Media
John Barnhill and players wearing his SwingingAider.
Local coach creates aid for power hitters of all ages
by Doug Curlee | Posted: Friday, July 25, 2014 1:23 pm
Over a lifetime of pitching baseballs, Jon Barnhill had a firsthand look at what separates true hitters from those who swing hard but wildly. No doubt he saw a great many baseballs he’d thrown come screaming back at him in the form of line drives hit with the kind of quick, compact, full-body swings that tend to create base hits and home runs.
A few years ago, Barnhill thought about how to teach that kind of swing. One evening at a friend’s house, the longtime Little League coach and manager was trying to tell a young player how to keep his back arm and elbow tucked in low and tight to the body. Finally, he told the boy, “I’m gonna tie your arm in the right position, and we’ll see if I’m right.” The boy tried swinging with that arm tied down, and the whiffle ball they were hitting suddenly began flying farther and harder than it ever had.
Barnhill knew then that he was on to something. He’d been watching the great hitters over the years, and the one common thing he saw was that those hitters all had the kind of swing that kept the arm tucked in and involved the whole body in the swing. That was what was generating the line drive and home run power — the fast, tight compact swing with the body weight behind it.
“I’ve always been kind of handy about making things, and I thought I might be able to come up with some sort of device that players could train with to created that swing,” Barnhill said. “I started looking around for something simple that I could put together that would last and do the job.
“The toughest materials I found were military in origin, so I got some of that and put together a simple belt and arm cuff that a player could put on,” he continued. “It would force the player to swing the way I wanted the player to. I made one and started trying it out. It worked. After only a few swings wearing the device, the kids started making better contact with the ball and hitting it harder and farther.”
He started using the device with players on Little League teams he was coaching and managing, and the results were obvious, Barnhill said. A Lakeside team he worked with went through a season and playoffs with only three losses, mainly because they were hitting the ball consistently. He’s seen other teams using the device improve their team batting averages significantly.
Needless to say, Barnhill is now in business. SwingingAider is available for sale through his company, and it’s starting to catch on. He’s gotten some major endorsements from professional players.
“The beauty of it is that the thing is so simple and easy to use. It fits anyone, right or left handed,” Barnhill said. “It’s as good for softball girls as it is for baseball boys, and the lessons taught about keeping the trailing arm are just as useful to golfers looking to hit those nice long drawing shots.
“The involvement of the whole body is the key. That’s where power comes from. Players who have long, wide swings using just their arms are never going to hit for the kind of power they want, because arm swings just don’t develop the kind of bat speed that the short, compact swing does. Bat speed and timing are where the power comes from, and that only comes with the whole body involved.”
Barnhill, a contractor when not working on SwingingAider, would like to see the device become standard equipment for teams and players of all ages. That’s his dream. Visit Swingingaider.com or SwingingAider’s Facebook page for videos, photos and more information.
Source: Mission Times Courier
by Doug Curlee | Posted: Friday, July 25, 2014 1:23 pm
Over a lifetime of pitching baseballs, Jon Barnhill had a firsthand look at what separates true hitters from those who swing hard but wildly. No doubt he saw a great many baseballs he’d thrown come screaming back at him in the form of line drives hit with the kind of quick, compact, full-body swings that tend to create base hits and home runs.
A few years ago, Barnhill thought about how to teach that kind of swing. One evening at a friend’s house, the longtime Little League coach and manager was trying to tell a young player how to keep his back arm and elbow tucked in low and tight to the body. Finally, he told the boy, “I’m gonna tie your arm in the right position, and we’ll see if I’m right.” The boy tried swinging with that arm tied down, and the whiffle ball they were hitting suddenly began flying farther and harder than it ever had.
Barnhill knew then that he was on to something. He’d been watching the great hitters over the years, and the one common thing he saw was that those hitters all had the kind of swing that kept the arm tucked in and involved the whole body in the swing. That was what was generating the line drive and home run power — the fast, tight compact swing with the body weight behind it.
“I’ve always been kind of handy about making things, and I thought I might be able to come up with some sort of device that players could train with to created that swing,” Barnhill said. “I started looking around for something simple that I could put together that would last and do the job.
“The toughest materials I found were military in origin, so I got some of that and put together a simple belt and arm cuff that a player could put on,” he continued. “It would force the player to swing the way I wanted the player to. I made one and started trying it out. It worked. After only a few swings wearing the device, the kids started making better contact with the ball and hitting it harder and farther.”
He started using the device with players on Little League teams he was coaching and managing, and the results were obvious, Barnhill said. A Lakeside team he worked with went through a season and playoffs with only three losses, mainly because they were hitting the ball consistently. He’s seen other teams using the device improve their team batting averages significantly.
Needless to say, Barnhill is now in business. SwingingAider is available for sale through his company, and it’s starting to catch on. He’s gotten some major endorsements from professional players.
“The beauty of it is that the thing is so simple and easy to use. It fits anyone, right or left handed,” Barnhill said. “It’s as good for softball girls as it is for baseball boys, and the lessons taught about keeping the trailing arm are just as useful to golfers looking to hit those nice long drawing shots.
“The involvement of the whole body is the key. That’s where power comes from. Players who have long, wide swings using just their arms are never going to hit for the kind of power they want, because arm swings just don’t develop the kind of bat speed that the short, compact swing does. Bat speed and timing are where the power comes from, and that only comes with the whole body involved.”
Barnhill, a contractor when not working on SwingingAider, would like to see the device become standard equipment for teams and players of all ages. That’s his dream. Visit Swingingaider.com or SwingingAider’s Facebook page for videos, photos and more information.
Source: Mission Times Courier