Posted by: Thomas (TWVanya@aol.com) on Thu May 4 07:06:32 2000

>>>what would be the most important thing to teach my son in order to develope his swing?<<<
>
> Jack wrote:
> First of all, that playing baseball is a lot of fun. Encourage him to swing the bat not push it. Casting will not be a problem if he gets plenty of hip and shoulder rotation. The more swings he takes without instruction the better. Make it a fun time with simulated games. Allow him to succeed. Jack Mankin
>
>
> Hello Jack,
>
> What simulated games do you like the best for individual practice?
> (approximately 14 year old age group)
>
> Thanks, Terry Shaw
>
Here are a couple of ideas that our team has used and the kids seemed to enjoy.

1) Divide into 3 teams (minimum 3 per team). One team at bat and two teams in the field. 3 outs then rotate one team in to bat, others in field. Coach or player pitches and usually no catcher. Play regular baseball rules with exception of steals. Each team keeps their own score. Gives players a chance to move around on defense as well.

2) Long-Ball -- This excercise is good for end of practice or start when waiting on players to arrive.
Coach pitches to each player. Once player hits a fair ball, he goes and stands by his ball. Object is to get longest hit. Players learn that a hard hit grounder or line drive will often beat a soft fly. Also, if players try too hard and don't use good mechanics, they often get over or under the ball resulting in a infield pop-up or weak grounder. And they love the competition.