8 year old looking for "simple" drills and tips
- Thread starter bpeck
- Start date
Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch
Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.
- Jul 17, 2012
- 1,086
- 38
I don't think taking an 8 yo out in the yard, or in the garage for 20 minutes a day showing her how to throw a ball, underhanded, or overhand for that matter is something that is going to lead to overuse injuries. We're not talking about a regimine of 100 full blown 100% pitches here. I think you have the wrong image in your head of a drill sergeant screaming at a young child to work harder, throw harder.
Left field, you have a right to your opinion regarding the age to start...and its valid, assuming we were working these kids as frozen rope said above. But the reality is there ARE some kids working out 5-6 days a week at 7-8 years old. Which for the record I don't like either. With my dd and my young students its only about 15min of easy work every day and a real deal pitching lesson once a week. If that eases your mind...
Left Field's advice needs to be said and there are many, many families that need to remember it. There are those families that love sports and build their lives around them. I've seen many kid's burn out, but I've also seen the driven kids with supportive families. Each kid is different and some beg to practice every chance they can. The adult needs to help them slow it down, mix up the the life experience and make sure she's living life.
That said, pitching every other day up to 4 days total, is realistic for many 8 year olds. If it becomes a chore to get in 3 per week, it might be better to put it off for a year or two.
It needs to be a game.
That said, pitching every other day up to 4 days total, is realistic for many 8 year olds. If it becomes a chore to get in 3 per week, it might be better to put it off for a year or two.
It needs to be a game.
halskinner
Banned
- May 7, 2008
- 2,642
- 0
Having started off more 8-year-olds than I can remember, I will tell you this. If the instructor does not make the first lesson so fun that the student cant wait to come back for the next lesson, you got the wrong instructor. If the first lesson is not fun and the student leaves NOT knowing she is a better pitcher than when she asrrived, there is a VERY good chance she will not be back and will throw in the towel at the first lesson.
A bad first experience at pitching has lost this sport more new pitchers than it will ever know or admit to.
Here is what I have for WI but this list is several years old. Hope you find one.
WISCONSIN
Winneconne. WI. Stacey Hunter staceysstrikezone@outdrs.net 920-410-7942 Pitching instruction given at STACEY'S STRIKEZONE 6789 Frontier Rd. Winneconne, WI 10 years exp.
__________________________________________________________________-
Greendale, WI. Steve Nichols snichols4@wi.rr.com 414-425-0284 Pitching instruction beginner to advanced. Member NFCA
___________________________________________________________________________
Madison, WI. Lindsey Snow (708) 243-1250 Pitching instruction, beginning to advanced, private and group lessons.
---------------------------------------------
Platteville, WI Tina Davies TinaDavies821@hotmail.com Beginning to advanced pitching instruction.
---------------------------------------------
Lacrosse, WI. Jim Hansen jhans88@hotmail.com 608-788-9466 'Gametime Sportz' in LaCrosse. 5 years experience as a pitching instructor.
---------------------------------------------
A bad first experience at pitching has lost this sport more new pitchers than it will ever know or admit to.
Here is what I have for WI but this list is several years old. Hope you find one.
WISCONSIN
Winneconne. WI. Stacey Hunter staceysstrikezone@outdrs.net 920-410-7942 Pitching instruction given at STACEY'S STRIKEZONE 6789 Frontier Rd. Winneconne, WI 10 years exp.
__________________________________________________________________-
Greendale, WI. Steve Nichols snichols4@wi.rr.com 414-425-0284 Pitching instruction beginner to advanced. Member NFCA
___________________________________________________________________________
Madison, WI. Lindsey Snow (708) 243-1250 Pitching instruction, beginning to advanced, private and group lessons.
---------------------------------------------
Platteville, WI Tina Davies TinaDavies821@hotmail.com Beginning to advanced pitching instruction.
---------------------------------------------
Lacrosse, WI. Jim Hansen jhans88@hotmail.com 608-788-9466 'Gametime Sportz' in LaCrosse. 5 years experience as a pitching instructor.
---------------------------------------------
Last edited:
Ok, I am far from a pitching expert, but have coached every age level and sport you can name for the past 28yrs. Currently have a dd that is pretty good at 12U travel. This girl is 8. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON A PITCHING COACH. Yeah some of these guys on here are good pitching coaches with great training. However, she is 8 and from what I viewed in the video she has the aggressiveness to be a good pitcher. A little HE going on, but what she really needs is a dad to sit on a bucket until she figures out if she really loves to pitch. Rec. ball is where to start and build her confidence. I have witnessed a lot of wonderful pitchers who mentally just can't handle it! Save some $ for later when she will really benefit from that kind of instruction. Until then Hillhouse and other online sources such as IR in the classroom will be a wonderful guide for you and her.
halskinner
Banned
- May 7, 2008
- 2,642
- 0
OK, now that I have kind of vented about my disdain for 'Instructors' that cannot make a valid and pleasant connection with the youngest beginners. I will add this.
