For the seniors there are no pressures to finish a blog on Myspace. No handheld HD camcorders to capture those perfect moments to upload onto Youtube. Any talk about stocks is what Grandmother is brewing on the stove from last nights left dinner.

Loud speech and jibes about how deaf each other has become is usually followed by the pleasantries of passing around the swisher sweets with the solemn oath that Grandma will not find out.

All in all, it is just like watching little boys as they gather at the base of their favorite tree to swap candies before dinner outside of Moms watchful eye.

What ever conversation is being discussed is promptly dropped when the umpire makes his presence known. That is the moment all glasses focus on him with a unified effort to remind the umpire of what a strike zone is. Foul verses fair ball. And what ever bleacher umpire coaching they can assist with or invent.

For Grandparents, their heroes are warming up. Under five feet tall and awkward, these are seasoned players ready for action. With chewing gum being formed into bubbles, they eye the opponents for weakness. These Players rarely make the papers and are prone to tummy aches after the consolation ice cream Sunday following a tough loss or energetic win.

So what has really changed in the last 32 years? Have Grandparents lost the luster for their favorite players? Is their interest in baseball so far from their busy lives managing their portfolios on E*TRADE or keeping up with their posts on Myspace or Youtube?

Communication breakdown between distanced Grandparents and Grandchildren is the likely culprit. In 1974, most kids could take a modest bicycle ride to visit with their Grandparents. Weekly dinners or stops on the to or from shopping kept Grandparents aware of what was happening.

To days Grandparents are separated from their Grand Children by distance, difficulty in traversing any safe route and the demands of the Parents by their jobs, schools and activities. Not wanting to interfere or become a burden on the challenges their own children face in this modern world, Grandparents site peacefully by keeping themselves occupied as best they can.

Many leagues expect Parent participation in the preparation of fields, helping hands at the fundraisers and financial support of the year end finale. Some leagues go as far as to mandate how much time Parents must volunteer in order for their children to participate.

How much nicer would the fields be if there were a team dedicated to their preservation. This same team could have the donation table in front of the local grocery store manned for days on end without missing a beat. Accountants, Lawyers, Engineers, Master Carpenters, Master Electricians and Salesmen; this team is highly skilled and backed by years of solid experience.

Grandparents quietly sitting and tending to their own affairs are the most under utilized resource available to any league. In years past, bake sales were the sole territory of the blue hair brigade. Slow, methodical women that make cookies and cakes to die for.

Let us take a look at the numbers. Say your league has 10 teams, each team has 12 players; the most Grandparents available is 480. Putting it into reality, there are probably only 30% of those in the area and lets say only 50% have the ability to physically participate. Now you only have 72 people to work out the details of field maintenance, help with fundraising, figure out the IRS forms and manage the league checkbook. When if even can you find 72 people just waiting to be asked to come out and play.

How wonderful would it be to be able to organize 72 willing, motivated, trained and experienced people for your volunteer efforts? With that many people the entire facility could get a once over every week. Needed repairs assigned to the proper folks. Compensation for these folks lies in the participation of something meaningful and the love they have for their heroes.

The process of developing your own blue hair brigade is quite easy. At the beginning of the season have a meeting with all the Grandparents and see what commitments you get. Should you find the numbers lacking, visit the local senior center. An offer of something as meaningful to do will clear out that hall faster than a skunk in a sorority house.

In modern baseball from youth thru seniors, moments like these are proudly displayed in flash on Myspace and Youtube. Photos, Video and Blogging hit the information highway at lighting speeds to announce the play of the day.

What many fail to see or talk about in their Myspace feeds is what actually made this play successful. Was it merely the excellent throwing arms of the players? Was the runner a bit on the slow side when rounding the bases?

Success is based on a series of practiced events that culminate in one play. First, the fielder controls the ball while the cutoff man raises their hands to make a good target and keeps his eyes on the fielder. The catcher is guiding the relay man to make a straight path for the ball to follow. Now comes the relay, simple as a catch throw, catch and tag.

To prepare the relay man for what they need to accomplish it really breaks down to the basics, catch and throw. Added is the excitement of the game and the rush the players put upon themselves to complete the process quickly.

Not all the different from warm up. Players are standing with their goal of throwing a ball to their teammate to the comfortable catch area between the shoulders and above the belly button and below the ears.

