When do 8U Girls Learn Skills

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Apr 30, 2018
349
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Spring ball was my daughter's first season. Had a few practices at the beginning of the season and then games started. After that it was games on Tues/Thurs and some tournaments. My daughter made our regions 3rd string all-star team. We have practices on Tues/Thurs and tournaments on the weekend, but the coaches don't want to work on detail skills like foot work. They just want to run high repetition drills that do nothing but reinforce bad habits, not correct them. We are a third string team, realistically we have a one in a million chance of winning an tournament let alone district or state. I would view success as making sure the girls have fun and improving fundamental skills. When are these girls supposed to actually learn, even simple stuff like stepping back to catch a fly ball?
 

ez_softball

Life at the diamond...
Apr 14, 2017
158
28
IME if you want your kid to get better it typically takes a KNOWLEDGEABLE parent willing to work on things at home. With that being said my daughter didn't even start playing until old 10U so, I wouldn't stress too much. LOL
 
Apr 30, 2018
349
43
I'm trying to learn as much as I can. Have watched tons of videos and read as much as I can get my hands on. While there are some differences, it seems like most sites agree on the basics. I work with her most days at home and I help coach her teams. I also have her seeing a hitting coach once a week. She is really good with kids. Has a very methodical one thing at a time approach. Guess I will just keep it up working with her at home. One took I have found invaluable has been slow motion cell phone video. My daughter will often say "no I'm not" when I try to point something out. Wife takes a quick video and it ends the arguement.

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Dec 2, 2013
3,409
113
Texas
The kids get better with the work done at home. Playing lots of catch really helps. These are the essential items you should invest in as a softball parent if you don't already have them. A bucket of balls, a Bownet, and a Tanner Tee.
 
Apr 16, 2010
924
43
Alabama
You would be surprised what being around better players could do for her. Maybe not during all stars because I am sure you are stretched for time but you might look around for a TB team that would let her practice with them.

My DD was the #1 rated kid at our park in both her 2nd year of 6U and first of 8U after making our all star team her first year in 6U. She was a good little ball player but exploded after being exposed to better players. She was asked to pick up for an 8U travel team made up of girls a year older than her during her first year of 8U. She had a blast that day and played really well which earned her an invitation to finish the year with them. The HC told me keep our commitment to the park and games/practices there came first and once the season ended we could come full time. The thing is my DD went from being the best player in the park to being the 8th or 9th best on a single team. Seeing other girls catch high pop ups or hard grounders gave her the confidence that she could do it. This pushed her to try harder. We would go back to rec games or practices and she was catching real fly balls and people were shocked she could do it. I was convinced most of the girls on my team could get there if they had been in the same environment.
 
May 1, 2018
659
63
If you don't have the knowledge to help improve her skills don't be afraid to reach out to people who do. Hang out and watch some old/better teams practice yourself and see what the coaches are doing. Use youtube to grow your knowledge. It's hard to teach what good looks like until you see it. Once you see it you can at least recognize whether it's good or not. But for skills individual coaching is always the best.
 
Nov 18, 2015
1,585
113
I’ll also add that just because it’s on YouTube doesn’t mean it’s good advice - keep reading DFP and learn to recognize the bad from the good.

Tip - ignore 95% of videos where all the players are in shorts with permed hair. :)

And yes - repetition is good, but not if it’s ingraining bad form / habits. The coaches should be doing better - All-Stars should be with the better coaches - but obviously that’s doesn’t always happen.


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Apr 30, 2018
349
43
Our All-Star head coach was an assistant coach on a team that lost every game during spring ball if that gives you any indication.

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Jun 29, 2013
589
18
Well, so much of this is based on the skill level of the team, and basic, physical development of the kids. On fly balls, at 8U, in my experience you're only going to find a handful of girls who can be taught to take a drop step and actually read a ball. Before you compare them to their brothers who pick this skill up earlier, please know that girls depth perception takes a little longer to develop. Some will get it, as Southern CA teams show (it helps when their all star teams draw from a huge pool of eligible players) but most aren't going to pick that skill up until 10U, and some don't get it until they are even older. Be patient with your coaches, they're undoubtedly trying their best to get an entire team ready and not just the top 2 or 3. But just continue to focus on whether they are learning and having fun, if they love the game and want to work to get better in their free time, you know everything is going to be fine.
 

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