JUST SWING HARD!
By Will Lowrey
Youth Baseball (and softball) are family favorites, but are we taking the fun out of them?
Ask your child this; or better yet—look at him or her. Here are some
things to watch for:
• Is your child very tense or nervous in the box?
• Does he/she swing at less than 100 percent?
• Is the child making bad decisions such as swinging at bad pitches,
while “taking” good pitches?
As a professional sports instructor I see youth players struggling with these bullet points every day. You can help your child overcome these obstacles.
This season has proven to be the most productive of my six years as a
professional sports instructor.
This is largely because, recently, I began to notice how many of the
athletes were practicing so hard to have that "perfect swing” but were
not able to really take a “hard swing.”
In many cases, fundamentally, they had put in the time needed to develop
a good swing, but their on-the-field results had not yet come.
Here are two key things I realized:
1) These players were so anxious that it threw off their timing. You can have a perfect swing but if you don't "catch" the ball at the right spot, it doesn't matter. If you can't relax in a game, you won't have great timing. You can't react to the ball's speed and movement, and that produces bad decisions.
2) Very few of these struggling players actually swung hard. We have all taught so hard for so long to achieve that perfect swing, but often the athletes are afraid to just go for it. The number one thing that has helped me as an instructor is communicating that no hitter has to be perfect.
We will make mistakes and fail to perform our best, and that is okay. It's just part of the game, and the better we handle our successes and failures, the better player we will become. Believe it or not, I have a very hard time getting some kids to let go and swing hard because of their fear of failure. Once they do, the success stories start pouring in.
I also coach the parents as much as the kids. Parents need to learn to
say to their child, "Great job!" or "Just go for it!" and not "Keep your
elbow up.”
A hitter cannot think about an elbow, foot, shoulder, etc. while trying
to hit a moving ball!
My parting thoughts to every hitter: "Go up there trying to do something
great, instead of worrying about doing something bad."
Parents and Coaches … we can help instill that mentality. Good luck!
WILL LOWREY OPERATES ADVANTEDGE SPORTS IN CORINTH AND TUPLEO MISS., AND
JACKSON, TENN.
WWW.ADVANTEDGESPORTS.COM