Now comes the dance of the relay man. Their first responsibility is to catch the ball. Then turn the head and hips to acquire the target. In our case, the catcher. As the core is wound they finish their turn and release the ball towards the target. The dance is where only one portion of this entire event goes awry from the warm up.

So much of baseball is situational. Even the situations themselves have variations within variations. Aside from playing hundreds of games to gain the experience of those situations or viewing hours of Myspace video feeds there are drills that cover the basics without having to go into practice stifling situations.

We have already covered the warm up and the goal of throwing. To add the twist, set up a relay with three players. Spaced 30 to 40 feet apart, the man in the middle practices the relay dance. This is where the coaching comes in. View the footwork and core loading. Make corrections as needed but try to keep the ball moving. With the player concentrating on the catch and throw, following instruction during this time will help the player from compound information. Compounding information forces the player to react as opposed to think about their movements, which is also called muscle memory.

For teams with players under 18, everyone should have a stint in the middle. Who you may think will be a catcher for life could ultimately become a world class short stop. It is best to keep in mind that all players play all positions until they are either on scholarship or paid to play.

With all your players having the dance figured out, it is time to add some twists. Creating relay races are a great way to add excitement and more of a game situation to the drill. Create conditions that engage the players for several minutes.

Relay the ball down and back then rotate the players. The first relay team to rotate through all the players wins. As there are only 3 to a side, you may consider prizes for the winning side such as flavored water or small packages of sunflower seeds. It is not the prize that counts, it is the victory.

To work alignment into the drill, after player 1 releases the ball, have them shift 5 to 10 feet left or right while maintaining their distance from the relay man. As the relay man releases the throw to player 3, player 1 begins giving direction to the relay man; shout left or right to bring the player into alignment. Player 3 throws back to the relay and repeats what player 1 has done.

This drill takes up quite a bit of room but makes for a sure fire way to practice the dance with more situations padded into the exercise. Add to all the commotion is that your fielders are now having to work a little harder at spotting the relay man as they are on the move.

At the end of the day if the players had fun, the coaches had fun, everyone leaves happy, a little tired and wanting to return again. As the coach you alone make practices as fun and exciting as going to the circus or as dreary as doing multiplication tables. Opt for the circus and you will be the pied piper for the team where the players and parents will gladly follow.

Way back when, well if you were born after 1985, pre baseball season followed the winter sports of basketball and in some areas soccer. As each team sports season has gotten longer in all age groups, with the exception of high school sports, the down time and need for pre season conditioning has diminished.

Many training exercises in other sports cross over. Running, sprint training and over all conditioning are several of the cross over items. Some movements are directly related to baseball while others a good for general athletic mobility. Team sports predominately have the athlete in a upright athletic position. Back straight, knees bent, weight forward on the toes.

Fielding, butt down hands out, and batting are the most notable baseball specific activity. Time should be set aside every couple of weeks to reacquaint the muscles with those movements. Simple stationary fielding drills in the back yard are excellent. They are quick, fun and involve family.

Thirty perfect swings with the bat, nothing to hit or strike, is also excellent and unique to baseball. During any season players should enlist the 6 second swing on a regular basis. Adapted from Tai Chi, players take a deliberately slow and controlled perfect swings.

From the step and continuing with a complete follow through, encourage your player to close their eyes and visualize a perfect swing at a perfect pitch. Relaxed and in balance from a comfortable starting position, take an exhale breath and close your eyes. Visualize a pitch being released and going in slow motion, take the perfect stride in slow motion. Rotate the hips and load the core. Hands to the ball, roll trailing hand over leading hand, striking the ball, while close to the body and complete with the follow through.

This entire process should occur over a period of about 6 seconds, a true eternity when compared to live action. As a reader are probably wondering what Tai Chi has to do with batting.

A quick check on Chinese history will reveal centuries worth of expert swordsmen. The stroke of the sword is not so dissimilar to that of a bat swing. Each needs balance, power and targeting. As a comparative youngster to the human experience, baseball can learn a great deal from the activities of swordsmen that have been perfected and examined over hundreds of years and thousands instructors.

Simple drills not only provided muscle memory for doing them correctly, but when the parents are involved on such an individual and intimate setting, it makes up for time lost to the shows their Kids watch on Nick and other teen and pre teen targeting programming.

