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BVSA Teaches: Load & Transfer (Stride Drill)

BVSA Teaches: Load & Transfer (Stride Drill)

On this episode of BVSA Teaches, Frank Ramppen talks about the load & transfer (stride drill). One of the biggest issues with the transfer is the distance that you need to go to travel with your stride and the distribution of your weight. A lot of times, the kids don’t gain enough ground towards the pitcher and/or they don’t get their weight moving to their front side. They may have a long stride, but they really never transferred their weight. They’re still back here on their backside.

One really simple drill you can do is with no swings, drop swings, or on the tee. You can do it at every level of hitting. When they get ready to hit, line their foot up with this corner of the plate. Tell them they should stride to the front corner of the plate. That’s a good enough distance for most older kids. For 8 and 9-year-olds, it should be a little bit shorter, and if so, you could use a little foot fence.

Just give them an idea of when they do their load and transfer. then they could look down after their swing and see where their foot was. A lot of times, especially off the tee, we’ll be surprised that they’re barely moving their foot forward. It’s really hard to have a really efficient, effective transfer of weight when you’re not gaining any ground.

That’s a simple little one that you could use at the beginning, and you could do it throughout all their lessons or during the BAP’s to make sure team practices whatever to make sure that they’re gaining that ground. Then, obviously, work on the weight, which I’ll show you some other drills for.

 

Contact Us!

Here at BV Sports Academy, we are a passionate group of dedicated baseball and softball instructors with some pretty impressive resumes. More importantly we have been educated by Bobby Valentine himself. We teach a proven curriculum that has developed some of the finest talent in our area, and we’re just getting started. We’re have been blessed to be joined by some of the top programs around when it comes to other sports like lacrosse and soccer. Parties for all ages, we do those too! There is something for everyone at BVSA. We look forward to helping all athletes become the best they can be. If you would like to book anything or have any further questions, please email info@bvacademy.com 

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BVSA Teaches: Load & Transfer (Small Bat)

BVSA Teaches: Load & Transfer (Small Bat)

On this episode of BVSA Teaches, Frank Ramppen talks about the load & transfer (small bat). Hey guys, here’s a drill that might help. It’s good for kids or even older players who tend to disconnect when they get down and ready to swing. We don’t want the player to half-rotate and get a big looping swing. Instead, we need to stay connected up here and drive that left arm back. Accordingly, we need to be in the position to get down to contact, which should be with arms bent and staying connected at that point. Keeping those arms bent to generate power from the back leg is what we need to do.

To practice this, use one hand and put the short back with the one hand to help work through your load and transfer. Basically, drive straight to the ball without letting the arms lock out here. This drill may or may not work for you, so find what works best for your swing. Keep at this if it does help and work it into your routine.

Contact Us!

Here at BV Sports Academy, we are a passionate group of dedicated baseball and softball instructors with some pretty impressive resumes. More importantly we have been educated by Bobby Valentine himself. We teach a proven curriculum that has developed some of the finest talent in our area, and we’re just getting started. We’re have been blessed to be joined by some of the top programs around when it comes to other sports like lacrosse and soccer. Parties for all ages, we do those too! There is something for everyone at BVSA. We look forward to helping all athletes become the best they can be. If you would like to book anything or have any further questions, please email info@bvacademy.com 

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BVSA Teaches: Stick Drill for Hands Back

BVSA Teaches: Stick Drill for Hands Back

On this episode of BVSA Teaches, Frank Ramppen talks about the stick drill for hands back. Hey everybody, I’m Frank Ramppen from Bobby Valentine Sports Academy, and I’m here with Anthony Pascal, a junior at the University of Bridgeport. We’ve been working on something pretty high level, a little more specific than what you would teach with the little guys. But you know, Anthony is already a high-level catcher and hitter, and he does a lot of things right in his swing. The thing we’ve been focusing on is maximizing his separation. We need to get his lower half working in front of his upper half, so there’s sequence and maximizing his torque. It’s easier said than done because there’s a tendency for most hitters to want to bring their hands too early.

So we’re going to do a couple of drills to help him feel the right timing. Let’s start with the stick drill. All we do in this drill is put the stick down stationary behind him. He gets his hands back into a nice relaxed position, does his load and transfer, whatever feels natural to him. Then he explodes off of his back foot, starts the rotation, and keeps his hands back. He might move his hands a little because most hitters have some movement with their hands.

