Hitting a moving object with another moving object is often said to be one of the toughest things to do in sports.  Many agree that hitting takes a lot of practice.

So, this poll (leave a comment below to vote) is about how often you practice hitting.

In what percentage of your practices per week would you say you practice hitting?

• Is it every practice? (you do some kind of hitting drill at every practice)
• Is it only half? (you practice hitting in about half the practices you have each week)
• Is it less more than half?
• Less than half? (you focus more on defense or other skills)

How often do you hit in practice?

Leave a comment below to vote in this poll.  Can’t wait to see what you have to say!

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While Bill Hillhouse came down to Hawaii to do a pitching clinic, Howard Kobata, who happened to be in town, decided to stop by the field to talk story and to share a hitting aid with us.  I was skeptical at first because I heard that it was a ball. Really, how cool can “a ball” really be? Then I got to see this “ball” in action and I got to try it out and I have to say, it’s pretty cool.

There are 3 main things I love about this TCB ball…

3.  This ball cuts down on hitting/pre-game time and space needed – this means more reps in a shorter period of time

2.  This ball gives instant feedback - any time your players can see for themselves what they are doing wrong without you having to tell them just makes your life as a coach/parent easier and less stressful.  One problem with today’s bats and hitting off pitching machines or hitting regular balls off live toss is that a player can hit a ball badly and it may still look and “feel” just fine.  Then as a coach, when you try to correct, it you may get some resistance from your player because their end result was “good” and they felt no negative feedback during the swing or hit.  With this ball, unless you hit it right, it doesn’t look and it doesn’t feel right.  You instantly see that your hit wasn’t a solid one.  This leads me to the #1 thing I like about this ball…

1.  This ball is addicting - I was able to get in the cage and take some swings at this ball.  Because of the instant feedback, whenever I didn’t hit the ball well, the competitive “player” inside me just wanted to try again.  Then when I did hit it well it was just something I wanted to keep doing over and over and over again since the “good” hits look and feel so much better than your “bad” ones.  Seeing it happen right was cool!  Seeing it come off your bat poorly, just makes you want to have another chance.  So, the player in me liked it.  It was addicting.  I just wanted to keep trying to hit that ball and hit it well.

In my book, anything that…

• cuts down on time
• makes your practice more efficient
• gives players immediate feedback
• AND is something players enjoy and want to do…

that’s a pretty great thing.

So if you’d like to learn more about this hitting aid or buy some for your team/player, check out Total Control Sports OR if you are in California or Hawaii, call your sales rep directly (Howard) at (714) 293-3088.

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I’m afraid of the ball…Did I just say that? Well, not terrified of the ball like some people are, but I admit, I am more afraid of getting hit by a ground ball than I used to be. Why? Mostly because I know that I’m not as quick as I used to be. My reaction time is slower than it used to be. Let’s face it, I’m no longer training to actively compete as a softball player. I do not practice fielding ground balls on a daily basis and therefore, I know that my skills are a little rustier than they were 13+ years ago when I was training to be the best infielder I could be.

I’m not, however afraid of balls that are thrown at me. I’m still quite confident in my ability to catch a thrown ball and do that quite often, so it’s not something that worries me. But lack of that confidence is a common reason why young athletes are afraid of the ball. Not only is it a relatively hard object traveling toward them, but they lack the confidence in their ability to handle it. They do not believe they possess the adequate capability to safely deal with this hard moving ball that
is coming at them.

I know that if I were to practice and train to actively play softball again, my fear of the ball would all but disappear as I regained confidence in my skills. The same is true for young players. If they gain confidence in their own ability to adequately deal with and protect themselves from this ball that’s coming at them, they won’t be as terrified of the ball anymore.

Of course, that’s more easily said than done in some cases and there are specific things you can do to help them along the way. I’ll talk about that in another post, but first I wanted to know if you’ve ever personally dealt with this situation before (players being afraid of the ball).

