Last week we talked about how even though the weather outside may be bad it doesn’t mean you can’t practice your pitching.

Well, I must have called out the softball gods because wouldn’t you know it we got hit with a couple of rounds of snow. Nothing major, but enough for a potential white Christmas if it sticks around.

So since the point has been proven this week we’re going to cover a few indoor practice ideas for…

Hitting

• Dry swings – Millions, maybe billions, of words have been written about how to hit. We’re not going to add to that total today. This is more about taking whatever you’ve been taught and applying it in a way that can lock in muscle memory. All you need is a bat and enough space to swing it without damaging anything. (In a pinch, you can also use the core from a roll of wrapping paper.) Get in your stance and work on whatever you need to work on. Having trouble separating your hips from your shoulders or leading with your hips? Just do the first part of the swing. Working on your bat angle? Start from the point right before that and bring it in. Or go through full swings. If you can do it in front of a mirror without putting the mirror in danger even better.
• Tee swings – You’ll need a little more space for it, but if you the room to set up a tee and a net you can get a lot of quality practice time in working on your swing as well. A basement or garage is the obvious choice, but any empty or unfinished room that’s at least 10 x 10 will do. If you’re worried about stray balls doing damage get a set of foam balls or use some rolled up pair of socks in place of a regular ball. All you need is something to aim at and to see how the “ball” is coming off the bat.
• Throwing balls into a net – Bear with me on this one. All you need is a couple of balls, or a couple of rolled up pair of socks, and somewhere to throw them. Get in your stance holding a ball in either hand. Then go through your swing motion and as you get to the point where you would make contact, let go of the ball. I would recommend starting with the bottom hand but you do you. Try to make the balls go out as straight as you can. This exercise will help you with extension and getting the rhythm of the overall swing.
• Vision Training – One of the major contributors to quality hitting is your ability to see the ball well. If you can pick it up quickly and track it all the to the plate effectively you’ll have a much better chance of driving it hard on a regular basis. There are lots of things you can do to train your vision. There are commercial apps such as VizualEdge that enable you to train multiple parameters from the comfort and privacy of your computer or other device. If you prefer a more 3D approach, WinReality offers a virtual reality system that will put you right in the middle of the action as well. But there are other, less costly options as well. If you have a gaming system, first-person shooter games have been shown to improve peripheral vision as well as visual acuity (the ability to change focus quickly). They’re also a good way to blow off steam when you’re feeling pressured. You can even place red, yellow, and green beads along an 8 to 10 foot piece of string, tie one end to a doorknob or other object, and spread the beads out along the string. Then place the other end of the swing against your nose and focus on the different colored beads rapidly, starting with the farthest bead and working your way to the closest one. Find what works best for you and train your eyes just like you’d train your body – hard and often.
• Balance training – Hitting is tough enough without being off-balance on top of it. So the better balance you have, the better you’ll be able to control the bat through all the twisting and turning forces required to hit the ball hard. To help improve your balance, try going through the hitting motion (with or without a bat) while standing on an unstable surface such as a stability pillow or stability pad. Or anything you have laying around, like an old rug, that will challenge you to keep your balance. If you can groove your swing with one of those you’ll be well-prepared for when you’re on solid ground. Or one of those tournaments where the grounds crew leaves before the first pitch is thrown.

So there you go – five ideas on how to work on your hitting when you can’t go outside or get to an actual facility. Be a little careful with a couple of them, since they do involve creating actual projectiles.

But if you’re diligent you’ll be amazed at how much you improve. And delighted that you will have gotten all the basics out of the way so you can do more fun things at lessons or team practices.

Snowstorm photo by Jeffrey Czum on Pexels.com