Just getting serious - looking for advice!

[Goober]

Hey, first post here, and looking for advice for my 9 year old - I guess you call 'em DD's - who is really starting to enjoy softball. She's played baseball/softball for the last 5 years (started as a 5 year old in boy's t-ball, then moved to softball as a 7 year old and is in her 3rd year, moving to the 9 & 10 year old - or 10U - traveling team this year), but this summer has been different. She's got practices on Tue. and Thu. at 10 a.m., and she has decided that every other day of the week we need to go out in the back yard and practice - playing catch, pitching and hitting - at 10 a.m. too. Plus, she wants me to find a camp for her to attend.

So, here's what I'm wondering:

1) What would be the best training aide to get for her? I've been thinking of a pitch back, or a screen that she can throw pitches into. We play catch, and I "catch" for her when she pitches, but my knees can't hold up to squatting anymore (I played catcher when I was young). Limited amounts of time, I'm fine, but she wants to keep going.

2) What kind of camp should I look for? I'm at a disadvantage in that it's already July, and a lot of the camps are already over here, but should I be looking at a pitching camp since she is one of the better pitchers on her team, or should I look for an all-around camp? The one camp I'm looking at now isn't until December.

3) Softball season lasts only another week (she's got one more tourneys next Thursday, then she's done). I love that she is fired-up about softball, but she has never stuck with any other sport. She's done basketball, volleyball, soccer, gymnastics, golf, etc. but none as long as she has done softball. I'd love for her to be a more rounded athlete. Any advice in this regard?

4) What type of training facility could be built in a basement? I know I mentioned well rounded, but I've got a lot of free space in my basement that she could use to practice pitching in the winter months. In that vein, is that getting towards overkill at age 9?

I should note that we live in cold weather country (northern Minnesota - and by northern Minny, I mean 4 hours north of the Twin Cities. In other words, really cold weather country!). We are lucky some years to have the snow melted in April, so indoor softball sonds like a good idea, at least in February/March and even April... I already got some advice from Cannonball, but anything else anyone can add would be great.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice you guys/gals can offer!

 

[SamG]

There are others here MUCH smarter & innovative than me. But I'll give you my suggestions for a couple of these.

1) Get a 5 gallon bucket with a lid. That's for you to sit on when she pitches. It's also handy for storing balls. I'll only crouch if I'm "warming up" a pitcher between innings. As far as something she can work herself, I'd suggest a net before a pitchback. Get a six or 12 pack of balls, let her pitch into the net (or hit off the tee or you soft toss to her), and then she can gather them.

2) If there's a pitching camp, sign her up. If there's a hitting camp, sign her up. If there's a fielding camp, sign her up. If there's an all around camp, sign her up. She may decide in two years she still likes softball but doesn't want to pitch. Hitters & fielders will still find playing time.

3) Swimming would be another one to try maybe. That would work ALL the muscles.

4) Our "indoor" training is in our unfinished basement. There's a mattress up against an interior wall and a "door runner" mat from Lowe's about 20 feet away (that's as far as it can get). I used duct tape to mark a strike zone (made it about 6" higher than normal to allow for some drop). Others have used a carpet remnant hanging from the ceiling to throw into.

As long as she likes practicing and games, keep her going.

 

[MsDinosaur]

I second SamG's suggestion of a net. I bought a Louisville Slugger Sock Net for around $100 and it is wonderfully versatile. My DD can throw into it or hit into it off a tee or from a side toss. We use it as a backstop when I soft toss wiffle balls and it stands in as the receiving player when she practices relay throws. There are all kinds of ways to use it. You can drag it into your basement over the winter and into the yard in the summer. With a bucket full of softballs, a net and a sturdy tee (don't get one of the cheap plastic ones that tip over and break, pick up one of the heavy rubber ones), you'd have the basics for a winter practice area in your basement.

 

[sluggers]

1) What would be the best training aide to get for her?

Your time. There is *NOTHING* like a parent who go out and play catch with their DD.

As much as I get on "Crazy Daddies", the reality is that without Crazy Daddies and Crazy Mommies, there would be no good softball players.

As was suggested, get a pickle bucket to sit on for pitching.

Go out and find a 10U travel team for her to play on.

2) What kind of camp should I look for? I'm at a disadvantage in that it's already July, and a lot of the camps are already over here, but should I be looking at a pitching camp since she is one of the better pitchers on her team, or should I look for an all-around camp? The one camp I'm looking at now isn't until December.

She needs to learn pitching and positional play.

As to pitching, find a pitching coach in your area *NOW* and learn the basics of pitching. Practice "off and on" until January, and then really get serious with practice from there. Then go to pitching lessons regularly.

For positional play, I wouldn't worry about it until January and then go to some camps.

I'd love for her to be a more rounded athlete. Any advice in this regard?

