Maintain your balance, or you will have no shot at driving the ball over the fence. A way to keep those ligaments strong and flexible for pitching, throwing or swinging is to condition and strengthen them. It can help you put more power behind the ball with each swing. Heavier bats will hit the baseball farther … Bat. Use Your Legs. additionally artwork on middle capability with ab routines. Never underestimate the value of leg strength for good, powerful hitting. Coaches use softball skills video to make their initial evaluation of recruits, and it can be the deciding factor between whether a coach wants to recruit you—or move on to the next athlete.And in modern recruiting, it’s sometimes the only way coaches get to see their recruits’ athleticism and skills. If you follow some simple rules, you will definitely see your bat speed improve! Working with a tee, the presenter and her discuss different contact points, and how to practice using the proper contact point to hit the ball where you want it to go. I will dig deeper in the next 2 sections. Tip 1 - Grip. 7 Techniques to Improve Your Softball Hitting & Bat Speed Use these exercises as go-to’s for players who need more core stability. NOTE: Yes, we do hit off of a fairly straight front leg. Begin by pulling your bat back and preparing your swing as you would normally. Hitting Specific Strengthening Drills. Tee Softball Hitting Drills with the Tanner Hitting Deck When doing tee work, it's important to have a visual reference to help hitters with their stance. Remember to: Drive your back hip through the zone. Coach: Jodie Ricciardi. High leg kick, Medium leg kick, or; Slide step/toe tap. Because girls' softball players don't have strong upper bodies, they must use their legs in order to make a strong softball throw. By ClubHouseGAS; Softball; This video features softball coach Crissy Rapp explaining some of the advanced techniques of softball hitting. The power of a golf swing is in the hips, but the direction and accuracy is in the legs. Use your hips to generate power. Lift your leg from the side plank position and make small circles. Holding your glove outside of your body when you pitch is the equivalent of peddaling a bicycle with one leg! How to Throw a Softball: Throwing is a key component in the game of softball. Drill Braun is able to use the momentum of his body, falling towards the baseball and putting all of his energy into the swing. Experiment by using a lighter bat if you are not getting the bat speed you think you need. This hitting drill is great because it works all the little muscles and promotes stability in the abs, legs, arms, forearms, and wrists, It also shows the hitter how important ground force is and getting through the baseball. Your chin and cheek should be touching your back shoulder at this point. But it is the strength of the legs that enable the abdominals and trunk in general, to promote bat speed. How To: Use Advanced Techniques to Improve Softball Hitting . Do 20 clockwise and 20 counter-clockwise. It's the Same Swing. This should not be confused with hitting from your front foot. ... Increase Your Softball Hitting Power With This 4-Day Workout Plan. If you want to make the most of your players hitting development start engaging them, teach them to use their power, mentally challenge them, incorporate the Acceleration Speed Cord or Power House Hitter into your hitting sessions to really teach your players to use their hips and legs … If you get too on top of the ball, you will hit a little grounder that may not be very hard. You must pivot your hips with quickness and purpose. Click the following link to read about softball hitting and to understand why technique in this area of the sport is so important. And as far as hitter using it for a timing mechanism, in a game it is so loud and there is so much going on it is difficult to even really notice the noise of the pitchers glove. Kneel down on your padding with your back leg, and stick your front leg infront of you, extended. Hold a 3-pound weighted ball in one hand. If you want to make the most of your players hitting development start engaging them, teach them to use their power, mentally challenge them, incorporate the Acceleration Speed Cord or Power House Hitter into your hitting sessions to really teach your players to use their hips and legs … Softball is usually a low scoring game in which only one or two runs are scored during the entire game, often due to the dominance of a highly skilled pitcher. Have had a bump for three weeks. You have to extend your arms through the zone and use your legs for power to hit solid line drives. Of what use would a 1000 horsepower engine be if the transmission slips?--- You can not efficiently transfer rotational energy into angular bat head acceleration with linear mechanics. Hitting Drills & Tips. If you are not properly using your legs in your swing, you have no control over where the ball will go. I got hit with a softball on my inner left leg, right above the ankle. Develop skills that are age appropriate. Having a catch with a p… It’s a great all-around exercise. Each exercise requires the use of a medicine ball. It helps with timing too for the pitcher, but that is definitely secondary. In softball hitting, the grip is one of the most critical parts of a quick bat swing. Turning more of your mass with Super-Thrust. At the time it didn't hurt that bad. Softball Pitching Technique . Your softball skills video is arguably the most important part of your recruiting profile. Emphasize control, accuracy, and good mechanics. Softball Workouts: Strengthening Exercises for Every Player The most common softball injuries are