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Tips For A Successful Batting Practice.
by Coach Steve

Whether it be baseball or softball, batting practice can be a very exciting and fun time for boys and girls. Unfortunately it can also be a horribly boring ordeal that can destroy a kids interest in the sport.

How many times have you seen this? Two or three grown adults, one behind the catcher, one standing next to the batter and one either standing on the mound pitching or standing behind a pitching machine. All three firing off advice, do this, do that, each with a different opinion, leaving the kid completely confused and frustrated because he/she just can't seem to connect. At the same time you have 7 to 12 kids standing in the hot sun waiting, anticipating, hoping for that one ball to come to them so they can show the coach how good they are. Sound familiar?

If this describes your practices, don't fret. There's a better way, and if you're like me, no one ever taught you, the coach, just how batting practice should be done. Chances are you're just doing what your coach did with you when you were growing up.

I don't claim to be the mastermind of this technique. I'm raising 4 kids of my own and have coached and watched them being coached and have learned a great deal over the years watching which coaches have succeeded and who have failed. I know what it's like to be a parent sitting in the stands waiting for practice to be over while my kid(s) are standing in the field waiting hour after hour for something to happen.

It's really quite simple. With a couple of tools and knowledge of a couple of simple techniques, you can make batting practice an exciting and memorable event that will reap rewards and is guaranteed to win games.

First, the tools. Besides the normal bats and bucket of baseballs or softballs you're going to need a couple of things. Find an old broom handle. Cut it to the length of your longest bat. Buy your self a bucket full of golf ball size whiffle balls. Buy a batting tee, I recommened of course The Ballwhip. The Ballwhip performs the exact same function as a tee, requires no adult supervision and needs no one to chase after or field the balls. Now you're ready.

Set up three stations. One out in the field, in foul territory, one near the batting on-deck circle and one at home plate.

The station in the field is for what is called soft toss. Have a kid stand facing the fence with a bat as if the pitcher is on the other side of the fence. Have a coach stand to the side of the batter and softly toss one after another of the golf ball whiffle balls in front of the batter. The batter swings at the balls hitting them into the fence. Some might go through but most will bounce off. You could have the batter face opposite to the fence and have a couple of players in the field trying to catch the whiffle balls. The younger kids especially love that. What has been shown to be key to a hard-hitting batter is bat speed and not power. Using the light sawed off broom handle instead of a heavy bat and swinging at golfball sized whiffle balls will build muscle speed at the same time practicing eye hand coordination. When it comes time to bat, after swinging at those golf balls, that softball or baseball is going to look like a watermelon coming down the pipe.

Using a batting tee is your second station. This can be supervised at first, but by using The Ballwhip, the kids are forced to discover what it takes for them to swing the bat in a level flat plane, proven to be the best technique for good hitting. It also builds arm strength and gets them warmed up right before batting. I have the kids swinging every practice and before games. Swinging at The Ballwhip instead of thin air practices keeping their head down and eyes on the ball. Unlike a batting tee, they know The Ballwhip ball isn't going anywhere and learn by force of habit to do the right thing.

The third station of course is home plate. Either a coach pitcher or a pitching machine is much better than having a kid pitch. For the sake of practice, the fear factor must be eliminated so that the kids learn good techniques and good muscle memory before the big game.

Please, DO NOT HAVE EVERYBODY ELSE IN THE INFIELD WAITING FOR THE BATTER TO HIT A BALL. Two, three tops is all that is needed in the infield. Have a coach or parent hit pop flies and grounders to the other kids. Nothing is more boring than standing in the infield with seven or eight kids waiting for a ball. Infield practice is for another day or at least another time.

Another tip, spend more time on fielding ground balls, pop flies and throwing than infield practice. The strategy of the game will come in time. If the kids can't catch or throw accurately, nothing else matters. Nothing happens without the ball.

http://www.ballwhip.com