And so I watched our league’s home run Derby yesterday. So interesting to me to watch everyone’s swing. Kids have same type of bats, have had the same coaches for years, all teaching the same basic mechanics and some kids hit the ball really far and some don’t. So what is the difference?
It’s clear to me that some kids just really get their whole body into the swing and some just get their arms. Even with what looks like good mechanics I think the ability to really load and use all the muscles in the core and back are the key and it’s interesting to watch kids that don’t quite get it. I think the sequencing in the chain of muscles being used in the swing has to be very minute — thousandths of a second is the difference in right and wrong.
And how much is just raw strength? It would be interesting to me to see how many pushups a kid could do, or how long they can hold a plank position (e.g.; pushup position) and map that to distance. I suspect it correlates pretty well.
Something to think about — and definitely watch a home run derby and think about it.
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