Overview of the Sequence

It’s important that when you stride forward, your hands work back a little or wait until the front foot gets down. Many young hitters tend to bring their hands forward too early. Anthony will demonstrate it a couple of times.

Nice little load, good transfer, back foot starts the swing, and you can see his hands stay back here. The goal is for his belly button to rotate and face out while his chest stays back. He can hit any pitch from that position. What many kids do is they rotate their chest and hands at the same time, making it more difficult to hit pitches away. Let’s do it one more time.

Great job, Anthony! That’s just one good drill that might help you improve. Keep up the good work, Amp!

Contact Us!

Here at BV Sports Academy, we are a passionate group of dedicated baseball and softball instructors with some pretty impressive resumes. More importantly we have been educated by Bobby Valentine himself. We teach a proven curriculum that has developed some of the finest talent in our area, and we’re just getting started. We’re have been blessed to be joined by some of the top programs around when it comes to other sports like lacrosse and soccer. Parties for all ages, we do those too! There is something for everyone at BVSA. We look forward to helping all athletes become the best they can be. If you would like to book anything or have any further questions, please email info@bvacademy.com 

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BVSA Teaches: Banded Half Swing

BVSA Teaches: Banded Half Swing

On this episode of BVSA Teaches, Frank Ramppen talks about the banded half swing drill. Here’s a drill about staying connected and having the lower half happen first, and then your upper half happen after. Many kids fly open too early with their front side, and lock their left side out, getting into a big spinny move. Instead, we want to get down to this position of being transferred. You want that lower half to fire, and then we want that upper half to stay connected, so it all rotates together, as that right elbow drops into the slot, and you find your contact point, depending on the pitch. Too many kids let that front arm go flying and do some strange things. 

You can get a really light band, you really can’t do this with an L screen. A couple weights up here to hold the L screen work for stability. We’ll take the lower half, and then this will move. This rotates first, then this starts to rotate, and this keeps this angle right, versus a lot of kids who lock it out and get long or do that and pull out. This kind of keeps you pulling that band straight towards your target. It will keep you on plane and keep you in the right place. This isn’t the easiest drill for kids to learn but just another idea you can try out.

Contact Us!

Here at BV Sports Academy, we are a passionate group of dedicated baseball and softball instructors with some pretty impressive resumes. More importantly we have been educated by Bobby Valentine himself. We teach a proven curriculum that has developed some of the finest talent in our area, and we’re just getting started. We’re have been blessed to be joined by some of the top programs around when it comes to other sports like lacrosse and soccer. Parties for all ages, we do those too! There is something for everyone at BVSA. We look forward to helping all athletes become the best they can be. If you would like to book anything or have any further questions, please email info@bvacademy.com 

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BVSA Teaches: One Handed Swing (Small Bat)

BVSA Teaches: One Handed Swing (Small Bat)

On this episode of BVSA Teaches, Frank Ramppen talks about the one handed swing (small bat) drill. Hey guys, here’s a short training session on a drill called the back one-handed swing. I prefer, and I think most people prefer, the left-handed version of this drill. This drill is useful for plenty of things, mostly for working on the bat path and staying inside the ball. Many times, when kids swing, their hands tend to go out, causing their swing to be too big and circular. Basically, this drill is designed to teach them to keep their hands inside the barrel. They’ll want to hit the ball up the middle or the other way with the proper bat path.

Make sure the kids stand up to the plate in their normal stance and distance away from the plate. Meanwhile, their backs both facing the side. Get in there nice and tight and stay behind the ball, transfer your weight, and get the barrel to the ball. For the right-handed swing, I don’t like this much because I think almost everybody tends to roll over their wrists on contact. If you want to make sure you’re doing it right, you’ve got to stay through the ball with your palm up and drive it. But everybody wants to hit the ball hard, so their first instinct is to roll over.

Overall, this drill is great for working on bat path and contact.

Contact Us!