usually focused around the shoulder and the elbow. Hitting a baseball (or softball) is truly an art. Use a weighted ball to perform dynamic stretches. This training aid gives you immediate feedback on your swing, and is a little smaller than a regular bat, so you need less space to practice. Plus, it’s such a fun hitting tool that you just want to keep swinging and swinging and swinging. If you drop your hands hitting the bottom side, it will pop the ball up. But, with the more recent developments in technology, hitting is becoming more science as well. When gripping the bat, the hitter applies pressure with the fingers, not the palms. Point your elbow at your target and throw the runner out. Then, swing the bat, making sure to drive with your upper half, and hit the ball off the tee. Your feet should be in line with each other out toward the pitcher. Step 1. This video demonstrates the mechanics of throwing a softball using the legs. But we should not think of it as "throwing our weight onto (or against) a stiff front leg." Once you get into your hitting stance, you will want to have the proper lower-body mechanics to power your hit. Your hands and arms will send the bat through the hitting zone. Speak with a sports medicine professional or athletic trainer if you have any concerns about softball injuries or softball injury prevention strategies Use The Swing Bat softball hitting aid and take some nice full swings. It builds strong legs and can help a player throw faster, hit harder and sprint faster. Stay balanced and bend your legs as you stand up. Softball pitching is the most important skill in the game of softball, as the pitcher can dominate as no other player is able to do. These five tips give you some insight on proper hitting technique. Therefore, softball hitting technique is essential. First stand with your legs shoulder-width apart, arch your back and look downward, and circle the weighted ball below your chest, first making small circles in one direction and then the other, focusing on using the shoulder muscles to circle the ball. Your hands are still back – at or above the height of your back shoulder – and your bat should be at a … When performing this drill, just make sure you’re not using your new bat and if you do, make sure to hide it from mom! The legs do not appear active. Frank Velasquez, director of sports performance for Allegheny Health Network, recommends seven rotational strength exercises for your hitting-improvement training program. And this should be a natural move. Leg Strength. Keeping your hands back at the start of your swing will allow you to generate a lot of energy with your legs and core before bringing your hands through. The legs are a critical part of the baseball or softball swing. Before we dive into the top two hitting drills, watch two-time Olympic gold medalist, Michelle Smith, give a softball hitting tip. Every play in softball requires an accurate throw. If you’re not using your “lower half”, you won’t hit with power or consistency. How to Use Your Legs With a Golf Swing. And it’s how you grip the bat, how tightly you grip the bat, and in what position you grip the bat, that are important. Chest (bench) isn't very valuable baseball different than the capability you get on your hands from benching. in case you prefer to function on your hitting distance, hit the squat rack, do lounges, run, extensions, curls, abducters, adducters, something you're able to do for legs. Gaining more separation between the pelvis and the shoulders, and 2. For now, I want you to notice how his weight is still centered over the back leg … There are clearly defined ways to gain more power and more consistent success levels at the dish like: 1. As I point out in my piece on the various Myths About Hitting, if you spend even the briefest amount of time comparing what people teach, and what the best hitters actually do, you will immediately see huge, and glaring, discrepencies. Curl the weight using only your wrist as though you are trying to touch the weight to your forearm, before returning to the starting position. Objective. The knee shifts inside the toe during the fall. This training guide instills fundamental hitting concepts with a trusted visual aid and instills consistency throughout the tee drills in your movement and creating muscle memory. This week's Tip of the Week will focus on some targeted weight training using a weighted bat or your first baseman's bat (she is generally the biggest player on the team, so she should swing the heaviest bat). Communicate regularly about how your arm is feeling and if there is pain or fatigue. And in terms of movement, they really are not. As the swing begins, the stride is in place and the body begins to rotate. The Goblet Squat. The higher the leg kick, the more the back knee tends to track over the toe. However, the power will come from your hips when you swing. Most hitters cannot be “on-time” by just picking up the stride foot and falling forward. The goblet squat is the easiest, safest, best way to learn how to squat. At this point of your swing, your stride should not be open or closed. 1. “In hitting, the lower body is our power source,” Junior National Team Gold Medal-winning Softball Coach Pam Newton says. Having strong rotational power can add to your hitting profile. Although it may seem easy, many body parts are completing tasks simultaneously in order to have the throw hit the target. Welcome, visitor! This is a good video showing how the head, hands and legs all need to work together to produce an effective swing. With your heel on the same (front) foot in the air; Feet. 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