Physical & Mental Tools to Develop a Successful Swing

Diana Pepin shares her philosophy of hitting and a progression of drills you can use to develop an efficient and powerful softball swing.

Hitting Drills
Coach Pepin starts with the swing basics, providing a quick demonstration of the swing mechanics she teaches. She then moves to a four-drill series that you can use everyday to reinforce the fundamentals of stance, grip, load & attack, the heel plant, hips and the swing.

Pepin next leads her players through a series of tee drills to attack inside pitches:

• One Arm Drills - Teach your players to hit line drives, develop quick hands, keep their hands inside the ball and make contact out front on inside pitches.
• Double Tee Drill - Train your players to drive the ball by "staying long" through the ball.
• Weighted Bat Drill - Helps get the bat head out front and increases bat speed.

Throughout the drills Pepin coaches her athletes and provides key points for producing a quality swing.

Hitting Mentality
Step into the box ready to hit! Pepin shares how she breaks down the mental side of hitting by going through a checklist each batter should know to better understand what pitch they are hitting. The list includes: Breaking down the four quadrants of the plate, having a plan of attack, showing confidence while in the batter's box, seeing the defense and what they are giving you and more.

Live Hitting Challenge
Pepin finishes with a game-like, live hitting simulation where the players are presented with situational challenges while in the batting cage. Sacrifice bunts, slap hitting and 2-strike hitting techniques are all demonstrated.

These drills and concepts will help give your hitters an attacking mindset and a quality at bat every time they step up to the plate.

67 minutes. 2011.