In my never-ending quest to help fastpitch hitters be more successful I’ve come across an interesting way of explaining how to get to that moment right before launch. It seems to be resonating with the hitters on my IOMT Castaways team, and with my students as well.

Essentially I tell them that when the front foot lands (toe touch), there can be two possibilities: you’ll either think oh yeah, or oh no. (This is the cleaned-up version; with my high school age students I use a more PG word.)

What does that statement mean? You’ve done your load, made your positive move into toe touch, and now it’s time to rotate and swing. If you’re in “oh yeah” mode, you realize you’re just ahead/right on time, and you’re feeling like “oh yeah, just bring the ball because I’m ready to hit it.”

If you’re in “oh no” mode, however, you realize that you’re late, and instead of taking your best mechanics to the ball you’re in survival mode. The ball will probably get too deep too fast and you’ll be doing anything you can to get the bat on it. Which more than likely will result in an out.

As a hitter you want to set your mind to work for that “oh yeah” moment. Learn the pitcher’s motion. See the speed she’s throwing. Figure out if she favors a particular location. Then use all that information to get to your oh yeah moment. It makes hitting a lot more fun.