• What triggered it in their case?
• What did you do to help them?
• How old are the players you work with?
• Is there anything in particular you’d like to know about helping players get over their fear of the ball?

This seems to be a topic that I get e-mailed about a lot lately, so I just wanted some of your thoughts on it in case you were also dealing with the same issue.

Leave me a comment and let me know.

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Bill Hillhouse Pitching Location Update

Location for the Bill Hillhouse 2-Day Pitching Clinic in Hawaii (Oct. 10-11) has been set at St.  Francis High School. Registrations are already coming in for the clinic and spaces are limited! For more information, print out the flyer at http://www.allaboutfastpitch.com/BH2009.pdf

Grab your registration form at http://www.allaboutfastpitch.com/BHR2009.pdf

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We’re having an interesting discussion over at Fastpitch Haven about setting up your batting order. It was actually our Fastpitch Question of the Week last week and so far the responses have pointed out:

• some differences in doing a line-up for the younger age groups vs the older age groups
• opinions on how to utilize the #9 slot
• and some good points about power hitters and the 4 slot

Do you believe the “best power hitter” on the team should always be in the #4 slot?

What if she hits tremendously in the 3 or 5 or even 6 slot and never really produces the same in the 4 slot? Would you leave her there since she’s the best power you have or would you put someone with less power in that spot so that you can return your “power hitter” to a slot where she produces better?

If you’re a coach and have moved a great power hitter out of the 4 slot because she simply doesn’t produce there, how many times have you been questioned or second guessed on that decision?

You can leave me a comment here to share your thoughts OR if you want to join us in the discussion over at Fastpitch Haven, we’d love to have you!

Photo: courtesy of http://flickr.com/photos/nomad7674/148503229/

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One question I get asked a lot is about younger players and their front side when hitting. Many of them either bail or they do not have a strong front side. Often times their weight ends up over their front foot which is not where it should be.

So how do you help correct this issue?

Well, I just came across a tip from Dan Huff of Baseball Strength that addresses this issue. He actually suggested utilizing slide boards to help with hitting balance issues. Read what Dan had to say in this article.

image source: flickr http://flickr.com/photos/borderhopper/2394270647/

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I’m sure you’ve seen it before: batters who are completely intimidated by the pitcher they are facing. This audio talks about what happens when batters can’t get past that intimidation factor and a tool that can’t help you help your hitters.

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Thanks to a Fastpitch World member for giving me the headsup on this website. So far, I’ve only watched the baserunning video, but there is some GOOD stuff there. If you want information, with a visual video to go along, about pitching, catching, fielding, and more, you have to take a look at this website.

CLICK HERE to go to the page of softball instructional videos.

This link will take you straight to the pitching video.

I hope you enjoy these. Oh yeah, did I mention that it’s Mike Candrea and members of the USA National Team that are doing the instructing/demonstration in these videos?

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Hey – look what I found on YouTube! It’s a clip from this past Hawaii High School Season. This is from a Kailua/Castle game. These two teams have always played each other tough and Kailua is one of the well known “powerhouse” teams in the state year in and year out. In this clip, Castle is on defense and Kailua’s B. Tokunaga is up to bat. Take a look at this clip…..

If I’m not mistaken…the homerun stood in this game and Kailua went on to win the game even though they were down in the late innings of the game.

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I just received word from Cheryl Beck over at Mattingly Baseball that they are offering a very nice discount on fastpitch aluminum bats to all softball teams. They are clearing out their stock of the MVP line of bats and your team can benefit from this clearance sale! All these bats DO feature the very unique, very comfortable, patented V-Grip handle. There is a minimum order of at least a dozen bats, but I happen to know that these bats are being offered at an unbelievable discount.

To find out exact pricing and further details about this offer, please contact Cheryl Beck at cheryl.beck [at] mattinglybaseball.com (replace [at] with the @ symbol, remove all spaces).

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