Striking The Ball

[johnneycool]

http://www.independent.ie/sport/lions-get-a-feel-for-a-truly-dangerous-sport-29360111.html

O'Connell looks to have a poor strike for the size of him.....

[Fuzzman]

Heard a rather disturbing story this week of some ex county hurling manager was brought in for a session with the Vincents (Dublin) U14 squad this week as they sometimes do.

Apparently he went through several tips on how to play dirty and rough and get away with it.
Just wondering had anyone else heard about this?

Don't think there was many parents there but the kids told them when they got home.
A mate here at work was telling me that his mates were telling him that evening in the pub what their kids were up to.

[TheWall]

For anyone who's interested, I took a break from this for about a month and when I got back to it is all starting to come together. I can now hit the ball off the wall reasonably consistently and deliver it back into my hand. It's defintely all about the swing, when the swing is right it just works. I've also noticed my bad side has improved a bit as my good side improved. I think it's just general improved hurl/sliotar coordination.

[theskull1]

Get that swing of yours onto youtube and "we'll" be the judge of how well you're doing 

Fair play to you for sticking at it. Have you been practicing anything else? (lifting, ground swing, batting the ball .....?)

[neilthemac]

https://www.facebook.com/FrTedQuotes

go to 12:30 on the video.
DJ makes a few very valid points about the swing

two more things I would add - the starting position of the hurley is important. I always emphasis children to hold it 'like a sword' in front of the body and use a wristy swing using the forearms
and the throw of the ball is important - small throw, ball struck at knee height

[TheWall]

Get that swing of yours onto youtube and "we'll" be the judge of how well you're doing 

Fair play to you for sticking at it. Have you been practicing anything else? (lifting, ground swing, batting the ball .....?)

Might consider another video at the weekend when I get a bit more polished!

I never pick the ball up with my hand always scoop it up, have been working at some catching and batting too. The likes of taking a free off the ground seems pretty hard though, a lot of decentish club hurlers even seem bad at that. Also need to start knocking it to another person and back, the unmoving wall doesn't really help judging delivery etc.

[TheWall]

Get that swing of yours onto youtube and "we'll" be the judge of how well you're doing 

Ok , here it is now against the wall. Its improved for sure and can hit it reasonably long too but inconsistently, might not really be connecting with the right part of the bas, anyway, let me know if you can suggest obvious improvements.

http://youtu.be/qwvbwhUljkA

[theskull1]

Fair play to ye

OK a few things I've spotted

Your grip is too limp    .....Get that right hand round the shaft good and tight (where the thumb and index finger meets)

Now back to the hurling 

Seriously...when you're holding the hurl, ready to swing, your grip should be such that the stick is at right angle to your arm.

The next thing is to point the stick up to the sky. The toe of the stick should be almost touching the temple on the rhs of you head with a strong grip in your right hand. This is all BEFORE you toss the ball....logic being there's no point in starting your swing from the bottom when it has to come up before going down again..so start it in the up position as it really speeds up the swing

As you toss the ball he's one other thing to work on .....imagine your looking straight down on yourself and your shoulders are in the east west position just before you toss the ball......when you toss it (you ball toss is too exaggerated ...you don't need to throw it as high when you speed up the swing) and are bringing your left hand toward the stick...try and twist your torso so that your shoulders get to the North South position before the down swing (both hands should be on the stick before you get that position)

On the down stroke...try and swing along a horizontal plane ...your swing currently is curving down around knee height as it travels to meet the ball....imagine striking the ball in a straight line in front of you (going for goal) ...now try and get your swing on that trajectory as it comes down...tough to explain...but as your swing comes down around waist height your stick should be going in a straight line as I look at you in the video. For longer striking the swing will curve more as I look at it on the video.

Have probably fried your head....

[TheWall]

Have probably fried your head....

Cheers skull.

I get what you are saying, thanks for the input. When I compare it to some other clips on youtube I can see what you are driving at. Im getting more power doing it your way but haven't really got it down yet especially when I get my whole body into it.

The only reason I know hardstation is joking is becasue there are no hurling clubs in Ulster, right ? 

[TheWall]

two more things I would add - the starting position of the hurley is important. I always emphasis children to hold it 'like a sword' in front of the body

neil this is really good advice, I've just realised thourgh practice how important the starting postion is, Ive been starting all wrong!

[neilthemac]

Good man
too many kids fail to reach their potential at hurling because they either have the hurley low when starting their swing, or they have the ball and hurley touching - they get frustrated when it doesn't work for them

I should also mention that you are throwing the ball too far out in front of you (to the left, as you'd see it)
it should be dropping in linewith your leg or mid-point of body
as your body is asymmetrical the sweet spot for your strike is somewhere between the knee and hip as you shift your weight from back foot to front foot (very technical, but that sort of information actually works for some kids)

the next thing ,after mastering the basic stroke is to start turning the hips into the stroke to allow you properly hit on the run

[neilthemac]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l93DPGnN0Uk

[TheWall]

Thanks for the video link, I'm using that exercise of just throwing and watching the ball to shoulder height to learn to control the ball toss.

I think my swing is technically ok now compared to how it was. Have had to move to the hurling field to get some decent practice! Are there any coaching tips on how to work on the swing on your bad side? I find it difficult, I can connect with the sliotar but that's about it.