Hi all,
First time poster so please forgive my complete lack of knowledge and the abundance of dumb questions to follow. I'm in my second year coaching 8U (they ate me alive last year) and am willing to work harder than my girls to learn so I can teach them. I have zero, none, nada, no talent whatsoever, my DD however can pick up a ball from any sport and just somehow knows what to do. I'm there for the love of her and the kids and having fun but I want them to learn correctly and winning some is nice too.
On to the real question.... Why a first base glove? Does it really matter? Is a smaller infield glove sufficient until she is older? Should we invest in a catchers mitt also? She plays first, catcher, and pitcher. (She wants to pitch and has been working hard for it and it was suggested that if they wanna pitch they have to catch, I agree with the philosophy) Here's the problem, my daughter has been playing the last three years with the same 10" t-ball glove. She has a 90% plus rate catching with it and doesn't want a new one. Should I make her get a new one or just leave her alone? She has by far the best fielding rate of any of the girls on our team. I don't want to screw her up but I wonder if her accuracy would improve if she had a slightly larger glove.
After some research I suggested a larger glove to one of my girls with a less than 20% catching. The new glove helped her immensely. Now that she has caught a few her confidence is going up and so is her willingness to get behind the ball. (I record # catches out of 7 for ground and air balls to see where they are at and improvement so we know how to help each girl)
I'm completely open to suggestion, constructive criticism, advice, a swift kick in the pants.... whatever as long as it helps my girls learn. Sorry for the long post. Thanks!!!
First time poster so please forgive my complete lack of knowledge and the abundance of dumb questions to follow. I'm in my second year coaching 8U (they ate me alive last year) and am willing to work harder than my girls to learn so I can teach them. I have zero, none, nada, no talent whatsoever, my DD however can pick up a ball from any sport and just somehow knows what to do. I'm there for the love of her and the kids and having fun but I want them to learn correctly and winning some is nice too.
On to the real question.... Why a first base glove? Does it really matter? Is a smaller infield glove sufficient until she is older? Should we invest in a catchers mitt also? She plays first, catcher, and pitcher. (She wants to pitch and has been working hard for it and it was suggested that if they wanna pitch they have to catch, I agree with the philosophy) Here's the problem, my daughter has been playing the last three years with the same 10" t-ball glove. She has a 90% plus rate catching with it and doesn't want a new one. Should I make her get a new one or just leave her alone? She has by far the best fielding rate of any of the girls on our team. I don't want to screw her up but I wonder if her accuracy would improve if she had a slightly larger glove.
After some research I suggested a larger glove to one of my girls with a less than 20% catching. The new glove helped her immensely. Now that she has caught a few her confidence is going up and so is her willingness to get behind the ball. (I record # catches out of 7 for ground and air balls to see where they are at and improvement so we know how to help each girl)
I'm completely open to suggestion, constructive criticism, advice, a swift kick in the pants.... whatever as long as it helps my girls learn. Sorry for the long post. Thanks!!!