TEE DRILL

I know there are many types of Tee Drills, but here are a few I personally like to use.

1. The Hip turn: Place a ball on the tee at hip level. Have a batter hold a bat behind her hips and assume her normal batting stance. Have her pivot at the hips and knock the ball off the tee. This teaches proper explosion and hip rotation.

2. Locate the tee at the proper impact point for inside pitches and or outside pitches. Place the balls on the tee and have the batter hit from her normal stance. This teaches the proper technique for hitting these pitches. This drill should be supervised by the batting coach at all times to ensure proper mechanics and techniques.

SOFT-TOSS

We rarely use a full size "BALL" and "BAT" when doing this "drill". The reason for this is to intensify the drill and the skill being taught. Position your self to the batting side (right side for right handed batters) and slightly ahead of the batter. Toss the "BALL" at the hip of the batter. You want them to make contact with the ball in front of their body. This is the "CONTACT" Point. The toss is especially important!! You do not want an slow-arching type of throw; but a crisp-snappy toss. The toss should be crisp, but not too fast and out in front of the batter. It takes some practice to get it correct. We use this drill to teach the proper mechanics of the swing. Make sure the "batters" are 1. pivoting correctly and early enough. 2. rotating their hips with an explosion toward the ball 3. unlocking their shoulders, elbows and wrists in sequence while throwing their hands straight to the ball (watch for hands dropping and correct this). 4. Watching the ball all the way to the "BAT" and continuing to watch the "CONTACT POINT" after the "BALL" has been hit.

The proper stance is very important. It should be a balanced stance with about 60% of the weight on the back foot, eyes level, bat in launch position (NOT WRAPPED BEHIND THE HEAD), knees slightly FLEXED, and door-knocking knuckles lined up. The stride should be a short, smooth lift and move type of stride. Upon impact with the ball and also at follow-through, the batter's body should be in a slightly curved position toward the ball (inward "c"), this insures that all the weight and power went in to impacting the ball.

We have used many things for "balls" and "bats". To increase concentration on the ball, try using tennis balls,practice whiffle golf balls, coffee can lids (plastic ones like frisbees), but my favorite (and the players favorite) is to use black-eyes peas. We start hitting them with a full size bat, but quickly move to using a "thunder-stick" or a home-made "bat" I made which is about the same size as a "thunder-stick" but with less weightinserted in the end. I feel we are trying to teach muscle memory and too much weight teaches a slower swing, but others think diferently. During warm-ups before games, I always hit the peas and them some LOUD, regular sized softballs. These are the hard ones and they sure turn some heads! The girls love the looks on the opposing teams faces when they hit these loud balls. We hit into a portable backstop so there is no time lost chasing balls.

One of my favorite drills is the "High-Low" drill with the practice golf balls. I hold 2 balls in my hand and toss them into the "contact zone" and call out either "high" or "low". The player must hit the corresponding ball. I tried it once with the black-eyed peas and was quite successful.

If the batters start to "cheat" on soft-toss drills, I hold 1 ball in either hand and rotate them (like juggling) and toss one up. This way they do not know when the ball is coming. They all hate this, but it works!!

   One problem I've had over the years is getting the batter to follow through with power.

A friend came across this article in his local newspaper that showed a drill used by the best hitting team in his state. So I incorporated what they did with great success. Then I added a couple of improvement to make the drill more realistic, by adding a timing factor to the drill. Take a G.I. bag fill it with old pillows ( don't make it to heavy) tie the top closed with some bungi rope, and hang this from a limb or a rafter so the center of the bag is about even with the batters hips. I usually put a portable home plate just under the bag 1/2 way so the batter doesn't creep up on the bag, and to teach proper contact point with the ball. I then pitch a windmill to the bag from only 20 feet ( I'm not that fast a pitcher) , but from only 20 feet I seem very fast.

I use a regular softball for this drill. It teaches follow through, pitch timing, and bat speed.

