Backspin Blogger

Driving on I-25 towards Denver in the early summer of 2004, I was on top of the world! I was to test my new found "Facts of Hitting" teaching program on one of the best American Legion Teams in the country and do some fly fishing! Heaven!!! With the 107 degree Arizona heat in my rear view mirror, so was my inferior, theory-based coaching style!  But I was nervous as a fish out of water! How was it going to work? How would the kids and coaches receive the information that was so foreign to me, a baseball lifer, just a few months earlier? Am I walking into a perpetual mine field called baseball tradition? Would they like me as a coach? Would they respect me? But most important of all... would it truly make each one of them better?!? And would there be an explosive hatch while I was their so my fish stories wouldn't be fish stories. The whole trip, I had fished thoroughly through my mind for answers to try and be prepared for any and all questions. Arriving ea...

Scott and Tagg Bullock As I Travel across the country, I have the invaluable and life-changing chances to meet people of all ages, genders, beliefs, professions, hobbies, etc... it is truly a gift of the highest quality on this earth. I have met hunting and fishing guides who are the cream of the crop in their industry. I have met a man who ran USA Gymnastics and turned our countries program into THE elite program in the world. I have met teachers and bankers and on and on.  But the people that may be as impressive as any is the small group of elite coaches I run into. It is an interesting study as to why some are extremely successful-I define successful coaches as ones that win, actually coach, teach kids on and off the field, live their lives as exceptional role models for their kids and help produce and pass on their kids to the next level - and some struggle in one area or another. The elite coaches take on the responsibility of running a...

The Five Areas of Hitting Development Most hitters and coaches think that working on hitting is taking batting practice... they are correct but only partially. Understanding, addressing and working on all the components of being a good hitter is the only way to maximize any hitters potential. Each hitter is an individual and each has their strengths and weaknesses but going through this checklist may help identify both and get them on their way to marked improvement. The swing  The actual physical swing mechanics  Creating a “sound or mechanically correct” swing gives the hitter the best chance for contact and force(power) The phase we all work on the most The mental approach Ignored by most instructors(because of the lack of concrete ideas and it has the widest variety of opinions, thoughts and ways the element is applied) This can be anything from their approach at the plate to practice habits Vision, tracking, pitch recognition and decision making ...

TIMING STRIDE This baseball swing mechanic, or softball swing mechanic,  is the movement of the front foot towards the pitcher or just a “lift” of the front foot depending on what you do individually. 1.     Length of the stride is directly related to how your base is in the pre-pitch position. (see base) 2.    Front foot must be down early or at the latest, on time … never late. 3.    The front foot should be down around the time the pitch is about ½ way s to plate. 4.   One major fault with many hitters is that they don’t get their whole foot down        early enough or not at all. Coach speak calls getting the whole foot down, “heel plant”, because some           just land on their toe. Make sure the whole foot gets down early. TIP: There are several different “triggers” … Chipper Jones uses a toe tap, A-Rod picks his knee up almost to his waist,...

A Proven Teaching Method As you read this, think about what we want in the end – a road map per say. 1.         You will know the  commonalities  of exceptional hitters.(Swing mechanics of the best players   on earth) 2.        You should know what the hitters do from head to toe and from the start of the swing to the end of the swing. This will be the model we use. Use the photos throughout as references for all the topics and concepts. The program is taught step by step . It is also the way it is best learned. *** One major problem I have witnessed over and over is “over-coaching”. It is very difficult to work on more than one thing at a time. Work on one thing, one technique, one commonality, one drill at a time. Then after a few workouts working on one technique, review the material, work on it a little and go to the next. Less is more sometimes. Less information at one time equa...

The Fast-Pitch Softball Study …why we teach, what we teach    As I was introducing myself to the Fast Pitch Softball world in 2005, I observed as much as I could. Living in Arizona , I was lucky to have some of the best programs in the country. High level recreational teams, high school teams, University of Arizona and Arizona State University -- all just minutes from my home. I was intrigued by several observations I made. Then, I just started asking questions, and more questions (examples below)and more questions to anybody who would listen I then started asking the “experts” some questions. The ”Experts” I am referring to were the coaches and private instructors who I had been told were the leaders in the sport. I was trying to get a picture painted as to how this sport paralleled the other diamond sport in as many aspects as possible. ·          What are the similarities? ·      ...

