- Jul 14, 2018
- 982
- 93
When my daughter made the 8U all-star team, I brought my nice camera out to the first tournament they played in to get some good pix of her and her teammates. They were a good team, won a bunch of games. When I put the the pictures on my computer to find some good ones to share with the other parents I noticed something. Every girl -- every girl -- had her eyes closed during the swing, especially as they made contact.
The OP didn't mention if his 8U played coach-pitch or kid-pitch, but it will almost certainly get worse before it gets better. Two things you can count on in the first year or two of kid-pitch: lots of walks, and lots of hit batters. Even if your DD has flawless mechanics, they're going to go out the window until she gets hit a few times and realizes that first, it's not the end of the world; and second, she can recognize when a pitch is coming inside and has time to get out of the way.
Pitchers face a similar dilemma BTW: in the early going they're putting so much effort into throwing the ball hard that they fire all their muscle groups at once and it's generally a disaster. As they settle in and become more confident, their sequencing improves and they come to rely on their mechanics more than brute force. It's a mature response, one that no eight-year-old has the capacity for. It gets better with time.
The OP didn't mention if his 8U played coach-pitch or kid-pitch, but it will almost certainly get worse before it gets better. Two things you can count on in the first year or two of kid-pitch: lots of walks, and lots of hit batters. Even if your DD has flawless mechanics, they're going to go out the window until she gets hit a few times and realizes that first, it's not the end of the world; and second, she can recognize when a pitch is coming inside and has time to get out of the way.
Pitchers face a similar dilemma BTW: in the early going they're putting so much effort into throwing the ball hard that they fire all their muscle groups at once and it's generally a disaster. As they settle in and become more confident, their sequencing improves and they come to rely on their mechanics more than brute force. It's a mature response, one that no eight-year-old has the capacity for. It gets better with time.