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Metrics

Time to Contact

Time to Contact is the elapsed time between start of downswing and impact. The start of downswing uses an advanced algorithm to detect when functional forward Bat Speed is initiated and is not triggered by bat waggle early in the swing.

What is Time to Contact?

Time to Contact is the elapsed time between start of downswing and impact. The start of downswing uses an advanced algorithm to detect when functional forward Bat Speed is initiated and is not triggered by bat waggle early in the swing.

Why is Time to Contact important?

Time to Contact measures the total time it takes to complete your swing. A pro softball fastpitch takes approximately 0.4 seconds from pitcher to home plate. In that time, you must recognize the pitch, decide whether to commit, and execute your swing. The quicker your Time to Contact, the more time you have to recognize and commit to good pitches.

What should Time to Contact be?

The typical Time to Contact depends on age, strength, bat length and weight, experience level, swing style, and use case (practice swings vs game swings). Analysis from our database provides typical Time to Contact ranges for the following age groups and skill levels for softball: * Professional: 0.14 - 0.18 seconds * College: 0.15 - 0.20 seconds * Travel Ball 16U - 18U: 0.15 - 0.21 seconds * High School Varsity: 0.15 - 0.21 seconds * High School Junior Varsity: 0.16 - 0.22 seconds * Travel Ball 12U - 14U: 0.16 - 0.22 seconds * Recreational: 0.18 - 0.25 seconds

How do I improve Time to Contact?

It is more important to focus on developing an efficient swing rather than training directly to Time to Contact. As the Body Rotation ratio and On Plane percentage metrics become more optimized, the Time to Contact will start to drop as the hitter develops a more efficient and Powerful coordinated movement pattern. It is more important to track long-term changes in your Time to Contact metric as different swing profiles have slight changes in their Time to Contact values. Tracking Time to Contact metrics over time will demonstrate improvements in the overall quality of the swing.