Teaching the Skills of Hitting

Hitting is an art and not all hitters are alike.  The coach must be willing to allow the hitter to find his swing.  The coach's goal is to identify the strengths and weaknesses in the hitter's mechanics and increase the competencies.

A foundation for improvement is positive reinforcement.  It comes in the form of praise and encouragement.  As a manager and coach, you need to be aware of the power of positive feedback along with the dangers of trying to motivate others or change behavior with the use of criticism, sarcasm or indifference. Positive reinforcement has been proved by numerous studies to be the best method of getting your point across to others, especially youth.

As coaches, we have a unique opportunity to enhance a youth's self-image by encouraging them to believe they can achieve a higher level.  If a player feels good about themselve, they will achieve at a higher rate.