Here at BV Sports Academy, we are a passionate group of dedicated baseball and softball instructors with some pretty impressive resumes. More importantly we have been educated by Bobby Valentine himself. We teach a proven curriculum that has developed some of the finest talent in our area, and we’re just getting started. We’re have been blessed to be joined by some of the top programs around when it comes to other sports like lacrosse and soccer. Parties for all ages, we do those too! There is something for everyone at BVSA. We look forward to helping all athletes become the best they can be. If you would like to book anything or have any further questions, please email info@bvacademy.com 

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BVSA Teaches: Low Cone Drill

BVSA Teaches: Low Cone Drill

On this episode of BVSA Teaches, Frank Ramppen talks about the low cone drill. Hey, here’s another drill that can help with bat path and staying inside the ball. Many kids tend to get their hands out too early and swing around their bodies, but this drill can help fix that. You simply put the ball on a tee and have them hit an inside pitch. Most kids drop their bat down and around the ball when hitting this pitch, instead of spinning around it. 

So, by doing this drill repeatedly and getting their hands in here to hit that inside pitch, they can start to understand the necessary inside path. You can then graduate up to smaller tees and move the pitch out over the plate a bit. It won’t be much higher but get them to still understand the inside path is necessary to hit that pitch. This drill can be time-consuming, and even if they do it perfectly, the bat may still hit the tee. As with most drills, repetition is key.

Contact Us!

Here at BV Sports Academy, we are a passionate group of dedicated baseball and softball instructors with some pretty impressive resumes. More importantly we have been educated by Bobby Valentine himself. We teach a proven curriculum that has developed some of the finest talent in our area, and we’re just getting started. We’re have been blessed to be joined by some of the top programs around when it comes to other sports like lacrosse and soccer. Parties for all ages, we do those too! There is something for everyone at BVSA. We look forward to helping all athletes become the best they can be. If you would like to book anything or have any further questions, please email info@bvacademy.com 

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BVSA Teaches: Inside the Net Drill

BVSA Teaches: Inside the Net Drill

On this episode of BVSA Teaches, Frank Ramppen talks about the inside the net drill. Hey guys, another little drill that sometimes helps with bat path. As we talked about, we can’t have the kids getting in and out here too fast and their bat out there. We want to keep it close to the body, rotating the lower half first, creating bat lag. So, I do not recommend it with an L screen but we’re not in a cage. So, I’m going to do it with an L screen. Here we have nets all over the facility. What you want to do is kind of just put the bat up against their belly button and the end of it at the net. Then have them take swings without hitting the net. 

As you hear, I just nicked that net, so I know I have to make a little bit of adjustment. The adjustment is it step out and give yourself more room. You have to make sure that they’re doing their regular load and transfer. They’re not opening too much to cheat when they do their load and transfer. Then they swing while they keep their hands inside the ball and don’t get the net. And again, all these drills, you repeat over and over, you start together, show them a little video for some reinforcement. It might help, hope it helps you.

Contact Us!

Here at BV Sports Academy, we are a passionate group of dedicated baseball and softball instructors with some pretty impressive resumes. More importantly we have been educated by Bobby Valentine himself. We teach a proven curriculum that has developed some of the finest talent in our area, and we’re just getting started. We’re have been blessed to be joined by some of the top programs around when it comes to other sports like lacrosse and soccer. Parties for all ages, we do those too! There is something for everyone at BVSA. We look forward to helping all athletes become the best they can be. If you would like to book anything or have any further questions, please email info@bvacademy.com 

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BVSA Teaches: Inside the Tee Drill

BVSA Teaches: Inside the Tee Drill

On this episode of BVSA Teaches, Frank Ramppen talks about the inside the tee drill. Hey guys, one of the big problems with the younger kids, and again, so many of the problems always go back to the beginning, goes to the stance, the load, the transfer, clip, is teaching that path. And so many kids wanted, we immediately get their hands out, get the barrel out, and swing around their bodies. Well, they’re trying, as you know, to teach them to sway more and from their bodies, using the rotation of their lower half. Using a tee is a little bit of a guideline that is helpful in that. Now, you can do it during tee works, or you can have another tee set up here that they’re actually hitting the ball. 

You can do it with front toss also. You can do it live, but you set it up here somewhere behind home plate that’s kind of a guideline. If they swing too long and they get their hands out, they’re going to hit that. It teaches them to keep their hands in, let the lower half rotate first, and swing without hitting that tee. So, I like it more live, well, front toss than I do off of another tee, but it just enforces the bat path. Show back here that you don’t want to be out here. We don’t want the hands going that way, the back going that way. To keep our arms tight, that with this as our guide, we can stay inside, walk right again. Sometimes this quick, sometimes it doesn’t put the notes.

