History Of The Hitter Handicap

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Kelly Ahrens the founder of Stars and Stripes Sports and Test and Train Sports started testing athletes in 2007 wanting to better understand the make up of athletes and what defines a top prospect. The Hitter Handicap has been utilized for over 10 years and has been calibrated based upon real testing scenarios with athletes ages 8 to 25. 

Kelly published the ACE Capacity testing matrix in 2016 which was the first matrix made public that gave the opportunity for athletes to see how they matched up with other athletes in their age group using a total objective point of view. As more data was captured and more information was studied as to what makes up an athlete, Ahrens wanted to be able to validate the “influence” of an athlete. If a coach is a good hitting coach, how can they prove it? The Hitter Handicap was born and with the contribution from many sports scientists, aerospace engineers, coaches, etc. the process has proven to be an accurate assessment of a hitter’s skill.

In addition to being a great tool to assess hitters, the Hitter Handicap has proven a ton of value in being able to teach and develop swings and approach. Over time, Ahrens have proven the ability to predict outcomes based upon totally objective data-driven process. He has accurately predicted in season production based upon pre-season data. 

The use of the Mental MRI and the ACE Capacity testing provides the ability to perform a forensic analysis of a player and use a data-driven approach to influence the development of that athletes. This process has been repeated at the amateur, high school and collegiate level with great success.

The value of what the Hitter Handicap brings is affordability, ease of use and value of data received. It was important to create a process that everyone could partake in and that would be able to be duplicated all over the world. This hitting tool is now being duplicated with the Pitchers Handicap and with the Hitter Handicap for Soccer, Volleyball, Tennis, Golf, and Hockey as the methodology provides an easy way to assess and influence development. 

The success of the Hitter Handicap, ACE Capacity Testing and the Mental MRI should act as a foundation for programs to follow when testing and developing players. Hitter Handicap is a mobile application which Is apart of the patent pending and Trademarked Hitter Handicap software platform.

With an overwhelming amount of data over a long period of time, this process is well tested and will make an immediate impact on those who invest in learning the specifics. Ahrens has tested over 65,000 athletes across the US, Cuba, and Dominican Republic while testing and retesting many of the athletes up to 10 times over up to a 10-year period. Understanding the maturation of athletes and what influences athletes a valuable commodity Ahrens is is now willing to share.