  How YOU can be an effective instructor I have been a coach with the freedom of not having to teach (God bless all you teachers & teacher/coaches). This has allowed me to put in more time than most in studying the art and science of hitting and learning. I think it is just a formula that has allowed me to create a living teaching hitting. No life + obsession with hitting + no real job + living in Arizona + a lot of luck = The Krush Hitting Company. All this is just prefacing what I believe are the most important things I have learned about being an effective coach. Now this has changed a whole lot in my 30 year coaching career. The most important characteristic of being a quality coach is being a good communicator . Whether you are right or wrong, if you communicate well, you will be effective. The second characteristic is to be very knowledgeable (big surprise) in your field . What I really mean by this is to know a lot about a lot in the field. Acknowledging what ot...

Driving on I-25 towards Denver in the early summer of 2004, I was on top of the world! I was to test my new found "Facts of Hitting" teaching program on one of the best American Legion Teams in the country and do some fly fishing! Heaven!!! With the 107 degree Arizona heat in my rear view mirror, so was my inferior, theory-based coaching style!  But I was nervous as a fish out of water! How was it going to work? How would the kids and coaches receive the information that was so foreign to me, a baseball lifer, just a few months earlier? Am I walking into a perpetual mine field called baseball tradition? Would they like me as a coach? Would they respect me? But most important of all... would it truly make each one of them better?!? And would there be an explosive hatch while I was their so my fish stories wouldn't be fish stories. The whole trip, I had fished thoroughly through my mind for answers to try and be prepared for any and all questions. Arr...

"What is a good athletic position?" I ask that to every kid and coach in every clinic I put on? The most common answer is ridiculous!!! But wait... we don't know what we don't know... so how can the hitters or coaches answer the question correctly if they don't know the REAL answer? Rhetorical question? Maybe, maybe not. Let's address the problem baseball and softball, along with other "industries" have and don't deal with it well enough. We TEACH WHAT WE KNOW without sometimes stepping back and analyzing it and CONFIRMING what we teach is good stuff? Sometimes when I say this in a coaches clinic, I get the look a dog gives you when it gets curious about something... a turn and lean of the head implying, "What are you talking about?" OK, answer this as an example of possibly teaching something without thinking it MAY be not really a good technique to teach... 1. Hitters should squish the bug... I SAID IT FOR YEARS!!!! Dead wr...

Scott and Tagg Bullock As I Travel across the country, I have the invaluable and life-changing chances to meet people of all ages, genders, beliefs, professions, hobbies, etc... it is truly a gift of the highest quality on this earth. I have met hunting and fishing guides who are the cream of the crop in their industry. I have met a man who ran USA Gymnastics and turned our countries program into THE elite program in the world. I have met teachers and bankers and on and on.  But the people that may be as impressive as any is the small group of elite coaches I run into. It is an interesting study as to why some are extremely successful-I define successful coaches as ones that win, actually coach, teach kids on and off the field, live their lives as exceptional role models for their kids and help produce and pass on their kids to the next level - and some struggle in one area or another. The elite coaches take on the responsibility of...

I was at a youth baseball tournament in late March 2009 in Scottsdale Arizona. My good friends threw together a team of kids from Montana and Idaho and entered the tournament. Excellent vacation idea: sun, palm trees and green grass everywhere! On a secondary note, the kids got to play somebaseball in the 12U division. Winner, winner!!! Everyone was loving it...players, parents and coaches. Their first couple games were competetive playing a Colorado and an average Arizona team. Spirits were high as the climate and diamond were the focus of a beautiful trip. Getting some some swing instruction in local batting cages, doing batting drills in the warm Arizona sun... these kids and coaches were loving it! The next morning, the northerners squared off against a southern California team. They looked slick in their pregame routine and the boys knew it was going to be a challenge. They were wrong... in the second inning the Socal ball club dropped 13 on a talented but raw t...