When watching a Major League game on television, notice how all hitters are different with their hitting styles. Currently, all the rage is to limit the hitters stride and hit off your back leg, but back in the 1970's and 80's, the Charley Lau theory was hot...stride to the ball and hit off a stiff front leg. In fact, many times, George Brett, Lau's prize pupil, would have his back foot off the ground at contact.

Both methods produced tremendous results. Brett is a Hall-of-Famer while David Ortiz, a noted back leg hitter, seems like he is also destined for Cooperstown. Although every major league team has a full-time hitting instructor, each player on the team does not hit the same exact way. Derek Jeter hits different than A-Rod, who hits different than Jason Giambi and so on. There is not one "cookie-cutter" style of hitting. What a good hitting coach does is to work within the players own style of hitting, helping to correct any mechanical faults of a hitter, and to keep the hitter thinking positive. Mechanical hitting faults can occur at any time, and most hitting slumps can be attributed to one or more faults.

This hitting philosophy is not just for major league hitters, but for youth league players, too.

I have mentioned many times that I coach several youth league teams, including a couple travel teams. When watching these kids hit, you can tell what faults are present in each child. For example, our 8 year old travel team had some hitting issue during the middle of our season. One child continuously kept his back foot pointed back towards the catcher (it should be straight to the plate), while another would gradually move his feet to a very closed stance (the feet should be even). The first child could not drive the ball, while the second child could not get around on the ball and would hit weak ground balls to the opposite field. Still, a third child would jam himself at the plate by being on top of the plate and swinging at too many inside pitches. We only focused on one aspect of their hitting and kept everything else the same.

This is what we did to help each player:

1) We had the first player (a RH hitter) concentrate on ONLY keeping his back foot pointed towards home plate. Before each pitch we had him make sure his back foot was turned "straight to the plate." The straight back foot allows the hitter to get the back hips through the swing. When the foot points towards the catcher, it is incredibly difficult to turn the back foot and get the back hips through.

The result? - This player began to drive the ball, hitting several balls past the outfielders.

2) We taught the second player (a LH hitter) to re-check his feet BEFORE every pitch. He would usually check and keep his feet even before the first pitch, but then would gradually shift his feet to his "comfortable" very closed stance.

The result? - Instead of hitting weak ground balls to the left side, this player is now ripping balls to the right side and into the outfield. Because his closed stance has been corrected, he is now generating more bat speed and is hitting the ball out front. He now makes more consistent contact and hits for more power.

3) The third hitter (a RH hitter) was standing straight up on top of the plate. We moved him off the plate and had him bend slightly at the knees. We also instructed that, unless he had two strikes, he should not swing at any inside pitches.

The result? - He is now driving the ball up the middle and the other way, and in his last game, he went 3 for 4 with two doubles and 3 RBI's.

Granted, there are several kids who still have not grasped the hitting concept and are still works in progress, but the point is that each player hits with his own style. We corrected these three players by concentrating on one different fault with each child. We still need to work with the above three kids, but we concentrated on one thing at a time.

Which brings us to a very important factor: We are not doing too much too soon with these kids. Resist the urge to give too much information when training with your own child. I see many coaches trying to do too much at one time. Baby steps! Young children can get overwhelmed with too much information. That is why my program breaks down all our teachings into key words and phrases. We keep the information simple and understandable. When these three kids begin to show they have mastered their faults, then we proceed with something else to improve.

While I believe that a coach or Dad should teach beginners to hit with my proven methods, the kids on these travel teams have already been playing for two or more years. They already have been hitting for a long time and have developed their own styles. We work within their individual styles to improve their ability to make hard, consistent contact. When dealing with beginning hitters (around 6-7 years old) in local recreation baseball, we teach them from the start to hit the proper way...our way. This is a great situation because these new kids have not generated any bad habits.

SUMMARY: Unless your child or your team's players are just beginning, each player has developed their own style of hitting. When trying to improve their productivity, focus and work to correct on one common fault. Once this fault has been corrected, you can let the child's natural talents run or you can focus on something else. Remember to use baby steps. The old adage of you need to walk before you can run rings very true when dealing with young children.

For the complete text of my TEN FUNDAMENTALS OF HITTING, as well as to proper way to throw and field the baseball become a subscriber to our website.

I believe my son might be the only baseball player that has not attended a summer baseball camp. Why should he go to a camp? We work together on all the basics. You should see him field a ground ball!! Great mechanics.