Sure--let her decide what she wants to do with *HER* time--it is, after all, her time. You think you know better, but you don't. Kids are extremely aware of "how good" they are and what they enjoy doing. If parents will pull their heads out of their ***** for a while, they would see it. But parents, being parents, want their kids to be something they aren't.

I had two athletics kids. One DD could play any sport in this world--track, swimming, hoops, soccer, volleyball, softball, bowling, golf. She loves sports. Coaches in HS (3500+ students) would come up to her and ask her if she might want to try a sport. It was just crazy. Even now at 25, she doesn't really care what she plays, as long as she is competing at something.

The other DD loves to pitch. She doesn't like batting or fielding, or any other sport. She played D1, and if she wasn't pitching, she could care less about what else was going on. But, she *LOVED* to pitch. She would practice pitching until she passed out. She just loved to throw the ball and see what she could make it do.

People are just different--if your DD loves to play softball, relax and enjoy the ride.

What type of training facility could be built in a basement?

Get some netting, and fix up a batting cage. You need some kind of protective screen for you, but you can easily kill a couple of hours every night hitting. She'll love it.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Some people pull a net out from the wall that is on a guide wire. Then, you can push it back against the wall when you aren't using it.

My kids liked the Personal Pitcher that shoots out plastic golf balls for you to hit.

I also like the Jugs Toss Machine.

 

[Goober]

Lots of great ideas on here - thanks and keep 'em coming! Just to clarify a few things/and, or respond to suggestions - here's what I've come up with so far:

1) I've already got a five gallon bucket - need to get a lid for it though! I also need to get more softballs! Play It Again Sports has 'em used, and that's what I'm gonna do here soon (DD's got a couple pair of used cleats to trade in). I've also been talking to the high school coach from town (he's actually coaching my DD's 10U team with me helping out), and I think I've decided that some form of screen or the like is the way to go. I've seen that Louisville one - It looks nice.

2) Camps are still a problem. I'm just having a hard time finding anything around here. We've got a D-II college (Bemidji State - NSIC) in town, but they don't have any softball camps, and the other colleges around the area have already had most of their camps. North Dakota State in Fargo had one, St. Cloud State has one (we're out of town when their next one is - going to Yellowstone!), Minnesota-Duluth had a winter one last year - each of these towns are ~ 2-2.5 hours away. Most of the other camps I've seen are in the Twin Cities, again, about 4 hours away.

3) I guess I'm not as worried about her not being "well rounded" athletically. I just want her to be active. Heck, if you would have told me 9 years ago when she was born that she wouldn't know how to ice skate, I'd have told you that you were crazy (I skated a lot back then, and I tried like crazy to get her to like hockey - which she does: as a spectator sport). My wife and I have always felt that it isn't right to "push" our DD. If she commits to something, she needs to follow through - but we've never forced her to play a sport (see the hockey thing).

4) I like the mattress idea. I've also been told that a carpet remnant hanging from the rafters works well. I think this is what I'm going to focus on for now. When I told my DD that we were going to get an indoor softball area set-up in the basement, she got real excited! Plus, I'll be a nice project for us just to clear away the junk in that part of the basement...

 

[jacketsfan]

get pitching lessons, so she learns how to do it right, before it's too late to change. Also - don't overpractice - she's plenty young yet. My pitcher DD had shoulder surgery at age 14. I wish I had held her back some earlier.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I always sit down lower than a bucket. You don't want her pitching high all of the time. I use a Step 2 gardening bench.

Gosh, you could paint the floor, put down a power line and add a batter's box, with a home plate. You will need a home plate, anyway. Get one of those with the red stripe down the middle, then yellow stripe and then green.

We could all meet at your house and get this pencilled out in no time. Tell your wife to fry a couple of chickens.

 

[SoftSocDad]

2) Camps are still a problem. I'm just having a hard time finding anything around here. We've got a D-II college (Bemidji State - NSIC) in town, but they don't have any softball camps, and the other colleges around the area have already had most of their camps. North Dakota State in Fargo had one, St. Cloud State has one (we're out of town when their next one is - going to Yellowstone!), Minnesota-Duluth had a winter one last year - each of these towns are ~ 2-2.5 hours away. Most of the other camps I've seen are in the Twin Cities, again, about 4 hours away.

Most 9-year-old softball players will not attend a camp this summer or next. Camps are great, but your 9yo child isn't 'behind' - your tone indicates this is likely a concern of yours - because she missed camp.

Don't dwell too much on that now. Just send her next year.

 

[Bishop]

Most of the stuff I was going to recommend has been covered already. One thing I'd like to add. If your daughter turns into a one sport wonder and a pitcher at that you'd do well to look into some sort of general purpose fitness program.

Pitching is a very 'unbalanced' activity. Throwing arm and shoulder complex will get much more developed than the glove side. Drive leg glute and hamstring will get over developed and the plant leg quads. An excercise program that will even out the development would be recommended.