This drill works great at any age level, and if you use it consistently you will see a few home runs from even a beginner team. Use this drill along with soft toss or your batters will develop a proper aim with their swing.

If you are having trouble with players over striding I recommend building stride boxes using 2x4's. The inside of the box should be no longer than their bat as well as the stride should not be longer than the bat. We build a 32inch, 33inch and 34 inch stride box and use it during our soft toss station. The front foot hits the front of the box and it causes the players to shorten the stride. Good when hitting in doors.

This drill was sent to me by Mark. Thanks, Mark!!!!!

I learned this one while watching my daughter go through a batting clinic taught by a group of women that play, coach, and recruit for a major university.

The drill involves a cone, a ball, a 36 inch piece of thick rope (taped at both ends to stop fraying) and a lot of concentration. Place a ball on top of the cone and attempt to take a proper swing with the rope and hit the ball solidly. You will want to tell the girls to release their top hand to prevent hitting themselves in the back with the rope. If this is the perfect drill to practice as it will aid in concentration, stride and hand positioning.

Although I will post it, be careful with it. Younger players tend to concentrate on hitting every ball tossed and mechanics may break down if used a lot.

Just an enhancement of the traditional soft toss drill.  I find that, especially with young hitters, they will get on information overload. 

Sometimes you have to force them to use what they have learned...without thinking about it.

Merely put two or even three "tossers" into the mix when doing the soft toss drill.  Time the tosses so that the batter has only enough time to pull the hands back, reset their balance and swing.  I find that this gives them a true feel for the swing....without getting too bogged down with information.

LARRY...FROM KENTUCKY!!!!

We use tennis balls a lot in practice. I toss them from the normal position a lot to make certain the mechanics are correct. I also toss them from behind the batter. This makes the batter watch the ball all the way to impact and teaches a quick, compact swing. I also like to bounce the ball into the "contact zone". Another drill I like to use is the walking-tossing drill. Using tennis balls, I walk slightly in front and to the side of the batter and bounce a tennis ball into her "contact zone". The batter must load up and swing while walking. I bounce 3 or 4 balls as we walk. This is tough, but the players love it once they can hit the balls. For beginners, I recommend bouncing the tennis balls and hitting them with a regular bat, but then move to a smaller bat.

Use some type of back-stop and a bucket or old milk crate. Have one player hold the ball at shoulder height and drop it straight down into the strike-zone. The batter must see the ball and react fast enough to hit it. This drill teaches the batter to take their hands straight to the ball. Have the player dropping the balls, drop them at different times so the batter does not "cheat". The batter can watch the release of the ball, but cannot move prior to the ball being dropped. This drill has increased our team bat speed a lot. We use this drill in warm-ups before every game and as a team, we are making contact with the ball in .900 range. Something must be working!!!

Front Barrier Drill: Have the batter stand one bat length from a barrier (I prefer a net to prevent damage to the bat, but you can use a fence). Have her take her normal swing. If she hits the barrier, she is unlocking her elbows before her shoulders and getting wide on the swing.

Rear Barrier Drill: Place a barrier directly behind the batter and have her take her normal swing. If the bat hits the barrier, she is dropping her hands. You can use this barrier even when you are using a pitching machine or live pitching for instant feedback to the batter that she is dropping her hands.

This is a great drill for teaching follow-through. Get a couple of old basketballs and take most of the air out of them. Place them on one of those orange cones you see at construction sites (I got one donated by a site once although I don't think they knew they donated it). Have the batter take her normal swing and follow-through right through the basketball. HAVE THEM WEAR HELMETS!!! Use regular sized bats for this drill.

This drill was sent to me on my e-mail!! Thankx Jim!!

Here's a drill you may find useful. Construct a batting beam with pieces of 2" x 4"'s. The main piece should be about 4' long. Two cross pieces about 18" should be nailed about 16" from each end of main piece. Have player stand on this during soft toss. The player should remain on beam throughout swing. The beam encourages the batter to be on the balls of the her feet and to maintain a balanced swing. It also helps the batter to take their timing step straight to the pitcher. The players don't like this beam at first, but it does help.

