Getting a 9 year old to swing the bat?

[Warbucks79]

Rec ball concern here. I have a few girls that I can't seem to get to swing the bat. They just stand there and walk or strikeout. We play 10U. In practice They swing and hit the ball, but games it's not happening. Also, have a few that back out of the box as soon as the pitcher releases the ball. I've tried everything I know to do to fix both these issues. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

 

[Sweet Lou]

If the pitcher is around the plate I've had some success with telling a girl "You have to swing at the first pitch, I don't care where it is you have to swing." If you are lucky the pitch will be around the plate and the girl will make some contact. Often that is all they need. Of course sometime the pitch is wacky, the kid swings and you get a parent yelling at them - I have to talk to t he parent between innings when that happens.

I also tell the girls - "It's a lot more fun to hit than walk and they should just go up like they do in practice."

Sometimes it is a chore with 10U rec, I will give you that. Patience is a virtue.

 

[quincy]

Plain old bribery and/or rewards are underestimated, especial for the batters bailing out during the games.

 

[canyonjoe]

If any of your pitchers throw strikes have them hit of them in practice.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Teach the girls how to get hit. I am for bribery, too. Also, make certain that they know they don't get on if they swing and get hit.

 

[JJsqueeze]

Plain old bribery and/or rewards are underestimated, especial for the batters bailing out during the games.

Ice cream gets better results in 10U than hitting lessons.

 

[rdbass]

Ice cream gets better results in 10U than hitting lessons.

**SPRINKLES** for the girls that get hits because you know.......

 

[MsDinosaur]

BRIBES! Candy for swinging, candy for not backing out of the box. Or stickers. With that age group, bribery works well. ;-)

 

[Warbucks79]

All great ideas guys. Thanks, I'm definitely going to implement so of these.

 

[Mr T]

Being afraid is a tough one for sure. At that point you are getting into the realm of emotion and psychology. So it often involves trying everything you can think of, and plenty of times nothing fixes it except time and appearances at the plate.

I'd say of the things I've tried a strange one that worked on a few girls was to have them try an open stance and step into the pitch. Has to be demonstrated and tried in practice obviously, but surprisingly this worked. Along the lines of what Amy was talking about this can be accompanied with an explanation of how going from open to square is a lot safer than going from square to open.