Chunking

Many people ask me how it is I develop the swings of my hitters. Many people believe that you can’t teach everyone to have a good mechanically sound swing. They believe that your ability to hit was given to you at birth. While it is true that some people pick up on movement patterns and learn skills easier then others it doesn’t mean that everyone can’t learn them. With proper instruction and the right amount of deliberate practice anyone can become a good hitter. From a physical standpoint, hitting has to do with your ability to execute proper mechanics on hittable pitches consistently. Where most hitters fall short is their inability to execute these mechanics either as a whole or on certain pitches in particular locations. When hitters are introduced to proper swing mechanics they might become frustrated by an inability to perform the mechanics they are trying to learn. In addition they may have coaches or parents that become frustrated as well because the athlete isn’t picking up on or able to execute the desired adjustment. To which many athletes or coaches may simply give up and explain away the athlete’s inability to learn the skill by blaming some lack on inborn talent or not possessing the athletic ability necessary to make the adjustment.

Obviously, if you know me or have been following my other posts you know that I couldn’t disagree with this way of thinking any more then I already do. I feel that the key for coaches or athletes who are trying to make changes in their swing or the swings of their athletes is to not view the swing as a single movement but rather a group of smaller movements pieced together as one. What I do to develop my hitters is break the swing apart into smaller, easier to learn chunks. Small skills that when put together create one, superior movement pattern. When I run into an athlete that may have more difficulty learning the small skills necessary in the swing, I then break the small skill into even smaller chunks and build the skill that way until the athlete is able to grasp the entire movement pattern.

If you are working with hitters or if you’re an athlete trying to make changes in your own swing, break your swing down into easily learnable chunks. If you are still having difficulty making the desired change to your swing then break the chunk into a chunk and keep doing so until you are able to make the change you desire. Begin to think of building the swing as you would building a house. Start with a good foundation, set up the framework (the stance), and then piece it together one brick or one chunk at a time.