Softball Hitting - Cindy Bristow on Tracking and Pitch Selection

This weekend, we have the chance of having Cindy Bristow of Softball Excellence here in Montreal to do a coaching clinic all on pitching and hitting - the two most important aspects of our game.

Even though I've been around for a while, been to countless courses, clinics and conferences and been exposed to top coaches for years, I always love to learn how someone teaches something because you can always learn something and pick up a few tings from different people. This session is no different.

I believe what sets Cindy apart from many other clinicians is her ability to teach coaches how to teach the game.

Where many clinicians will give teach how to execute the skills and give you their favorite drills to practice them, she really show coaches how to teach the
various skills, not just how to execute it correctly.

Today was all about hitting. We spent the morning covering the fundamentals of hitting and she shared her favorite drills to teach it.

Personally, what I enjoy most was the afternoon which was all about learning
how to hit. The morning was about how to swing and the afternoon was about how to hit.

You see, there is a difference between swinging and hitting. Swinging is about having proper mechanics when hitting the ball. Hitting is about tracking the ball properly and making the right decisions and selecting the right pitches.

As she explained, 90-95% of hitting practices are about swing practice and maybe only 5-10% about tracking and pitch selection. Yet, tracking and pitch selection are very important aspects of the game.

Some of the reasons she gave to explain why coaches don't spend enough time on that aspect of hitting is because we don't know how to train it and we don't know how to integrate it into our practices.

She also made a distinction between tracking and pitch selection.

Tracking is about following the ball with your eyes when it's thrown towards you(or seeing the ball properly) where pitch selection about decision-making. You can track a ball properly but make poor decisions.

So, you've got to work on tracking and pitch selection and there are drills that either one and some other drills that work both at the same time.

The main message here is that to be a great "game hitter" and not just a practice hitter, you must learn how to hit a live ball that is moving at different speeds and in different directions - that means working on tracking and pitch selection.

I am sure you don't spend near enough time on that aspect of the game. I'm certainly guilty of that even though I am aware of it. I have to do more.

Remember, to be a great hitter, you must able to track the ball well and make the right decisions.

And to track the ball and make the right decisions, you've to practice it.

Who loves ya?

Marc
"Your Softball Peak Performance Coach"