Softball Flaws and Fixes - Dead Hands

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Suzy Willemssen
http://www.vafastpitchhitting.com  
703-978-3166

Suzy grew up in Waterloo, Iowa where she was the first female to play in the boys baseball program. She was a 4 sport athlete in high school and was an all-state player in volleyball, basketball and softball. She played softball at the University of Iowa, where she also earned a B.S. in Physical Education. Suzy is currently the head coach of 18u Glory Gold, an ASA junior olympic gold team and has just been named the head coach for Episcopal High School. Prior to the EHS position Suzy was the head coach at Chantilly HS and an assistant varsity softball coach at West Springfield High School. She has over 35 years of experience either as a player, coach or teaching professional. In addition to her private lessons, she has run or been an instructor for numerous youth, high school and college softball camps and clinics. Suzy gives instruction on all facets of the sport and is known for her knowledge, passion and enthusiasm for the game.  

Softball Flaws and Fixes - Dead Hands

This video will discuss softball flaws and fixes specifically dead hands.

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Transcripts

Suzy Willemssen: Hi! I am Suzy Willemssen and I am Head Coach for the 18 under Blue Jays Gold ASA Junior Olympic Fast Pitch softball Team. Today, we are discussing common hitting flaws and some fixes. What we are going to show you now is some softball drills for dead hands; very common belief in Fast Pitch softball is that we don't have a lot of time, so we almost have to be a statue and try to hit the ball. Well, all great hitters be it baseball or softball has a common characteristic of some type of movement. Something that will help them get in sync with the pitcher and you need some type of movement with your hands to get things started and preferably we want to do this is as the pitcher is coming.

So the softball drill that Megan will be demonstrating for us now is what I like to call rip it and tip it and in fact if you look at the best major league power hitters you will see some similarities in what they do with their hands and how they really get the hands coming back nice and cocked and coming through then it give you more power. Now yes in Fast Pitch Softballs, we don't have quite as much time to do that but you do need to do something. So again here is rip it and tip it a fix for Dead Hands; something to help your players get their motion started, help with their timing so they can hit the ball square and hard.

What Megan is doing right now is, she is cocking the bat and it's going to be pointing towards where you -- the second baseman, is going to be plane and she brings it back leading with her back elbow and so she is getting good separation and then she starts to swing with her hips and then the hands comes through. This is a great thing also to slow down; sometimes people get a little too rest with their swing. So you can see she is going slow and then go and really getting a good power, a good line on that point again. This is rip it and tip it; getting some motion and your player swings with their hands, so it can get some more power and distance.

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