Archive for December, 2009
So Much Stuff!
My daughter started playing softball last year, and it’s amazing how much equipment is required for beginning a new sport. I never realized how expensive it is to get into a new sport. Before her first practice, I had to buy her more than $200 in supplies. She needed softball turf shoes, a helmet, a gear bag, a uniform, knee guards, and countless other things.
When she found out she would be the catcher, I was happy for her. But I was soon saddened to hear I would have to purchase her even more gear. It turned out catchers needed chest protectors, leg guards and a special face protector! On top of that, during the first game my daughter’s right baseball turf shoe got chewed up by our family dog and I ended up having to buy her a new pair!
For me the most effective way to practice hitting is to use a batting tee and a bag of wiffle balls. Tee it up and start hacking. The sooner you can hit a wiffle ball cleanly off a tee, the sooner you will become a better hitter. When you hit a wiffle ball off a tee correctly, it acts like a knuckleball. You can hear the air going through the ball. When you don’t hit it correctly, you create spin on the ball and it goes all over the place. When the ball spins alot, I make adjustments to correct my swing.
Since I’ve joined a local softball league, I’ve started breaking out the tee and wiffle balls. It’s not the most exciting thing, so you have to be creative. I put my headphones on and listen to my favorite music while I concentrate on my hitting technique. The weight of softball bats is distributed differently, so it has taken some getting used to. If you find using a wiffle ball slightly embarrassing, you could still use a standard tee.