Jim k.

This drill was sent to me by Brian Bourke. Thankx Brian!!!

My name is Brian Bourke and I am coach of an 11-12 girls team in Waterloo Ontario Canada...

It's an old drill...but one I find very effective...You need a softball.....some thick garden gloves and some rope about 12 feet long.. Drill a hole through the softball. and insert the rope...tie a knot on both sides of the hole.... Put the batter in her regular stance, and...stand opposite her....start swinging the ball on the rope, through her strike zone. Hang on tight....cause if they get a hold of it ...the balls takes off (thus the gloves) I find this is great because you can vary the speed of the ball....and the location... It's especially useful when you've got a variety of kids working on tees, in a cage etc...and there's some one on one time...cheers Brian bourke.

I had forgotten about this until one of my visitors reminded me of it. Thanks to George Childress!!

ON-DECK HITTER

There are several products on the market that do essentially the same thing, they are called "On Deck" hitters. They are basically a ball on a rope, that is tied to a swivel and then secured to a pole or rod and that is mounted to the fence either by bolts (U-bolts to mount to the fence pole) or springs (to mount to the fence directly). The on deck (we use "in the hole hitter") batter goes behind the fence and takes swings at the "on deck" device before she goes to bat. It is a great warm-up tool and we take ours to every game we play. I like to have a coach out there with the batter to make sure she is using proper fundamentals and intensity!!

I got these drills somewhere on the internet. If someone can tell me where

they came from, I will gladly give the proper credit. They are GREAT!!

HITTING

If your players batting mechanics are good, and they're still not hitting the ball, they are probably not seeing it correctly, or perhaps not following it right to the bat. Here are a few drills that are designed to really keep your eye on the ball

BALLS AND STRIKES DRILL: Have the pitchers throw pitches and the batters just watch the ball into the glove and call balls and strikes. You'll be amazed at what batters think are balls. The best thing for good eyes are just seeing live pitching...lots of it, even if it is just being a batter while your pitcher is doing a workout. You can learn to read different pitches, and the pitcher gets better practice when there is a batter in the box.

HITTING DIFFERENT OBJECT: Try golf whiffle balls, small coffee can lids (thrown like Frisbees), pinto beans, etc, anything that has them concentrating on a smaller than usual target and hitting something that moves, rather than moving in a straight line. This will improve their concentration and teach them to follow the ball all the way in.

MISS/MISS/HIT: Use a series of three pitches to teach them to watch the ball. The first pitch, the batter swings over the ball. The second pitch, swings under the ball. The third pitch the batter hits the ball. Repeat this drill until they can do it every time. After that, you can really fine tune this: Pitch 1- just nick the top of the ball. Pitch 2-Just nick the bottom of the ball. Pitch 3- Hit it right in the middle of the ball.

TWO-BALL SOFT TOSS: Get two different color whiffle balls (say red & white) or mark half of the balls with a different color dot. Works better with whiffle baseballs or even golf whiffle balls. Its easier to toss smaller balls plus helps hitters in focus and coordination. Toss the two balls at the same time (from same hand) and ask the player to hit one of them, either red or white. This helps players to coordinate, focus and react ti=o hit the correct color ball.

PICK A NUMBER: Take 3 or 4 balls, write a number on each ball. The players job is to see the ball well enough to tell you which number is on the pitched ball.

WHEN TO FOCUS: Try teaching them HOW to watch the ball. Everyone tells the player to watch the ball but few ever tell them how. The player will focus hard on the release point just as the ball is released, then follow the ball into the strike zone. Don't start early. If you look real hard at any point, it starts to fade in about two seconds. It takes under one second for the ball to travel from the pitcher's hand to the batter, so if you look at the pitchers eyes during wind-up, and move to the release point just before release, it may keep you from looking to the release point too early.