What's going on guys? Welcome back to the channel and welcome back to the hitting drill series. Today, we're going to be talking about new hitters hitting on this, the swing path trainer.
So we've had hundreds of players over the years come in and use our tee. And one of the most common things that we see when they hit on it for the first time is when they swing, they hit the back of the board and we see that most commonly with younger players.
Now, what this cause is it makes you nervous or it makes them a little timid because they don't want to break the tee and it just makes them over all nervous and they don't have confidence in their ability to swing over it and not hit it.
So in today's video, we're going to go over a bunch of tips on So we've had hundreds of players over the years come in and use our tee. And one of the most common things that we see when they hit on it for the first time is when they swing, they hit the back of the board and we see that most commonly with younger players.
Now, what this cause is it makes you nervous or it makes them a little timid because they don't want to break the tee and it just makes them over all nervous and they don't have confidence in their ability to swing over it and not hit it. So in today's video, we're going to go over a bunch of tips on how to get new users to not hit the back of the tee and build up their confidence, so they can swing normally over it.
So the new hitters that are going to hit the back of the tee the most are going to be between five and ten years old. And it's also going to affect them the most. The second they swing down and they hit the back of that board, they get super nervous. Then they become really hesitant and they almost don't want to swing over it, because they're afraid they're going to break it.
Tip #1 Use a Foam Bat
So what we need to do for them is tip number 1, take their bat and get rid of it. What is really helpful for kids that age is getting a foam bat. Something like this, it's got plastic in the middle. So it's still super rigid but it's covered with a nice foam material so if they were to hit it, it's not going to make any noise.
It's not going to impact the tee at all. So this helps them just be a little bit more confident in their swing. So then they have the ability to swing freely and normally over it. As they get used to using this, after they're done with it, they can go back to their normal bat.
But this is great for hitting wiffle balls, tennis balls, and using the dry swing topper. The players that are between the ages of 7 and 15, I see a lot of kids that are using a bat that is just way too big for them. It's too long and it's too heavy, and they're not strong enough to control it. That's super super common. So when you have a player that's using a bat, that is just simply out of the realm for him to control, the first thing that's going to happen is when he's bring his hands through the barrels going to drop, because he's not strong enough to support it up here.
So when he does that, the bat is just going to drop and he's going to consistently hit the back of the tee.
Tip #2 Use the Right Bat
So tip number two is to not have them not use their normal bat for a while. Get their old bat from when they were younger something that is shorter and something that is lighter. Something they know that they can control and have them swing over the tee with this.
Once they proved that they can consistently swing over top of the tee and not hit the back then they can try and go back to their old bat. But have them take thousands of swings with the bat that is much shorter and much lighter, so that they can just drill that muscle memory of the correct swing path into their brain.
So now that we've gone over everything you can do with the players bats to help them get avoid hitting the tee, now, we're gonna start to talk about things you can do with the tee itself.
Tip #3: Work with the Angle
So, for tip number three, the first thing, you can do is work with that angle. And what I mean by that is set the board angle a little bit steeper to how they actually drop their hands and let them hit over that angle for a little bit, so they get used to hitting over the board without hitting the back of it and slowly but surely start to flatten that board out until it's the correct angle.
And again, it should be a nice slow process so that they can continually make the adjustments and it's not too big of adjustment for them. So by the end of it, they've got the correct bat angle and their swinging through the hitting zone versus swinging underneath it.
Tip #4: Close the Gap
So for tip 4, we're going to be adjusting the tee again. So what we're going to do here is we're going to take the back of the tee and we're going to move in anywhere between three to six inches. So we want the tee facing right field.
We're also going to scoot up in the box. So we want our front foot just about even with the front leg of the tee and what this does is it closes the gap between the back of the board and the hitter. So now I'm being forced much earlier to keep my bat head up and not drop my hands. So when we're swinging through this, were keeping our hands in, we're forced to keep the barrel up, and swing all the way through.
Tip #5: Learn What the Correct Path Feels Like
So for tip number 5, we're going to leave the tee exactly where it is. We're not going to move it. We're not going to adjust it, we're just going to leave it. So what we're going to do here is you're going to get to your contact point and you are going to follow that bat path back. Once you get to your starting position then you will swing all the way through.
So the idea behind this is to feel what the correct bat path feels like. And then, once you go for your normal swing, you're trying to recreate that feeling of not dropping your hands, staying on that correct swing path, and finishing through.
Tip #6: Pendulum Drill
So the sixth and final tip that we have for you today is a drill that you can do and it's called the pendulum drill. In any good swing the bat is going to be like a pendulum and we're trying to be on that ball path.
We don't want to swing down to the ball, we don't want to swing up through the ball. So to reinforce this over the swing pass trainer, what we're going to do is we're going to keep our feet on the ground, we're not going to move them, we're going to try and minimize how much we're using our hips, and you're going to start with the tee up at its highest height, get the correct angle, and what we're going to do is we're going to go back and forth, just like a pendulum.
So we're drilling muscle memory here. Just trying to stay over the swing path trainer and not drop the hands. We're trying to mimic that pendulum motion. So what we're going to do is we're going to start with the bat on the outside of our shoulder and we're just going to go back and forth.
We're working on not hitting the back to the tee. We're trying to stay in between the guide board and the guide bar and when you've done that enough and you feel comfortable, you can start to move it down. Establish that correct angle again, and just keep on doing that same thing back and forth through the tee, trying to recreate that pendulum. So the more you do this, you know you do it at all pitch highs, all pitch locations, you start to drill that into your muscle memory.
And then, once you feel ready, you feel comfortable with it, put the tee topper back in, put the ball and start taking full swings through the tee.
Thank you guys so much for watching our video today. If you have any questions about the drills or our swing path trainer, if you have any comments, wanna tell us how cool this clear bord is, leave a comment in the comments below. Please like this video. Subscribe to our Channel and we'll see you in the next video.
