I have a 14 year old daughter who has tried a lot of different sports since she was 5 but has yet to find one for which she has a passion. She played soccer at 5 years old, cheerleading at 6, basketball from 7 to 12, and volleyball from 10 to 14.
I always assumed she would play basketball because of her height (currently 5' 10.5" in 8th grade) but she no longer has any interest in it (I think because everyone asks her all the time if she plays basketball).
She has decided now that she would like to try fastpitch softball.
I took her out to throw some for the first time ever and I was surprised by her arm. Very strong and a lot more accurate (although the furthest we've thrown is probably 80 feet) than I thought. Playing the pop ups is pretty good although I need to teacher her to catch the ball moving forward and ready to throw. Grounders are really good...I think the movement in volleyball and being used to staying low helps her here.
Batting however is a different story. She watches the ball well but her form is too mechanical right now (understandable considering she's never even tried softball before). At times her right wrist tends to roll under her left instead of over it like it should be doing.
And as far as how the game of softball is actually played (who moves where, where to throw the ball, cut off man, double play, etc.), she has no clue. However I taped the Tennessee/Miss. St. game last night and am going to go through it with her this week to try and teach her some of the game.
Right now we are using a borrowed glove, borrowed bat, and borrowed balls in order to see if the interest is truly there.
I guess I'm wanting to know two things:
1) Is 14 years old too old for her to learn the fundamentals of softball and become a quality player?
2) What advice would you give me in order to help her learn the game more easily?
So far what we've done is: throw the softball back and forth (varying the distance ever so often), slow pitched tennis and whiffle balls from the front, tossed a paper/tape ball from the side, worked on thrown pop flies, worked on thrown grounders.
During our Easter break I plan on taking her to an actual softball field and work on fielding drills.
Thanks for any and all advice!!!
TripleB
I always assumed she would play basketball because of her height (currently 5' 10.5" in 8th grade) but she no longer has any interest in it (I think because everyone asks her all the time if she plays basketball).
She has decided now that she would like to try fastpitch softball.
I took her out to throw some for the first time ever and I was surprised by her arm. Very strong and a lot more accurate (although the furthest we've thrown is probably 80 feet) than I thought. Playing the pop ups is pretty good although I need to teacher her to catch the ball moving forward and ready to throw. Grounders are really good...I think the movement in volleyball and being used to staying low helps her here.
Batting however is a different story. She watches the ball well but her form is too mechanical right now (understandable considering she's never even tried softball before). At times her right wrist tends to roll under her left instead of over it like it should be doing.
And as far as how the game of softball is actually played (who moves where, where to throw the ball, cut off man, double play, etc.), she has no clue. However I taped the Tennessee/Miss. St. game last night and am going to go through it with her this week to try and teach her some of the game.
Right now we are using a borrowed glove, borrowed bat, and borrowed balls in order to see if the interest is truly there.
I guess I'm wanting to know two things:
1) Is 14 years old too old for her to learn the fundamentals of softball and become a quality player?
2) What advice would you give me in order to help her learn the game more easily?
So far what we've done is: throw the softball back and forth (varying the distance ever so often), slow pitched tennis and whiffle balls from the front, tossed a paper/tape ball from the side, worked on thrown pop flies, worked on thrown grounders.
During our Easter break I plan on taking her to an actual softball field and work on fielding drills.
Thanks for any and all advice!!!
TripleB