Softball Tips - Watch and Learn

Softball fanatics love evaluating what those at high levels of play are doing. We may even watch the mechanics of some of the top players in Major League Baseball. As fanatics, we love to study those mechanics and try to learn from them in order to help our players, or our own children (male and female) become the best they can be.There is a danger in all of this, however. Namely an inability to keep what you see in context.While the mechanics of some of these great hitters make a good model and a good goal, it's important to be realistic in your expectations. Because like it or not, there is a huge difference between a 28 year old MLB player and a 12 year old girl.Let's start with the obvious: a grown man is much stronger than a young girl. Not just in the upper body, but in every aspect. Take the strongest 12 year old girl you've ever seen and put her in a cage match with a 28 year old male professional athlete, and the girl is going to lose. Badly. So expecting a 12 year old girl to have the exact same swing mechanics, including the explosiveness, of a 28 year old MLB player is not very realistic.Another obvious difference is age. The 28 year old MLB player has most likely been swinging a bat for longer than the 12 year old girl has been alive. In fact, he was probably reasonably accomplished by the time she was born. And he was four years older than she is now. With all that extra time to devote he SHOULD be better.Then there's the access to training. Hopefully the 12 year old girl has a knowledgeable hitting coach who is helping her on her journey to becoming a feared hitter. The MLB player also has a hitting coach, and probably one with a pretty good track record of developing high-level players on a consistent basis.In addition, the MLB player has access to millions of dollars worth of equipment, facilities, video programs, recordings of his at-bats against every pitcher in the league, a really nice weight training facility with its own strength and conditioning coach, and so on.If she's lucky, the 12 year old girl's coach or parent records her swing now and then and reviews it on his/her laptop. Maybe she has a few game swings available on video, and a membership to the local health club. If she's really serious she may be working with a trainer or following one of Marc's workouts, but it's not quite the same.Finally, there's a really good chance that our 28 year old MLB player has superior DNA to that 12 year old girl — which is the reason he is playing major league baseball in the first place. Some people are simply more athletic than others, just like some people are taller than others. That doesn't necessarily guarantee success, but it's certainly a nice head start. Coupled with everything else it's a huge advantage for the MLB player over the local 12 year old softball player.Don't get me wrong — it's good to look at the model swings, pitchers, etc. to see what the best in the world do. That is how we learn, and it's a great way to point our own players/children down the right path.But you can also get too caught up in it, expecting more than a young player is capable of producing.Keep in mind that kids are still developing all throughout their teen years. Their bodies, change, their minds change, everything about them changes. So it's important to keep what you see and what you want them to do in perspective.It's also important to remember that even the best mechanics don't guarantee success. As I've said before, there are no style points in softball. You don't lose a base on a home run for having an ugly swing, and having a great technical swing doesn't automatically mean you'll hit the ball. Still, the closer you can get to ideal (without getting in your own way mentally) the more likely you are to experience success.So yes, look at those models on the Discuss Fastpitch Forum, watch the World Series, DVR the WCWS or the Softball World Cup when it's on and learn all that you can. But keep in mind there are other factors going on and you'll keep from driving yourself — and your players/kids — crazy.Anyway, that's the way I see it.I'm eager to hear your comments...