PARTICIPATING IN A CAMP IS A GREAT WAY TO IDENTIFY WEAKNESSES AND GO THROUGH THEM SHOT BY SHOT, CORRECTING THEM AND GETTING LOTS OF REPS IN A STRUCTURED ENVIRONMENT.
Not stopping when your opponent hits
This is the footwork mistake that creates the most downstream problems, yet it’ s almost invisible to the players making it. As their opponent makes contact, they’ re still moving— still adjusting, still mid-step— which means they’ re off-balance when the ball arrives.
Instead of preparing for the shot, they’ re reacting to it. The fix is simple: stop before your opponent makes contact so you’ re balanced and ready to move in any direction. Think of a baseball shortstop— balanced, athletic and fielding the ball out in front.
STOP LETTING THE BALL PLAY YOU
Once footwork is closer to right, the next thing I see breaking down is the ball playing the player instead of the player playing the ball.
Every player has a strike zone— the area around their body where they can make clean, controlled, consistent contact. When the ball is out in front of you and in that zone, with room to swing through it, good things happen. When you’ re jammed, reaching or swatting at something behind your body, no amount of talent rescues the shot. Two versions of this show up constantly.
Getting jammed
The ball is too close to the body. Instead of moving their feet to create space, players pull their elbow in and try to manufacture something from a position that was never going to work. The fix is always movement. Get your feet to the ball. Create space. Give yourself room to execute.
Reaching for wide balls
Instead of moving to get behind the ball and keep it in front of them, players extend and reach— and the moment you’ re reaching, you’ ve lost your balance, your base, and your ability to control where the ball goes. Every wide ball should trigger a footwork response, not an arm response. Move first. Hit second.
A third version that I see is a decision error, not just a mechanics error: Attacking from outside the strike
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JULY 2026 | MAGAZINE 21