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5130 Wilson Blvd Arlington, VA
Your Swing. Your Results.
Does “knob to the ball” really work? Sometimes is the short answer. When a player’s rotation is already good, it is a good cue for many. If rotation isn’t happening at an elite level then “knob to the ball” is likely to cause more problems than solutions.
As a baseball or softball player, you do not have to be a finished product in order to compete. Many times, athletes worry about the things they cannot currently do. Instead, when it comes time to play, you need to lean into what you can do.
Of course, we always want to continue working on the things we’re not good at. But you can still play the sport at a high level, even when some things aren’t working perfectly.
It’s very important to learn how to play your game and bring value to the team in your own way. If you continue to work hard, you will eventually become a more finished product—but it’s okay if you’re not there today.
One thing that’s really important to understand is what is developmentally appropriate for young athletes in their swing. It’s definitely a good idea to get the center of the body and the legs working the way they should for athletes below the age of seventh grade. It’s also fine to do upper-body drills to reinforce proper swing mechanics. However, many young athletes are not yet strong enough to make these moves functionally in their swing. So, when it comes to evaluating swings, make sure your expectations are set properly—otherwise, young athletes will feel like their swing is broken all the time. That’s not good for any athlete.
Sometimes, when it comes to thinking about your swing, less is more. When it’s time to compete, you can’t be out there thinking about how you’re trying to move all the time—you just have to compete.
When it’s time to practice your swing, you can think about it all day if you’d like. But when it comes time to play, you just need to play.
Being coachable is good. Being so coachable that you change your swing every two days is bad. Believe in what you do—if you don’t, you’ll fall for whatever someone else tells you to do.
Baseball, like all sports, teaches valuable life lessons to players. It teaches them how to struggle with adversity, communicate with teammates, and deal with failure. Here’s what David Jacobson has to say about the kinds of lessons people learn from playing sports.
When the only tool you have is a hammer, everything begins to look quite a bit like a nail. Many times, the reason an athlete has a bad game has nothing to do with their swing. But oftentimes, the only solution a coach has is to change the athlete’s swing—though that’s often not the right solution.
There are tons of reasons you could have a bad game that are unrelated to your swing. A coach should try to exhaust as many of those options as possible before resorting to swing changes. Unfortunately, many simple things—like adjusting your swing’s aiming point or doing basic visual training exercises—are under-taught and largely unknown by most baseball coaches. As a result, changing the swing is often the only tool in the coach’s toolbox.
That’s okay—this isn’t the coach’s full-time job. But as a player, you need to understand that changing your swing every week is never going to be helpful.
A lot of people swear by taking the first pitch. Here’s why that’s probably not your best strategy.
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