Contact Us!

Here at BV Sports Academy, we are a passionate group of dedicated baseball and softball instructors with some pretty impressive resumes. More importantly we have been educated by Bobby Valentine himself. We teach a proven curriculum that has developed some of the finest talent in our area, and we’re just getting started. We’re have been blessed to be joined by some of the top programs around when it comes to other sports like lacrosse and soccer. Parties for all ages, we do those too! There is something for everyone at BVSA. We look forward to helping all athletes become the best they can be. If you would like to book anything or have any further questions, please email info@bvacademy.com 

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BVSA Teaches: Two Tee – Two Ball Drill

BVSA Teaches: Two Tee - Two Ball Drill

On this episode of BVSA Teaches, Frank Ramppen talks about the two tee – two ball drill. Hey guys, another good drill for extension through the ball and contact actually is a two tee drill. Multiple tees can be used for a lot of different teachings. This is tough, it’s hard because you’re hitting two balls. Sometimes you can just do it with one ball, just tell them to hit the tee. But the idea is to remember, we’ve got to get you to make contact, arms are bent, firm front side. This stays true no matter where that pitch is, and then you extend through the ball. Too many guys will finish and roll over.

Staying In The Zone

The greatest hitters in the world get to the zone quickly, and then they stay in the zone a little bit longer because timing is so difficult. If our bats are in and out of the zone and we slightly mistime the pitch, we’re going to miss it. If our bats are in the zone, it allows for little mistakes. So getting to actually hitting these balls, hitting that ball and staying through it to hit the next one. The second tee should always be higher because you’re finishing through and up. There’s plenty of great hitters that finish a little lower. However, for the purposes of teaching, we want them to understand that when that back elbow drops into the slot, you get on plane with the ball. You’re coming through the ball on an upward angle. Oftentimes, this two tee drill works for the kid and it clicks.

Contact Us!

Here at BV Sports Academy, we are a passionate group of dedicated baseball and softball instructors with some pretty impressive resumes. More importantly we have been educated by Bobby Valentine himself. We teach a proven curriculum that has developed some of the finest talent in our area, and we’re just getting started. We’re have been blessed to be joined by some of the top programs around when it comes to other sports like lacrosse and soccer. Parties for all ages, we do those too! There is something for everyone at BVSA. We look forward to helping all athletes become the best they can be. If you would like to book anything or have any further questions, please email info@bvacademy.com 

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BVSA Teaches: Relative Force Drill

BVSA Teaches: Relative Force Drill

On this episode of BVSA Teaches, Frank Ramppen talks about the relative force drill. Hey guys, another little drill for the contact point. This one’s as old as the hills, people. It’s been around for a long time, but it’s effective. If you have your student tell you where they think the contact point is, then you challenge them. But then, this is really simple. You tell them to come walk into the batter’s box, and you hold the ball that’s too far out front. This is a little extended contact area, and you have them do their slow-motion swing. Have them come to contact where you’re holding that ball, and they have their arms completely extended. And then drop the ball, have them keep their back there, and then you put your hand on the back from the front and have them try to push. And in this position, you don’t have a lot of force.

Then you do the same thing, bring the ball back to the proper contact point, have them do their slow-motion swing to contact where they’re off your bat stealing behind the ball, and now drop the ball, hold the bat, and have them push. And you can do that inside, outside, and down the middle. When they feel how much force they have when their arms are bent and then they’re in the right position and not extended, that’s something that usually clicks. If it doesn’t click, you’ve got to try something else. Hope this helps.

Contact Us!

Here at BV Sports Academy, we are a passionate group of dedicated baseball and softball instructors with some pretty impressive resumes. More importantly we have been educated by Bobby Valentine himself. We teach a proven curriculum that has developed some of the finest talent in our area, and we’re just getting started. We’re have been blessed to be joined by some of the top programs around when it comes to other sports like lacrosse and soccer. Parties for all ages, we do those too! There is something for everyone at BVSA. We look forward to helping all athletes become the best they can be. If you would like to book anything or have any further questions, please email info@bvacademy.com