Striking is a fundamental skill that most kids reach proficiency in by the age of 7 or 8. However the skill of striking a baseball that is coming in at 85 miles per hour or faster is something that arguably will not ever be mastered. In the major leagues hitting over .300 is a good season, but in school or most things in life a 30 percent is failing. Bad. So how does one teach an athlete how to strike a ball when a great job is failing 70 percent of the time. The decision making needs to be made quick, to be exact the person needs to react in around four tenths of a second (Carlson 2013).If a coach can understand simple concepts such as automatic processing, understanding what movements are needed, knowing what level their athletes are at and how to narrow their attention. Also knowing what cues the athletes need to focus on and which cues they can tune out along with helping each athlete find their own Individual Zone of Optimum Functioning (IZOF) are all very important steps to becoming a better hitter.
Teaching Context
I am taking this class because I plan on becoming a physical education teacher as well as a coach. For this activity I am going to be looking at it from a coaching perspective with high school student athletes because baseball is a bad physical education game and because I want to coach baseball. I will be teaching this skill as it were in a game situation because as a coach that’s what our main goal is.
Task Characteristics
The skill that I will be teaching is striking but more specifically is striking a baseball otherwise known as batting. Batting is a discrete skill inside a very complex and continuous movement pattern. This skill is known as a gross skill because it take great hip rotation, wrist rotation,...
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...e cues to the learner. The most critical element of this whole learning experience comes down to practice. If I set up an environment that encourages mental and physical repetition the building blocks for practice have been set. To finsh this metaphorical house I will give the students cues that will help them develop their swing. As the students are practicing I must provide feedback that is helpful to them to help them become the best batter they can be. With the right coach and baseball player can succeed and I think Crash Davis from Bull Durham said it best “This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains”.
Works Cited
Carlson, C. (2013). Science of Baseball. Retrieved Novemeber 4, 2013, from Exploratorium: http://www.exploratorium.edu/baseball/biobaseball.html
on my swing and pitching. If my baseball coach sees that my form is wrong, he instructs me on what I
Willie Mays once said “In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated to your chosen sport. You must also be prepared to work hard and be willing to accept constructive criticism. Without one-hundred percent dedication, you won't be able to do this” In order to succeed it’s required to put everything on the line to survive in the world of sports. Without devoting to sports there is no correct path to success. Nobody will be on the level of competition. Dedication also comes into play where people will need to be better in other areas. Technique is another must have to be involved with sports. If its not possible to do something right then try over and over until it is. Speed is needed to be able to get place to place or to shoot a swift shot. Working out lower body will help with strength which comes back to dedication. Therefore, everything comes back to each other and helps be better, faster, harder, and stronger.
In the infamous article “Batting Clean-up and Striking Out” by Dave Barry, the focus is on gender stereotypes, specifically the stereotypes such as women like to clean and men like sports. I can personally say I fit into this, because I enjoy cleaning, to an extent, but I think this stereotype can only go so far. I know my sister doesn’t like cleaning and my father outright hates sports, so they don’t fit into this. I find the generalizations highly annoying, because people sometimes expect me to just clean for them when I don’t want to; they use the stereotype as an excuse for me to do so. I know my father has encountered plenty of other men that have tried to persuade him to watch a football or other sports game with them and I can’t imagine
The game of baseball can be divided into three broad categories: hitting, pitching, and defense. No other facet of the game gets as much attention as hitting. For example, every year the MLB puts on a home run derby. No other part of the game draws as much attention. The traditional statistic that measure hitting ability is batting average (BA or AVG). To find a players batting averag...
Torque is another key ingredient to a good power hitter, or even a good hitter. Torque is the result of two forces being applied to an object in opposite directions. In this case the two forces are being applied from the hands and wrists onto the bat. As you start your swing, instead of moving your hands directly at the ball, you want your hands to start a rotation. The top hand begins to move backwards while the lead arm drives the end of the bat towards the ball. The torque invloved is created around the point of the bat that lies between your hands. This torque greatly accelerates the head of the bat which will have act with a greater force when (or if ) it comes into contact with the ball.
It was believed that by watching baseball, youngsters would learn to be better people because they would begin to imitate the professionals who became their heroes. Baseball taught quick decision making skills, competitiveness, how to sacrifice for the team, as well as how to accept authority. Hugh Fullerton, a modern student of baseball at the time, spoke of his thoughts of baseball:
The researcher has chosen to write this paper on hitting because she has played softball for twelve years and the perfect softball swing has always eluded her. The softball swing is one of the most difficult softball skills to achieve greatness in. There are a number of great hitters all with different batting stances and styles, each one comfortable to them. There are many different tactics and coaching ideas out there to help improve hitting. In fact, there are several videos now on the market to help the softball player perform better. Coaches often teach hitting drills to improve batting techniques and ability. Confidence is an important factor in hitting. If the player lacks confidence then she will not be a good hitter. Softball is not only a physical game but a mental game.
