Bat-Rac

You want to use the edge of the Bat-Rac, not try to hit ball through circle (except for bunting drills)

Suggested Drills:

1. Bunt Drills:  From bunting stance watch ball from point of release through hole.
2. Bunt ball with edge of Bat-Rac
3. Pepper:  Play pepper hitting with edge portion of the blade.
4. Pepper Plus:  Take a full cut hitting with edge, but concentrate on hips and hands into hitting zone first.

Attention:  Bat-Rac Wood cannot be used with hard balls or hard softball.  Use wiffle, tennis or nerf balls.  Use of any other type of ball will cause breakage and possible injury to hitter.  Plastic Bat-Rac can be used with any type of ball.

Place tape on hitting edge for maximum protection.

 

Ball in Bottle

1. Take any size soda bottle (Coke, Pepsi, etc.) and screw into handle.
2. Cut hole in bottle. Size to be determined by size of wiffle ball to be used.
3. Hitter should try to catch ball in bottle using the bunt position as opposed to full swing. 
4. Objective is to see how many balls can be collected in bottle.

 

Jugglestick

The device is a combination game/eye hand trainer which only takes minutes a day to use and can greatly improve vision.

Through the use of the jugglestick, the consumer/athlete can conduct some basic self training exercises to help improve his/her:

• Tracking--the ability to follow a moving object smoothly and accurately with both eyes, such as a ball in flight or moving vehicles in traffic

• Fixation--the ability to quickly and accurately locate and inspect, with both eyes, a series of stationary objects, one after another, such as moving from word to word while reading

• Focus Change--the ability to quickly look from far to near and vise versa without momentary blur, such as looking from the dashboard to other cars on the street, or from a book to the chalkboard.

• Depth Perception--the ability to judge relative distances of objects and to see and move accurately in the three dimensional space, such as when hitting a ball or parking a car.

• Peripheral Vision--the ability to monitor and interpret what is happening in your side vision while attending to a specific central vision task; the ability to use visual information perceived from over a large area.

• Binocularity--the ability to use both eyes together, smoothly, equally, simultaneously and accurately.

• Maintaining Attention--the ability to use both eyes together, smoothly, equally, simultaneously and accurately

• Near Vision Acuity--the ability to clearly see, inspect, identify and understand objects at a near distances, within arms length

• Distance Acuity--the ability to clearly see, inspect, identify and understand objects at a distance of 20 feet those objects normally seen at 20 feet. This is also called 20/20 vision.  This is just one of the visual abilities not necessarily the most important.  People with 20/20 distance acuity still may have severe visual problems

• Visualization--the ability to form mental images in your "mind's eye", retain or store them for future recall, or for synthesis into new mental images beyond your current or past direct experiences.

Exercise 1: Peripheral Vision
Practice by yourself (2-3 minutes per day, 3 times per week)

Exercise 2-Fixation:
Practice by yourself (2 to 3 minutes per day, 3 times a week)

Exercise 3--Focus Change:

Tape letter chart (see below) to wall, 15-20 feet from where you are standing.  Hold ball as shown in photo.  Look at hole in blue ball (notice ball slides on rod). Look at wall chart and call out first letter on top row. Look back to hole in blue ball Look back to chart and call out next letter.  Practice entire line. Example:  Hole-R-Hole-A-Hole-D-Hole-V, etc. Have someone time you week to week.

Letter Chart:

Exercise 4 Fusion:

Hold ball up to nose as shown in photo. Slide blue ball close to, or touching red ball. Cover up all but two holes in blue ball (see photo) Look through these holes and see if they will fuse into one.  Hold this fusion for 15-20 seconds then relax eyes. Repeat this exercise. Note: This exercise requires continuous practice and concentration.

Exercise 5-Tracking:
Horizontal Toss & Catch:

One-Half Turn:  Ball A goes from starting baton to other baton
Full Turn:  Ball A goes from starting baton, on full turn (circle), back to starting baton.

Practice double, triple, or unlimited rotations and catches.  Flip Jugglestick as high as you like. The higher, the better for depth perception. 

Vertical Toss & Catch:

1. Flip Jugglestick 1/2 turn, A to B (photo 1 & 2)
2. Flip Jugglestick full turn, A to A (photo 1 & 3).

Note:  Sliding blue ball toward either end of Jugglestick changes balance and timing. 

Practice double, triple, or unlimited rotations and catches.

Baton-to-Baton Flip and Catch:

Start in vertical position with ball resting on ground. Toss Jugglestick from hand-to-hand keeping good rhythm and keeping head still and knees bent.  After success Jugglestick on ground, try the same exercise with Jugglestick lifted off the ground. Note:  This exercises is one of the most difficult to achieve!

