Is it time to switch?

[thaase]

New to the forum after reading great discussions wanted to join. DD just turned 10 in May. Been playing softball since 4 and travel since 8 and year round since. As an 8 played NSA and held her own. Now at playing age 9 playing ASA and some NSA and struggling a bit. Shes fairly small 4'9" 74 pounds. She has always had a real good sound swing at home off the T, soft toss etc. In fact she can perform just about every drill I put in front of her. However just not translating to live pitching. I joke with her that another girl takes over her body. Problem now she and I have become very frustrated she actually got benched last weeknd for the first time ever. Shes fairly quick, home to home time is 13.5 on a real good day dont have a 20 or 60 time yet. At times shows promise driving the ball but not consistent at all due to not taking same mechanics into the game. Been contmeplating switching to LH then slapping. We have been doing a little t work lefty and actually looks ok. Just not sure if its the right thing to do? questions race through my mind 1) Doc says will be 5'8" but thin, will power come? 2) Will she be fast enought to justify the work? 3) how to work into it and still be able to make teams as she has been playing on soem good ones? 4) Do I just keep doing both till 12-13 to see if she will get stronger or faster? As you can see I am quite a mess on what to do. Some say just be patient she has pop just needs to develop to include her hitting coach but its been a long frustrating summer and just want to make the right call. I know LH will be a ton of work. Which wont be an issue as she hits 3-5 times a week anyway. thnx

 

[Sweet Lou]

I think folks are going to want video of her swing to give you feedback. It may be that her swing was very good for 8U since putting the ball in play often leads to reaching base but at 10U the fielding starts to catch up and just putting the ball in play doesn't always lead to hits.

As for switching to lefty this age isn't a bad one to do it but if she just repeats the problems with her swing left handed that she currently has right handed, it may not get the results you hope for.

 

[thaase]

Here is one from live and one from garage.. I should of clarrified she was playing 10u as an 8 now 10u as technically a 9. I'll try to get these vids up not real good at it..lol..only problem live is she doesnt stay tall and tends to collapse on her front side and slides her hips instead of driving her back hip to the ball and drops her barrel bad on her approach.. Its weird you would think as many hacks she takes at home muscle memory would take over but its doesnt translate to live.. Ill have to find a good one lately from live..thnx for the input..i hope its just my computer but seems like it takes to long to load sorry bout that

http://vid31.photobucket.com/albums/c382/cuttingducks/taci0614_zpsc7b5b5b5.mp4

http://vid31.photobucket.com/albums/c382/cuttingducks/taci0514_zpsea22a420.mp4

 

[Slappers]

My advice? Relax. She is 10. You said yourself that you are frustrated and she is frustrated, coach is benching her and she hits 3-5 days a week. That is fairly taxing on a 10 year old that has yet to learn how to deal with set backs and wants to make daddy happy but sees you are frustrated. Throw in the fact that you want to try giving up on hitting right handed to go lefty etc, isn't helping.

Support her or you won't have to worry about hitting because she won't be playing when she hits 12-13.

Swing looks darn good to me. Reinforces to me more that it is mental.

 

[thaase]

My advice? Relax. She is 10. You said yourself that you are frustrated and she is frustrated, coach is benching her and she hits 3-5 days a week. That is fairly taxing on a 10 year old that has yet to learn how to deal with set backs and wants to make daddy happy but sees you are frustrated. Throw in the fact that you want to try giving up on hitting right handed to go lefty etc, isn't helping.

Support her or you won't have to worry about hitting because she won't be playing when she hits 12-13.

Swing looks darn good to me. Reinforces to me more that it is mental.

Thanks a bunch!! Sometimes it takes others comments to wake you up. She says still loves it and havin fun so as long as she's good with it I should be. Thanks for smacking me. Lol. I think you are right on the money with mental. Been trying more drills off the t where we simulate a pitcher as well. Thanks again it's much appreciated!

 

[Sweet Lou]

To my untrained eye she looks pretty good. Maybe take a little break from so much hitting to give her a bit of a mental break. She could just be a little slump.

 

[straightleg]

I see a no stride swing. You have to think if you want to keep her like that, or go to a step out stride swing. Most college girls step out.
Teams like Georgia, most of them dont.
Watch video and see what you think you want to stay with



SL

 

[Slappers]

That's great she is having fun and loving it. Maybe try just going to a field and letting her hit without comments from you. Just pitch. I think we have all been there. Going through it now with a 16 year old actually. Its hard to turn off and just let them play.

 

[thaase]

I see a no stride swing. You have to think if you want to keep her like that, or go to a step out stride swing. Most college girls step out.
Teams like Georgia, most of them dont.
Watch video and see what you think you want to stay with



SL

Yeah been actually trying to get her to stride this past spring. Doesn it well at home but live tends to just pick up and put down. Or reverts to a no stride in live. She does seem to have a lot better timing lie when sh does stride right. Tends to drift too far back on her load when she doesn't.

 

[The Project]

It's a long journey, I compare it often to a roller coaster - learn to enjoy the highs and ride out the lows. If she enjoys hitting with dad, then I say the more the better. I believe someone above said just focus on making that a fun time without so much critique, from experience I couldn't agree more with that.

My DD is 16 going on 17 and we hit 5-6 days a week, either at the field or in the garage. We do it because it's something she loves to do with dad and it's our time together - the improved hitting is just a bonus to the time spent with her. It's been a long, mostly fun, sometimes frustrating, sometimes incredibly exciting trip so far that God willing isn't nearly over and there's nothing in the world I would trade it for.

My advice is to read, read, read and read more on this message board. Learn to wade through what sometimes seems like a bunch of fluff, hot air and chest pounding to get the real hidden gems of hitting advice from the regulars - Howe, FFS, Straightleg, etc. - and try everything you read to see if it make sense, sometimes you'll be surprised at what you didn't really know. And finally, the sooner you can become process oriented and not results oriented (FFS talks about it somewhere in one of these threads) the better off you'll be IMO. I know everyone wants success now but if you can look past that and truly not care about the results and keep the big picture in mind, which is your DD playing long into her softball career, then you'll be better off in the long run. At the start of this year I told the DD we weren't going to worry about avg, hits, hr's, etc. and just focus on her swing and improving her mechanics. She had some rough patches along the way but has really peaked as of late and seems more comfortable and relaxed than I've ever seen her. We didn't panic and just continued to work on what we believed in as opposed to making drastic changes.

You're DD has a really good swing for 9, have fun with it and don't take it too serious - in the end it's just a ball game played by our wonderful, beautiful DD's. And enjoy the ride, you have a long, exciting road ahead of you!

P.S. Please don't switch to a lefty - this game has too many slappers as it is!