Posted by: Major Dan (markj89@charter.net) on Tue Jun 25 13:13:22 2002

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> Tim,
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> It's practically impossibe to explain to younger batters what they should do with their bodies when they swing. This is true becasue they have no expierence to understand what you are saying. Also, they can not "feel" what they are doing so they dont know how to stop it. (This is a very common mistake coaches make with younger kids.)
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> What you have to do is find a way to give them the experience of doing it the correct way so they know what it feels like.
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> The key to teaching a young person not to lunge is to teach them to keep their head still. They can't lunge if they keep their head still. This will also help them make contact.
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> Here is how you teach this: Take the kid's baseball cap and attach a safty pin to the center of the top. Tie a string to the safety pin and loop the string over something like a limb of a tree. Anything the kid can stand under and swing a bat. But theer should be a at least 3 feet between the top of the head and what ever you loop the string over. Pull the string until there is no slcak in it but the hat stays on the head.
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> Now you need something for the kid to swing at. You can attach a string to a ball and hang it so its in front of her/him or you can throw a ball for the kid to hit. (Starting out I perfer the hanging ball. It removes the extra difficulty of trying to hit a thrown ball.)
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> If he swings with a lunge the hat comes off. If he dosen't lunge the hat stays on. After a few tries the kid will get the feel of swinging without lunging. Once the kid learns this you can start to add more. Remember, a swing has to be built one skill at a time.
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> If this kid is your son or daughter, I would also tell you that kids will never take this game seriously until it's fun.
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> Joe A.

Good technique, Joe. I like it.

Good quote:
"kids will never take this game seriously until it's fun"

For kids, young ones and almost any age, fun is success. And success is anything they get approval for, improvement in, etc.
Fun is getting better at something, enjoying teammates and coaches, etc. Until they are really hooked on the game, the coach is the one who makes or breaks it. But if they never learn the skills to succeed, they will ultimately not continue having fun. Nobody enjoys hitting .098.