Hit Stick

This is the hit stick.

Yes, this looks like a prop that could have been used on the TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway, but it’s actually for baseball and softball.  

The Moose recently had his first baseball practice of the spring season and although I'm not coaching, I offered to help. The coaches divided the kids into different groups and assigned me to the hitting station. My job was to hold the hit stick as 4th and 5th graders whacked away. Here's a picture of someone using the hit stick in action.

Looks like a good activity, right? It can help kids practice making contact. While this activity may be great for the kids, I'm convinced that the hit stick was made by the devil! I held the stick for at least 30 minutes through easily 200+ swings. When I finished, my hands were shaking, my fingers were swollen, and there was (and still is) an ugly blister on my left hand. The hit stick thing is the worst. Of course, in writing this blog post, I did a little research and discovered the video below. While there is unintentional comedy of this guy saying "big stick" and "shaft" in front of his daughter (I think like a 14 year old sometimes), the suggestion of wearing a glove is huge. And something I wished I knew BEFORE holding the hit stick!

Fortunately, Skye is helping my blister heel.