It’s a Sunday afternoon and the whole family is over at grandmother’s house playing a fun game of pickup baseball until they realize they do not know how to hit a baseball. Luckily it is a rather simple process that can easily be taught and learned.
When one throws a baseball properly they are using there entire body to generate a large force to propel the baseball. A general throwing position starts with a person rotated 90 degrees from there target with there throwing arm 180 degrees from the target and parallel to the ground. The person then starts rotating their body back towards their target while there throwing arm starts bending until it is almost 90 degrees to their elbow, while the arm is bending at the elbow the throwing arm is rotating such that the arm rotates back almost 180 degrees from the target. Meanwhile the person is leaping forward with the leg that was initially pointed at the target while there other leg is planted into the ground. The person is bending at their waist and the other arm is rotating into their body. Around the point where the driving leg strikes the ground the throwing arm is rotating foreword at a tremendous angular speed and the person lets go of the ball. At the point where the ball is let go the persons body pulls the planted leg forward and the throwing arm finishes its motion towards the driving leg.
Baseball is known as America’s national pastime, and has been played for over 100 years. Baseball can be a lot of fun, but is also extremely challenging to play, especially when trying to hit a 90 mile per hour fastball. I am a very devoted baseball player myself, and over the years I have learned numerous key things about the game. Baseball does not only require physical strength to hit and throw the ball, but it also requires a great mindset, such as, mental preparedness, concentration, and a positive attitude. Mental preparedness separates the average baseball player from the elite ones.
Broer was the first to call attention to the similarity of movement patterns used in seemingly dissimilar activities such as the baseball pitch, the badminton clear, and the tennis serve. Objective evidence of such similarities between throwing and striking activities within each of the three major upper-extremity patterns; overarm, sidearm and underarm. The representative activities from these categories across throwing patterns also showed great similarity in the muscular action of the lower extremity. Atwater distinguished between the overarm and sidearm throwing patterns in terms of the direction in which the trunk laterally flexed. When lateral flexion occurred away from the throwing arm, and overarm pattern was used; lateral flexion toward the throwing arm indicated a sidearm pattern. The underarm patter is distinguished by motion predominantly in a sagittal plane with the hand below the waist. Each pattern involves a preparatory movement referred to as a backswing, or windup, followed by the establishment of a base of support prior to the initiation of the force phase and ending in the follow-through. The base of support in the direction of the force application; forward and backward is a distinguishing feature of skill level. It has been well documented that more highly skilled individuals have longer strides. Once the base has been established, the more proximal segments begin the force application phase while the more distal segments complete the backswing.
I had played softball in P.E. enough to know the basics…or so I thought. I stood there leaning against my bat listening to Coach McGownd talk. As he talked I began absorbing everything he said. Gone were the days of simply stepping up to the plate to hit. Now, each at bat had a purpose and guidelines to follow in order to maximize the batters chance of successfully hitting the ball. There was so much information—proper stance, proper mechanics, how to set up in the batters box based on what you wanted to do (i.e. bunt, pull the ball, hit opposite, slap hit), and so much more. When Coach McGownd finished giving us our instructions, we shuffled off to our assigned station and began doing our assigned drills. I happily watched as the older, more experienced players took their swings. The sweet pinging of the metal bats against the balls and laughter blanketed the field. I patiently waited as the older players took their turns. When my turn came I picked up my bat, stepped up to the tee and followed along as my brain got its clipboard out and started checking off each step I had just learned. I took my swing and was awarded with a nice popping sound as I made contact with the ball. I knew then, that this sound of the bat making contact with a ball would become one of my favorite sounds. I continued to rotate through the drills enjoying the repetitiveness of the task. Time passed by quickly as I got lost in the
... physical education (J. Sproule, Ed.). Retrieved February 25, 2014, from Sage Journal website: http://epe.sagepub.com/content/11/3/257.short#cited-by
"Think. Don't just swing. Think about the pitcher, what he threw you last time up, his best pitch, who's up
One diamond, four plates, nine players, a sweaty uniform, cleats, a bat, and a ball are the only things I’ve dreamt of since my first baseball practice when I was three years old. I remember the way it felt to smack the ball off of the tee and have everyone in the stands cheer and scream for me as I ran for first base as fast as I could and never wanting to leave the field even after it had gotten dark outside and all the field lights had been shut off. Baseball has been all I’ve ever wanted to do with my life from the very beginning. I can’t imagine doing anything other than eating, sleeping, and breathing the game of baseball. So when people ask me, “What are your plans after high school?” all I’ve ever known myself to say back was, “I’m not sure but it 'll have something to do with baseball.” With this being said, I have decided to be a baseball coach so I can pass down the knowledge I have for the game I love so much to people younger than me that love it just the same as I have and still do.