Baseball and Softball Champions

As the summer winds down, for some folks it's not yet the sound of school, for they are still planning on being champions of baseball or softball.

For many the championships have already been determined, but for little league baseball, in case you didn't know, you can catch all the action on TV, including ESPN2, ESPN and even a couple of games this Saturday and Sunday for the finals on ABC, so there's not an excuse if you like watching baseball in its purest form -- 12 year old boys from all over the world competing. For the schedule http://www.littleleague.org/series/2009divisions/llbb/series.htm

I know there are other levels of 12 year olds playing and maybe even better, but no one can argue that this is a big event and since its being played on the biggest stage that makes it even a better event.

The champions of the girls fastpitch softball world have already been crowned. But thanks to the emmergence of video on the Internet and local filming crews following more of these events we can watch a replay of the 18 under Gold championship game http://crawford2.video4ever.net/v4eapp.dll?style=asa as often as we like or whenever we have the time. The quality is actually very good and the 18 under Gold championship level is every bit as good as some college fastpitch softball games, so have a look.

For the slowpitch softball readers there are still championship games to be played in many divisions. Here's the schedule so you can see if there are any games near you or near where you're vacationing. http://www.asasoftball.com/tournaments/hooterstournaments.asp Also look for these on the Internet with the local filming crews around the times of the championship dates. I found footage of the 2008 Men's open tournament, so look for it if you want to see who will be crowned the 2009 men and women's champions.

Look for fall baseball and softball

But in the fall typically you'll need to do a lot more of the work to find a team rather than finding an organization and just showing up and signing up. Try asking around the league, around the fields, kids that played fall ball last year (or the parents of those kids) and see if they have openings on their team (or consider starting a team yourself).

But do it now!

Train on the things you want to change

I've been telling you about the videos I filmed and while they might help, I'm being told they won't be ready until December, so you'll need to work on other areas :)

If you still haven't fully figured out the rotational vs. linear swing thing, you could still use my 1st video - Rotational or Linear, Which Swing Helps You Hit Best. (like a true champion) https://www.theinternethittingcoach.com/hitting-video.html

Maybe you wanted to switch your swing but you didn't want to do it during the press to become champions yourself. The off-season is a perfect time to work on any and all new skills you want to pick up before the new season.

Or maybe you'd like to learn hitting from other coaches in both baseball or softball. I have a whole page on baseball and softball hitting at https://www.theinternethittingcoach.com/hitting-training.html

Local News

If you got my Twitter updates you would've been able to follow that more in real time and learn of a couple of cool baseball movies that were on the Internet as independent films. If you'd like to follow my Twitter updates follow me at http://www.Twitter.com/CoachAndy

Congratulations also go the SoCal Pumas of my hometown of Ventura, CA for their 9th place finish at the 18 U Gold Nationals.

Again, if you have any questions or comments you can write to me via e-mail.

To see other hitting tips in past newsletters, go to the past issues of my hitting newsletter page.

Thanks for reading and talk to you next time.

Coach Andy

6801 Dove St. Ventura, CA 93003

805-642-5827