Teaching 8U how to slide
- Thread starter richard
- Start date
Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch
Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.
This could be a good thread.
This is a great age to teach them because they don't have much fear yet. I'm a big fan of what we call the bat drill. Use the mat and have two adults hold to ends of the bat. The player runs up and starts her slide, and slides under the bat using it to swing her legs out. This teaches them to throw their legs out and keep their hands high to avoid injuries. Go over proper foot technique first. You can do this with the mat or on the field and once the seem comfortable just take the bat away.
This is a great age to teach them because they don't have much fear yet. I'm a big fan of what we call the bat drill. Use the mat and have two adults hold to ends of the bat. The player runs up and starts her slide, and slides under the bat using it to swing her legs out. This teaches them to throw their legs out and keep their hands high to avoid injuries. Go over proper foot technique first. You can do this with the mat or on the field and once the seem comfortable just take the bat away.
If it's not to cold in your part of the woods, go outside and find a small grassy hill to practice on. It's better if it's slightly wet.
A tarp or slip-n-slide work great when the weather is warm.
Another option is to have two coaches each hold the end of a broom handle. The girl runs, grabs the handle and slides underneath. The coaches move with the girl through the slide.
This gets them in the habit of getting down then after they get used to getting down, you can start working on proper leg placement for the slide and have them go through it again making sure that they are using proper form.
Another option is to have two coaches each hold the end of a broom handle. The girl runs, grabs the handle and slides underneath. The coaches move with the girl through the slide.
This gets them in the habit of getting down then after they get used to getting down, you can start working on proper leg placement for the slide and have them go through it again making sure that they are using proper form.
Cardboard on top of another piece of cardboard works great outside, or one piece on top of wet grass. Inside they make a cheap slidding mat. We still teach kids in high school each year as a refresher. A piece of card board on top of a mat indoors will also work. At 8 just make it fun. Like the prior poster we use a broom handle.
02Crush
Way past gone
Baby Powder on the cardboard. Works great and they smell good when you are done.
Slip and Slide and Summer :{))
We had the chance to try some things last night at practice. I had one section of 4ftx12ft cardboard down on the mats. Placed one piece of 4x4 cardboard on top of them for the girls to slide on. Tried just that at first. It worked ok but some of the girls still had a few issues. So we pulled out the bat and had them grab it and shoot under.. It worked great. Corrected a few issues we had early and after about ten minutes all of the girls could feel what we wanted. Thanks for the advice. As always love this site.
I have never heard of using a broom handle or a bat to teach sliding, so I'm having difficulty visualizing this. Do the coaches hold the broom handle at chest level? Waist level? I saw one post above that the coaches hold on to the broom handle all the way through the slide, is that correct? I hope to find a demonstration of this on YouTube, but in the meantime, any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated.
