Youth-Athlete's Sport Blog

On March 31, 2008, ESPN was running Kobe Bryant's jump over an Aston Martin.  Is it real or fake?  Not to be outdone, on April 24, 2008, Kenny Smith (a TNT Sports commentator) had to duplicate the stunt.  Did Kenny make it?  Watch an see.

WARNING:  Do not perform this stunt at home! More...

Two parameters determine how far a batter will hit a ball.  The first, and most important, is the speed at which the bat travels through the hitting zone.  The second is the weight of their bat.  As a player physically matures, a batter can increase their bat weight while maintaining the bat speed.  On the other hand, player's physically maturity does not have any impact on their bat speed.  Bat speed is a function of the development of fast twitch muscle memory.  Lets work our way through the biology of muscle fiber, overload and underload batting practice, and a couple of drills that help players develop a quick bat through the hitting zone. More...

With this post, we will finished the description of the complete swinging mechanics.  We started with the stance, which is the structural foundation.  Next, we described loading the power into the bat by shifting your weight and hands backwards.  Next was maximizing the bat speed through the forward weight transfer and hip rotation with the hands tracking directly toward the point of contact in a repeatable and efficient swing.  Finally, we will describe the extension through the hitting zone and ascending bat path.  This enables the batter to hit through the ball and finish high on the swing. More...