Eye and Foot Skills:

Horizontal Kick & Catch:

Vertical Kick & Catch:

Drills and Skills for Two or More:
Your jugglestick comes with an extra set of batons for practice/play with a partner. 

Depth Perception Drill:
1.  Start with the Jugglestick in either the extended or horizontal position.
2.  Toss Jugglestick to your partner, varying the number of rotations from toss-to-toss. 

The receiver should move into position to catch one or two balls depending on the rotation of the Jugglestick. 

Kicking exercises are also recommended for two or more players.

Speed of Recognition Drill:
Player A puts red, yellow, blue & white balls behind their back.  Toss ball to player B.  Player B bunts ball back to player A matching color of ball being tossed. The white ball is a take or let it go.  Distance for underhand toss 6-10 feet. Overhand toss 15-20 feet.

 

Zig Zag Balls/Tennis Ball Odd Bouncer

Drill #1: Hot Potato: 
This drill offers three levels of challenge. For all three, keep feet at shoulder width with knees slightly bent.  This "ready position" provides good balance and prepares athlete to "spring" into a step, if necessary, to catch the ball.  Try to catch the ball in one or two bounces as opposed to chasing after it. 

1. Drop the ball from knee height and catch.
2. Now drop the ball from waist height and catch.
3. Finally, drop ball from chest height and catch.

Drill #2: Switch It:
This drill is similar to Drill #1 except the athlete alternates tosses and catches from hand to hand (i.e. drop with left hand, catch with right, etc.)

Drill #3: Sliders:
Stand approximately five feet away from a wall and face it. Toss ball against the wall to catch it using one or two hands. Move to ball using side to side steps if necessary.

Drill #4: Pursuit:
Hold a ball at arms length.  Toss it out two or four feet away from where you are standing and up approximately two feet over your head.  Try to catch the ball on one bounce, using short, quick steps. Again, do not chase the ball if you miss, retrieve it and repeat the drill.

Drill #5: Ground Hog:
Though similar to drill #3, this drill is slightly more difficult.  Again, stand between five and six feet from a wall. Rather than tossing the ball, roll it to the wall so it rebounds back. 

Other drills with partner including having the ball hit or tossed and fielded like a regular baseball.

Vision Ring

Catch:
1 or more players. This drill is just to get started getting used to Visionring.  Simply toss Visionring to yourself or another player.  You may catch Visionring with one or two hands, keeping in mind that you are trying to catch any one of the four balls and not the clear plastic ring portion. This drill helps improve depth perception, tracking and speed of recognition.

Call & Catch:
One or more players. 

1. Call color of ball before or during toss.
2. Try to catch the ball which has been called.
3. You may try to call & catch two colors as you improve.
4. To keep score count 1 point if you catch correct ball, 2 points for catching two correct balls.

Helps improve tracking, focus change, depth perception, and maintain attention. 

Sequence Catch:
Use the following sequence:  White, Yellow, Red, Blue. 
Player must catch ball in sequence as noted above.  Score 1 point for every correct catch.  If player misses they must go back to first ball in the sequence. Helps improve same skills as call & catch.  Remember, you may use one or two hands to catch the Visionring.

Ball & Number:
Value for each ball: 
Red = 1
Blue=2
White=3
Yellow=4

Toss ball to another player. Player gets point(s) based on the ball they catch.  First player to get a predetermined number of points is the winner.  

Kick & Catch:
Have some fun kicking and catching Visionring.

Triangle Putting System

	Line up a straight 10' putt.
Remove ball and place triangle on putter as shown.
	Place tees in holes to stabilize triangle.    Note:  At a 10' distance, 1° off center = 2" off hole.
Run string to hole. Make sure it passes directly through the point of the triangle. This will show you if your eyes have given you a correct line to the hole.
	Practice Binocular Strings Exercise (below)
Line up putt 10'.  Notice position of feet (heels touching)
	Form triangle as shown, with heels touching.  Blade becomes 3rd side of triangle.  Visualize string going from point where heels come together through ball to cup.
Keep putter in place.  Move to address position and putt.
	Breaking Putts: Line up triangle to hole.  Run string to point where you think the ball breaks and put golf wiffle ball at that point.  Note a triangle has been formed. This eliminates trying to visualize the curve on breaking putts.

Binocular Strings Exercise:

Vision Stick

Grip tube with both hands and hold blue sleeve in place with thumb.

Drills for Vision Stick:

Pop the Penny:  In figure A, notice the position of the bat at impact. Attempt to move weight to that point at impact. Do soft toss using plastic golf balls.

 

Speed of Recognition:

1. Player A puts red, yellow, blue and white ball behind their back.
2. Player tosses a ball to player B.
3. Player B attempts to bunt ball back to player matching color of ball being tossed.
4. White ball is a "take" or "let it go" ball.

Note:  Distance for toss: 6-10 feet for underhand, and 15-20 for overhand.