Fundamentals

I recently read an article that kind of had me scratching my head. http://www.girls-softball.com/2009/12/why-stress-fundamentals.html. It's long but very interesting.My daughter takes hitting lessons from a local college coach and I brought up the article for discussion with him. I was surprised to hear how many things that needed to be corrected when a kid enters the college ranks. I always assumed that the cream of the crop were in the college ranks and very little time was spent on developing or re-developing fundamentals.Examples that he gave were; not using 2 hands when fielding ground balls,poor throwing mechanics such as no trunk rotation, or overgripping the ball while throwing causing it to lose velocity. What are your experiences with this? My daughter plays 12u and I haven't spent much time watching the older ranks play.

 

Excellent article. I wonder what Jeter's adjustment was?

I see this over and over. I know I sound like a broken record at practice but the article's right, fundamentals are very important.

I hear quite a few kids complaining about sore elbows, or shoulders. I see them throw and I can tell, for the most part, their lack of proper fundamentals is the cause. I see kids fielding the ball with their feet together and they don't seem to understand why their throw goes anywhere except where it should.

My opinion is it takes much more time to learn the fundamentals of how than where. I believe much more time should be spent on the how.

If you can catch and throw correctly everything else falls into place--defensively.

Hitting is a different story. I've yet to find everyone agreeing on what hitting fundamentals are. I've been a serious student of hitting for well over 10 years and I find different theories every day--including today. Strange thing is, most of them make sense!

 

Not sure what was changed

Softballphreak:


I went back after reading this and tried to look up old footage of him to see if I could tell what changed. I can't see that anything has changed. Whatever it was, it seems to be a very slight change that apparently made a big difference. I emailed the author, but have yet to receive a reply.

Hitting fundamentals are all over the place. I hear so many different things being said and see many different styles being taught. I'm like you in the fact that I don't think there's just one way of doing it properly. I believe it's important to find something that works and not change for the sake of changing though.

 

Example

Hey folks, I have not read the article. I'm also not saying yea or nea on fundamentals. (i say yea). I'm not saying that college kids have proper fundamentals before, during or after college.

I'm telling you this and its a true gig.

Way back in the day, 'ol fishman could play decent ball. When it came time for recruiting, I had a ball....and had no idea.

So the Fish accepts a small scholly and thinks he's on top of the world.

My dad and I go to the school to sign the papers and outside the fieldhouse door is a big kid. I asked him if he was a catcher and he said no I'm a SS/3b.

OK, cool, I figure this guy is slow.

A few weeks later, at practice, our coach said "hey fishboy, line up and race with John. Huh, I'll smoke this guy, he's 245, I'm 155 dripping wet and all legs......that big kid could go. I realized that the talent base is different at the next level

The guy I was running against was also the middle guard for the football team. Not just any football team, this team actually placed 11 players into the NFL that year.

How does this post line up with this thread?.....

....well, its hard to explain with story after story but I'll leave it with ya'll like this.....theres a good reason why college coaches "go back to fundamentals". The game is bigger, stronger, and faster.


The race,....well I let him win. lol

Signed: never signed by the Yankees Fishman

Merry Christmas!

 

pretty good article. I think fielding fundamentals and hitting are two different subjects, like #7's dad says, the style of hitting, between linear, rotational, and everything in between (gadgets and such) are so widespread its hard to put that all in one place. its a matter of what works for that player.

fielding on the other hand, not so much, however even in fielding I am finding a difference in fielding styles/fundamentals a challange.

I am getting my information from my statment after having my dd workout all winter with coaches from the Oregon Beavers, Oregon and ducks and Wa Huskies while there. They all taught the same thing. One thing they said seemed to be common is, that because most coaching staffs for tb teams are either to strapped for time, or fields or whatever, they spend most time on hitting and defensive field time and they simply dont have enough time work just simple fundamentals continually. This is why my kid wanted to work on defensive handling and took lessons, just for this. And the improvement from 14-15yr old, was astounding. for a matter fact, she went from a confidence level that said, I will never be a good ss, I am going to concentrate on being an excellant 2nd basemen (and I aint sayin the second baseman is a weak position, cause in fp, it aint), to becoming a recognized ss in our area as the kid you might as well not try to hit through. her confidence level soared and it just got better. Now she is a "I will simply play anywhere on the dirt you need me" player. and over and over, those coaches just said, yeah, just not enough time spent at the 10 - 12u level, to make this happen more often. and it was all feet, hand, and body manipulation work. nothing bigger needed than a fair sized gym and a handful of softies.
the one difference I see is, some coaches are teaching the soft hands, pull the ball in style, and some coaches teach the charge, scoop and up to the ear system. changing a players learned discipline in this, I believe is not a good idea. some kids will be able to transition, other will not. player to player will should decide this.

a few years ago, I took a coaches clinic from tim hill. tim had an oregon team (no kids of his), took the 16u national asa title and coaches still a dIII school in oregon. he had this kid, when she batted. held the bat with a split grip, hands about 4" apart like tomahawk. and said, she hit 400 like this, why would I change it. the only reason I mention it is, I have seen so much of a difference in the fielding vs hitting variations its just to much to grasp. so what needs to happen is you work with a style, and you find a coach that teaches that well, and stick with it. I mean, my kid went at 12u, as a linear hitter, hitting deep an aweful lot, to a lh slapper and back to rh as a rotational hitter. the changes through sooo much coaching has certainly been a negative thing in her performance. she continues to work, but you could see the decline over the 13-15year. she will get back I believe, but what I am saying is I guess is its tough to make a decision for learning when there is sooo much variation out there.
be specific about your hitting lessons, if you can find a coach that works on defensive fundamentals. do it.

 

Acronym "EXCELLENT" !!!

T--Together
E-- Everyone
A--Achieves
M-- More

Guru