Parents compete with several media over the attention of their children. In 1974, competition was with the radio, shortly thereafter, MTV. Today, kids are bombarded from the moment they wake up until they fall asleep with sounds and noise from all sorts of things vying for their attention and spending dollars. relevision, radio, public places at large and the internet.

As a Parent, the most important thing you can give to your child is yourself.

What better opportunity than to separate your and your child from all the noise and participate together in a single activity. This is where baseball memories start. These memories are held closest to the heart.

So, once or twice a month, regardless of the season or the weather, take time with your child to practice a little baseball. Keep things simple, keep them brief and try a few yourself.

Much of baseball is situational. If this happens then I do that. Learning correct technique is best learned when you teach. Let your child teach you a little. Reinforcement of proper technique is quick and deep. Strengthening the connection between you and your child.

It is amazing what you each will learn together.

Third base crashes down to gather up the ball which takes a funny hop to the infield away from his glove. Not a good bunt as the ball moves between third baseman and the mound. The batter is fast and is halfway to first when the third baseman finally gains control of the ball. As he grasps the ball the throw the runner is now one third of the way there. He launches a frozen rope to first.

The throw is off and low. Stretch into the splits the first baseman reaches and scoops the ball into his mit as the runners foot touches the bag. OUT, the umpire calls as the ball was in the mit before the runner reached the bag.

These are the exciting moments of baseball that get every ones heart racing. It happens in the brief moment between successfully hitting the ball and the seconds it takes to cover the distance from home to first.

Yet, how does the first baseman know when to stretch and how far? Most of all , how does he get there?

A newbie to the position will take a step towards the man with the ball before their release. True, making a step with the glove side foot is correct. However, the step is too soon as there is no information about the path of the ball to be caught.

Ideally a baseman will wait until the ball is released before take the step to the ball. From a comfortable position, feet should width apart, knees bent, heels off the ground, the baseman has plenty of time to make the appropriate stride to receive the ball. Being in a strong, athletic position gives the baseman the proper position to react as quickly as their body will allow.

To stretch before the ball is thrown puts the baseman in an non balanced position using weaker muscles. Think about it for a moment. Which is faster and under more control; standing and taking a step directly at the ball or being stretched out and lifting your forward foot off the ground to redirect your position.

Worse yet, if the ball is high, the baseman has almost no position or strength to make a jump to at least knock the ball down and keep it in the infield. It is a recipe for batter success to turn a tough single into a stand up double.

This method of tagging a bag can be applied to any base virtually 100 percent of the time where the baseman is to receive a throw for a force out. In all aspects of baseball, the greater the balance, the higher degree of success the player will have.

Remember, comfortable position, tag foot on the bag, step with the glove foot towards the throw after the ball is in the air, adjust as needed to receive the throw.

Whether you participate in youth baseball or analyze major league baseball, proper basics are the foundation of having fun with Americas pastime. There are no excuse for not practicing baseball throwing correctly.

Sources for correct throwing technique are readily available. Any batting cage owner (private or commercial) generally has sufficient knowledge of, or can direct you to, proper throw technique. You can also teach yourself from the many available books, videos and web notes.

As a parent, teaching to throw is a bonding opportunity that has no comparison. Get some pointers from the local experts and pass it along to any child willing to spend time with you.

If you have ever read "Teach Baseball as you Teach Life" by Bruce Lambin then you already realize how Baseball is a Mans game and that throwing like a girl can actually harm the player both physically and emotionally.

On the emotional side, throwing a baseball properly does not promote taunting from other team members or opponents. Having the confidence and ability to get the baseball from glove to glove is a worthwhile achievement for any age. Many seem to dismiss a baseball throw for what its absolute goal is. Being able to continually repeat the goal breeds personal self esteem. No matter which baseball league you are in, no matter what position you play the goal is for each and every throw is to have it wind up in your team mates baseball gloves where little or no adjustment is made by the receiver. It takes practice to get there, perfect practice that is.

Baseball throwing at first sight does not appear to be overly demanding. Closer analysis proves that throwing a baseball correctly will allow the body to throw for years. Incorrect throwing can cause a multitude of physical damage from torn rotator cuffs in the shoulder and tennis elbow to un-even growth on each side of the wrist.

Lifelong injuries from incorrect form are no myth. Youth baseball players cannot envision their lives at 40. Even the best players who make it to the big show know that being a paid baseball player past 40 is reserved for the best of the best. Why risk the quality of life for improper throwing. Being able to reach above you head pain free to change a light bulb may not seem a loft goal, but for those who cannot, it is.

