea how we'll deal with this in two years.
> > > > > Just thought you players and coaches would want to incorporate this brilliance into your training immediately.
> > > > > Anybody know a lawyer who could sue this guy for malpractice? Gheesh!
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> > > > Hey our HS coach tries to get power hitters hitting this way!!!!! It ruins them.
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> > > by the way look in March post titled HITTING DOWN to see my frustation with the same advise
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> > Ah yes, it came back to me when I read it. So, is your son "getting away" with rotational hitting now? Our local coach would stick a guy on the bench if the kid is "caught", from what I hear. When a guy does hit a home run, apparently that puts him in the doghouse. We did have a kid who hit about 5 out a couple of years ago- he was about 5-10 and 160, so I gotta believe he wasn't chopping down. The kid also hit about .450, but was still apparently always in bad with the coach (and this was a quiet, good kid).
> > Puts me into the dilemma of wondering if I dare tell him how I have teaching my son, asking him to view Epsteins and Mankin's videos, etc. and possibly ruin things totally for my son because the coach hates the old man.
> > Aren't we supposed to be the "customer" to some degree? Aren't the kids supposed to be beneficiaries, not victims? Instead, it's all for the ego of some controlling old man.
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> Anonymously mail him Epstein's first video. It makes a great case with all the slo mo clips of the great hitters. Mankin's video would probably put him into overload and trip a circuit. : )
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> Mark H.

Mark,
Good point! Can't do it anonymously, though- I'd lose my video. I do question whether he would even agree to watch it, thus spurring me to call him a close-minded, ignorant jerk and ruining my son's future career, which this guy's methods will do anyway, at least hitting-wise. (Whew! Long sentence!)