Coach Brockhoff,

I purchased your Super 8 Hitting System just after my 9 year old son Caleb’s season began earlier this summer.  My son was a big fan of trying to copy the hitting stances and styles of his favorite major league players.  My least favorite style he took on was the swing that Alfonso Soriano has when he strikes out on that low and away slider.  He looks awful with that swing and my son adopted and used this swing everytime he swung at a pitch.  It’s been difficult breaking him of these bad habbits.  Just prior to purchasing your program, he had a typical swing with his back elbow held high, hands far away from his body, and with barrel of the bat located behind him near his back.  It caused him to not get around on the ball early enough where he often found himself either fouling the ball of to the right side, (he bats right handed), or missing the ball altogether regardless of the speed of the pitch.

Enter the Super 8 Hitting System:

My son is a typical 9 year old.  He loves baseball but could use work on his attention span.  Due to this, I was not able to spend lengthy amounts of time working with him on improving his swing so we had to work on small pieces of the hitting system over time.  He struggled a bit during the change because he would only demonstrate parts of a proper swing during his games but he was diligent and worked with this new swing until it became second nature and comfortable to him.  The final piece of the swing that he struggled getting down seemed the most basic – the distance between his feet while in the batters box.  He always stood with his feet close together and it took a while for him to feel comfortable with his feet just beyond shoulder width.  We still have things to work on but once the position of his feet was adjusted, he never struck out or was late on a ball again.  One of the most impressive things I saw in this program was during an allstar game where the opposing pitcher threw pretty hard.  He complimented his fast ball with a good change up that he threw for strikes.  Everyone on the team was striking out on this change up getting way out in front of the ball and swinging over the ball as well as too early.  In Caleb’s first at bat against this pitcher, he drove a hard line drive to left center for a double.  The next time up, however, the pitcher started Caleb off with a fastball high and away and then came with the change up.  Here is where I came to truly appreciate the Super 8 System.  Caleb took the step with his stride foot but kept his weight back while that change up made its way to the plate.  He drove that ball off the left field fence for a stnad up triple which was one of the furthest balls he’s ever hit.

Just prior to this game, the allstar tournament hosted a major league-like homerun derby for the 9 year old kids.  There were 14 teams in the tournament consisting of around 160 kids.  I have two youtube video links below detailing my son’s first round of that tournament where each kids get 10 pitches to hit one homerun in order to advance to the 2nd round.  Caleb hit the 8th pitch over the center field fence to advance. (This HR was the farthest hit of the tournament).

In the 2nd round, Caleb hit 6 more homeruns to become the 2010 Homewood Ilinois Invitation Tournament 9 year old home run champ.  You can see him naturally implementing some of the parts of the Super 8 Hitting System that he and I worked on over the summer.

This is just the long way for me to say thank you.

Let me know what you think of these videos:

Caleb’s Swing Before Using

The Super 8 Hitting System

First Round - After Using Super 8

Final Round – After Using Super 8

Thanks again,

Ron Senzel

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Dear Ron,

Thanks very much for the videos and feedback on Caleb’s progress using the Super 8 Hitting System and congratulations to Caleb for his accomplishment. He is doing a lot of good things.  His drive action is looking good. He keeps his hands close to his body as he goes to the ball and gets good contact out in front.

Since he did not have to run to first base, it’s difficult to tell if there are any problems getting out of the box. But I would suggest that he keep his front foot planted throughout the stroke. He should not get into the habit of letting it roam or rotate on its heel, for two reasons:

1) This may push his body back and impact his proper weight transfer.

2) This will delay him getting out of the box to run to first base.

Caleb is very fortunate to have a father that takes this interest in helping him to develop habits that will continue to support him as he matures in the game of baseball and to have success with the part of the game that is the most fun…..hitting!

Best wishes for much continued success,

Coach Brock