I retired frtom instructing in 2033. In 2004 I was contacted by the directors of two large leagues in my area of NorCal. They begged me to come back and work with the brand new 8u and 10u pitchers, so I did. I was told they had contacted all the other pitching instructors in the area and NOBODY wanted to work with them. The 8's and 10's rarely ever made a blurb in the papers and that was the apperent reason they did not want them.
I was up to my eyeballs in the little buggars.
Now, to your video. I could point out many things I see but will only start with a couple that will help.
Have her make sure the ball and her stride foot comes forward from the rubber at the same time.
Make sure the ball is just into the downswing behind at the instant of landing foot touchdown.
Make her stride length her height, minus 3 inches. Have her practice on concrete where you can mark the pitchers rubber and powerline with chalk. Mark a line on the side of that where her stride toe should land.
Start with those and we'll go from there.
I have used this method with students as young as 6-years-old and as old as 45.
I retired frtom instructing in 2033. In 2004 I was contacted by the directors of two large leagues in my area of NorCal. They begged me to come back and work with the brand new 8u and 10u pitchers, so I did. I was told they had contacted all the other pitching instructors in the area and NOBODY wanted to work with them. The 8's and 10's rarely ever made a blurb in the papers and that was the apperent reason they did not want them.
I was up to my eyeballs in the little buggars.
Now, to your video. I could point out many things I see but will only start with a couple that will help.
Have her make sure the ball and her stride foot comes forward from the rubber at the same time.
Make sure the ball is just into the downswing behind at the instant of landing foot touchdown.
Make her stride length her height, minus 3 inches. Have her practice on concrete where you can mark the pitchers rubber and powerline with chalk. Mark a line on the side of that where her stride toe should land.
Start with those and we'll go from there.
I have used this method with students as young as 6-years-old and as old as 45.
Last edited:
- Jul 17, 2012
- 1,086
- 38
I'm starting to lean on the side of Boardmember's thinking. First teach the girls how to throw a ball underhanded, especially with the young ones. My little one (5) is SOOOO jealous of her older sister and the "daddy time" she gets with pitching that SHE always asks me if she can pitch after her big sister. After a hundred no's, I figured, what the heck. So 3-4 nights a week, we practice some overhand throws, then "lock it in" Lasts all of about 10 minutes, then she wacks a few balls off the tee. It's playtime... after all, isn't softball a game? Just sharing a funny story...Her first t-ball practice, she nearly took one of her coaches heads off when he kneeled down, 10 feet away from her and asked her to throw the ball to him. They were evaluating the kid's ability to throw. To put it into perspective, she can regularly hit dd's pitching target on the wall from about 20-25 feet.
Lasts all of about 10 minutes, then she wacks a few balls off the tee. It's playtime... after all, isn't softball a game? Just sharing a funny story...Her first t-ball practice, she nearly took one of her coaches heads off when he kneeled down, 10 feet away from her and asked her to throw the ball to him. They were evaluating the kid's ability to throw. To put it into perspective, she can regularly hit dd's pitching target on the wall from about 20-25 feet.
halskinner
Banned
- May 7, 2008
- 2,642
- 0
Until her mechanics are good enough, and they are not there yet, you should not do 'drills'. That will only re-enforce bad mechanics.
Having read these posts does one thing for me... brings back many many great memories when my DD started to learn, some of the best bonding time my DD and myself have had and I wouldn't trade any of it for anything. When my DD started it was the most boring time the flip drills over and over and over then gradually progressing to the K drill and doing it over and over and over and these simple drills got really boring in fact she got to the point where it was getting really boring for her and so we took lots of breaks. We started with 1 hour practices but really only pitches maybe 30 mins of that hour the rest of the time just water breaks and just sitting on the gym floor talking about what ever she wanted to talk about. When we started to put the windmill movement in the frustration started to set in with her, apparently she thought after doing all those boring drill everything else was going to work,, lol,, it took 2 years and 2 practices a week before I would let her throw in a game, I wanted her to be somewhat consistent before I let her pitch because what is there to learn by walking everyone only frustrates the pitcher and she worked to hard to get mad and quite.
Sorry to ramble and I can't add to the drills ect or whether your DD should pitch 2,3,4 or whatever days per week, I suspect each kid is different and as her parent you will know all I can say is enjoy it even though it can be a challenge it is time well spent with her and you will never forget it. Good Luck
Sorry to ramble and I can't add to the drills ect or whether your DD should pitch 2,3,4 or whatever days per week, I suspect each kid is different and as her parent you will know all I can say is enjoy it even though it can be a challenge it is time well spent with her and you will never forget it. Good Luck
Last edited:
