- Aug 1, 2019
- 48
- 8
Is there a age for girls at witch weights will become vital to them. And if so when.
How much she pitches (assuming she has proper teaching and fundamentals) will directly correlate with success and progress.
My 9 year old started lessons and went from P4 to P1 in 6 months entirely due to working hard and often. All 4 girls had lessons together at the same frequency and the same teacher. It's the hard work between lessons that will make her good. It's just simple life lesson stuff. If you want it and work towards it, you can make it happen. If you don't want it as much, that's perfectly fine. Let her guide the journey and you help her make it happen. Get a bucket, get a glove, show her you'll invest time as she does. It's fun and very rewarding.
Pitching daily seems excessive to me, but 4-5 days per week, 80 pitches per session is about what you'll hear many P1s put in - a lesson counts towards that number, as do some team practices. We almost always take the day before and the day after a tournament off.
I don't think It's ever too early to start with simple body weight exercises like push ups and planks.
I would add in some light band work to help strengthen the rotator cuff - which will also help with her overhand throws.
If you stroll through TJ Maxx / Marshalls / Ross / etc., you're likely to find packs of resistance bands (usually with a light, med, and heavy-ish band in each) for around $5-$7. I even found a slam ball (medicine ball, but with a little bounce) for much less than what I was seeing in Dick's or even Walmart.
Austin Wasserman has a Youngbloods Training Manual which, as the name implies, is geared towards youth athletes. (www.highlevelthrowing.com)
Biggest thing keeping her straight while through the pitch stride always tends to stride to the right even though she is right handed.
It doesn't sound like this would be the case with the OP, but I would also encourage him/her not to get frustrated and expect more of his DD at this age than she can give. Balls will be flying over you head, bouncing three feet to your left, and hitting your shins. It is just part of it and, before long, that stuff will be happening less and less and then mostly not at all. Just enjoy the grind and watching her get better. As RickM suggested, better to walk away after a 15 minute practice and get after it tomorrow than risk everyone ending up crying. Keep it fun and positive.That sounds just about right. As others have said, your daughter should be the one initiating at this point. There will be plenty of times where she has to go and throw even if she's not feeling it if she continues along the pitching path.
One more important point about the time you spend catching her on a bucket -- don't let her get frustrated. It's too early in the game to try and battle through an issue she's having. She doesn't yet have the experience or muscle control take make adjustments on the fly. If you go out to the yard, and she can't manage to throw a ball anywhere near your glove, it's time to stop and go get ice cream.