The other day during a lesson I was struggling to get a young player to understand that a big part of hitting the ball hard was swinging with a consistent great effort. I tried a bunch of my old standby lines to help her understand. We kept at it for a few minutes but still no real consistency in her effort to hit the ball hard.
So I asked her specifically, “what would you want to hit as hard as you can?” and she had a helpful response. She said she hates vegetables. I asked what kind of vegetable she was talking about and she said, “All of ’em!”.
So I asked her to swing like she was hitting a Brussel sprout or a bunch of peas, and boom, she started hitting the ball hard, swing after swing. I asked her what changed and she said, “I’m picturing the ball like something I hate so I want to hit it super hard.”
Great! So we coined a new phrase, just for her, but don’t be surprised to see it on the back of a t-shirt coming to you soon.
“Hit It Like You Hate It!”
About the Author: Tory Acheson brings a wealth of knowledge to the Fastpitch Prep staff. He has coached at all levels of the game, including the last 25 years at the college level at the University of Wisconsin – Parkside, Tennessee Tech and Kennesaw State. He began his coaching career at the high school level spending 9 years Whitnall High School in Greenfield, Wis. and is now working as a professional softball instructor.