You, the parent, can help your child improve his game. With my fundamental baseball program, your child will learn to consistently make the routine play, throw the ball properly and make consistent contact at the plate. You can learn how to teach your child. I believe that one-on-one instruction is critical for your child's baseball improvement.

Summer camps, though, are good for many reasons. I believe the kids need to learn teamwork and camps help with that aspect. At the end of many camps, there are organized games. The kids have been learning and practicing all week, and the games allow them to work together as a team. Baseball is very much a team game, but baseball is the most individualistic team sport ever developed.

So, while your child might practice to our guidelines, learning about other baseball methods and opinions allows your child to compare different techniques. This gets the child thinking more about the game, presenting your child with different strategies.

So, learning teamwork in a camp environment is a positive. So is learning to think more about the game. This happens when a player plays more games. I believe that kids need to play more games to get better as a player. One of the best team training execrcises is to have intra-squad games, where the coach stands on the field and while the game progresses, talking with the kids about where to go with the ball, also dicussing what just happened during a play. Helping the child to think WHAT is happening and WHY it occurred.

I always tell parents to ask questions about their child's baseball camp. What did you learn today? How does that differ from what we do? Many times the camp instructors show the kids how to do something and the kids perform the drills with their own methods anyway. Often, I have learned from parents who have this program that the camp instructor praised their child for already using proper techniques. Don't fear that a camp instructor will try to change your child's mechanics. Most instructors will just let the advanced kids to play their own way.

Regarding baseball camps, ask yourself these questions:

1) How many baseball camps has your child attended?

2) How much money have you spent on your need and desire for your son to become a better baseball player?

3) After these camps, has your son learned anything and improved his game?

4) When your son is again playing in his league and struggles, do you or your son have access to this camp instructor to correct what is currently not going well?

You want to know why most camps continue to fail to improve your child's game? First, let me ask you a few more questions.

1) When are most camps held?

**Correct, if you said during the summer.

2) When does your child’s next baseball season usually begin?

**Correct again, if you said the following spring.

3) How much time elapses from the end of baseball camp to the beginning of his season?

**Correct, if you said anywhere from 8 to 9 months.

There is simply too much time between the end of your child's summer baseball camp and the beginning of his next baseball season. Much of the information presented to your child at the baseball camp is lost over the football, basketball and wrestling seasons your child participates. Unless your child continues to practice the mechanics taught during the camp, he will generally lose all that knowledge. Over 7-9 months almost every adult would forget what was being discussed.

Again, let's say during a game the next spring, your child makes a mistake in a key situation. Will the instructor at last summer's camp be there to help him through this difficult time? Will this instructor be available with additional instruction afterwards? I sincerely doubt it. But, YOU will be there for him and that is why it is important for both of you to learn together the proper skills needed to play the game of baseball.

Often, these summer baseball camps are too big for your child to receive individual instruction, but are basically money-making jobs for high school and college coaches who have down time during the summer. Remember that inidvidual instruction is when children rapidly progress, not only with the great sport of baseball, but in any activity.

Like I mentioned earlier, summer baseball camps do have their positives. Learning teamwork and alternative ideas allows your child to think more about the game. Have your child attend a camp to play together with his buddies. Know and expect your child to have a good time, but for learning the game properly via personal instruction, it will be better for him to practice and learn one on one with you. You can provide the much needed personal instruction required for improved play.

This is where the parent who understands the WHY's of the game will be able to help his child. And when you learn the basics, you will be able to help your child. They will then listen and understand.

REMEMBER: When YOU understand the game better, YOU will be able to immediately help your child fine tune his game, and more importantly, be there for him when disappointment occurs. If you are a member of my continuous education program, I will also be there. Go ahead, ask me questions via email or telephone. You can even send me a video tape of your child and I'll let you know how your child can improve!

My program allows the parents to learn how to play fundamental baseball. You will learn how to properly throw, field and hit the baseball, plus how to teach your young child these same mechanics of the game. Knowing how to properly perform the fundamentals of baseball will help your child make strong throws, eliminate errors and hit the baseball with authority. If your child realizes you know what you are teaching, he is more likely to respond favorably.

So, do your child a huge favor. Get the program, learn the game together and help your child improve. When he improves his game in front of all his buddies, his self-esteeem will grow. Once a child sees improvement based upon his hard work and initiative, he will become more involved in his endeavor and work even harder. This is a good lesson in baseball.....and in life.