I've been working regularly with one girl who's a sophomore. The younger girls only come occasionally, so progress there is a little slower. I suspect that after they all play on a team for a season, the ones who enjoy the experience will be more likely to show up. One thing I've learned is that very few of them are going to put in a lot of hard work before they actually do it for real.
A little about my sophomore: She had never played before, at all. She's only 4'8". Since she had never played before, I just started her out batting lefty. I'm not sure it even counts as turning her around since she had maybe a week of practice batting right-handed. Ideally I can teach her to slap, but right now we're just swinging away/bunting. She's the most dedicated girl I have, so I'm doing what I can to make sure she is good at something (she's also had people tell her she's too small to play sports her whole life, so I'm determined to help her prove them wrong).
We usually meet once a week. Everything is inside, so it's tee/front toss. The machine totally screws up her mechanics, so I've stopped using it. I'm slowly moving to the side of "don't use the machine for hitting," though I think more experienced hitters can adjust their timing a little better than those just learning. We have some ups and downs, and any time something doesn't go right she gets discouraged. I'm seeing overall improvement though.
Our tryouts are two weeks from today, and our first game is four weeks from tomorrow. I don't have any doubt she'll make the team, so we're a month or so away from seeing how everything we're working on translates to the games.
A little about my sophomore: She had never played before, at all. She's only 4'8". Since she had never played before, I just started her out batting lefty. I'm not sure it even counts as turning her around since she had maybe a week of practice batting right-handed. Ideally I can teach her to slap, but right now we're just swinging away/bunting. She's the most dedicated girl I have, so I'm doing what I can to make sure she is good at something (she's also had people tell her she's too small to play sports her whole life, so I'm determined to help her prove them wrong).
We usually meet once a week. Everything is inside, so it's tee/front toss. The machine totally screws up her mechanics, so I've stopped using it. I'm slowly moving to the side of "don't use the machine for hitting," though I think more experienced hitters can adjust their timing a little better than those just learning. We have some ups and downs, and any time something doesn't go right she gets discouraged. I'm seeing overall improvement though.
Our tryouts are two weeks from today, and our first game is four weeks from tomorrow. I don't have any doubt she'll make the team, so we're a month or so away from seeing how everything we're working on translates to the games.