Is there a time when its ok to throw any way you want, sure, the moment you are being paid big bucks to play. Throw the baseball any way you like. Just remember this, the least amount of damage you bring to your body the longer you are able to play at the paid level. In our modern culture, livelong earnings substantially out weigh life long ERA or batting average.

Baseball is a Mans game, HUMAN. We are all human, hence the need for boys and girls to throw a baseball properly. Participation is more fun without undue strain on the body when you take the time to make your practice perfect.

Sit for a moment and pick two objects 5 to 10 feet away from you about 6 to 10 feet apart. You should be able to comfortably see both at the same time. Now pick one to focus on. As quick as you can, turn your head to the second object and note the time it takes to select it. Now, start with your original target, hold your head still and move your eyes only to the second target.

Unless you have quick twitch muscles throughout your body like a Barry Bonds, you should have noticed that it takes much less time to move your eyes than it does your head. That is because your eyes can move up to 5 times faster than your neck.

The speed at which you tract a target relates to your brain how much information you gather about the target and the perceived speed of the target. Occasionally experts will discuss how great baseball hitters and fielders see the ball well enough to slow it down. By allowing your eyes to make the most of the movement you gather more information and the perceived speed slows down. You now have the information to react sooner, get into position quicker and let your developed eye - hand coordination complete the desired result.

Focus on the object, in our case a baseball, is easier and far more comfortable when you have given some time to teach your eyes what you expect of them. Active vision training is not difficult. As players progress and the speed increases, active vision is essential for the next phase, prediction.

When a pitcher hurls the ball at 90+ mph there is only a fraction of a second with which to pick up the ball and determine where to swing the bat. Some have theorized that the last two one hundredths of a second, when the ball meets the bat, even the best players cannot see that moment. So how do they hit it? The information presented by their vision helps their body predict where the ball will be. More information, better prediction, better batting average.

Baseball vision training does not have to be a grueling process. Simple exercises such as sitting still and tossing a ball in the air and catching it while keeping your head still is an excellent beginning. Then move on to standing with the baseball going higher. Mix it up with left to right movement bearing in mind to track the ball with your eyes only.

An advanced drill that is a lot of fun is to place a ball on three feet of string. Have your player lie flat on their back in a room where you can control the light. As a pendulum, swing the ball back and forth and give the catch command at which point your player grasps the ball quickly with both hands. To add difficulty, swing the ball then have your player close their eyes for a swing or two then give the command. Need more challenge, turn off the light and add a strobe light, laughter will ensue, but it really does work.

Vary the challenges of the drills and the speed of the strobe lights.

For those of the practical persuasion, visit a batting cage. Stand outside the net and mid length of the cage and have your player track the baseball from the machine to the plate. You can see how the longer flight to follow enables a longer task to work from.

Baseballs, batting cages, rain dripping off the gutter even house flies; the act of being still and letting your eyes do the work will develop the players vision. The more they see, the easier everything becomes.

So much thought has gone into the location and exploitation of the spot that even hard core physics gurus continue to study it. From hardcore Bio-Metrics anaylysis to time-speed motion studies. Look around, you will be amazed at what you will find from the mathmatic experts.

Back to the matter at hand. How do you find the sweet spot on your baseball bat. T work. Set up a T at a nice level for a comfortable swing. Ditch the batting gloves and with a gentle swing, enough to knock the ball to 2nd or so, start hitting and concentrate on the "feel" in your hands. It should not take too many strikes to figure out where the zone lies. Striking the ball on the inside or outside of the sweet spot will send vibration down the bat and into your hands. Search for the zone that sends the least vibration to your hands.

Next, mark from the inside to the outside of the spot with wide masking tape. Take a few more knocks to confirm you have the spot. Now, with batting gloves on take full stride and swing at the ball. Take 5 or so then check the tape. Getting the picture. You have already determined where the spot is, now you are confirming what your swing is doing. Are the marks inside, outside or not even scaring the tape at all.

Not only does locating the sweet spot on your bat give you good information on what part of the bat you should be making contact with, but you now have solid information on what is happening when you swing at the perfect pitch.

You can also mark this spot with a permanent marker for later tape application. Remove the tape after each T session. Having glue build up on the baseball bat does nothing but make a mess and you do not want to inadvertently alarm an umpire to thinking something is up.