Learn how to hit.

[HannahsDad]

First off, I want to say thanks to all the knowledgeable people on this forum. I have hardly ever posted, in fact I last posted a year ago when she started. My daughter started playing last year and has fallen in love with the game. She's always wanting to play catch, hit and just do anything related to playing softball. As a Dad who has no experience with SB and last played LL 25 years ago, I really want to support her and do everything I can to help her improve. I started off by buying her a worth eclipse 28/17 and a worth storm 28/15 and she did fine with them. She is 8 years old, 52 inches tall and weighs 67 pounds I think so I bought her a 2013 CF5 29/18 after seeing she is willing to put in the work. Being a gear head in golf, I can easily tell how SB is gonna drain the bank account. I also just purchased a Cat 29/18 to use in bp because of the fear of her breaking the CF5. (Nevermind the 30/21 rockettech I bought for later). My question is this. What is the best way to work on her hitting? I just bought a bownet big mouth to work on at home with her tee. Is there a particular tee routine we should do? Or a book or you tube video series? Thank you for all your help. As soon as I can figure out a video, I will put it up on here.

 

[Eric F]

Similarly, my 8yo DD just started playing this year, and I had no background in how to coach her on making good swings (I grew up playing ice hockey). I set about educating myself. There are tons of threads on DFP about helping improve swings, what a "proper" swings looks like, and drills on how train the right movements. I'm still learning, but I've come a long way in a short amount of time, and have a much better understanding about where my DD (and her teammates) need to make adjustments. It's awesome that you're willing to fund the gear, but never forget that better swings mechanics are going to be much more productive than a better bat.

Most of all...have fun and enjoy the ride.

 

[HannahsDad]

Oh I absolutely understand that proper mechanics are the key to unlocking the potential of my daughter and the equipment. I took golf lessons to justify the expense I had on my clubs. I have been reading these forums for awhile now and just wanted to know some specific examples of drills we can do with tee work. She plays in a machine pitch league and batted around .600 this season but struggled with solid contact, getting by on her speed. I know that some suggest to avoid too much work with a machine and focus on tee work. I'd like to know what are some good drills to work on. As always, I am contstantly searching the forums and other sites but was hoping for a jump start from the community.

 

[rdbass]

http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-hitting-technical/5027-megan-1-tee.html
http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-hitting-technical/5961-thoughts-daughters-swing.html
Here where I would start if my DD was 8 y/o.
I would read through these 2 threads at the least.
I would try to have a swing close to this 9 y/o:

Mostly I would keep it fun.
I would hit off the tee and do front soft toss. I would let my DD self toss to herself. Kids seem to figure out how to throw the ball up and hit the ball.
Lastly I would enjoy my time with my DD because before you know it the dad/DD time is over.

 

[HannahsDad]

Thank you so much for the help.

 

[softballphreak]

http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-hitting-technical/5027-megan-1-tee.html
http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-hitting-technical/5961-thoughts-daughters-swing.html
Here where I would start if my DD was 8 y/o.
I would read through these 2 threads at the least.
I would try to have a swing close to this 9 y/o:

Mostly I would keep it fun.
I would hit off the tee and do front soft toss. I would let my DD self toss to herself. Kids seem to figure out how to throw the ball up and hit the ball.
Lastly I would enjoy my time with my DD because before you know it the dad/DD time is over.

I absolutely love this girl's swing. I wonder if we could get a recent video of her.

 

[softballphreak]

First off, I want to say thanks to all the knowledgeable people on this forum. I have hardly ever posted, in fact I last posted a year ago when she started. My daughter started playing last year and has fallen in love with the game. She's always wanting to play catch, hit and just do anything related to playing softball. As a Dad who has no experience with SB and last played LL 25 years ago, I really want to support her and do everything I can to help her improve. I started off by buying her a worth eclipse 28/17 and a worth storm 28/15 and she did fine with them. She is 8 years old, 52 inches tall and weighs 67 pounds I think so I bought her a 2013 CF5 29/18 after seeing she is willing to put in the work. Being a gear head in golf, I can easily tell how SB is gonna drain the bank account. I also just purchased a Cat 29/18 to use in bp because of the fear of her breaking the CF5. (Nevermind the 30/21 rockettech I bought for later). My question is this. What is the best way to work on her hitting? I just bought a bownet big mouth to work on at home with her tee. Is there a particular tee routine we should do? Or a book or you tube video series? Thank you for all your help. As soon as I can figure out a video, I will put it up on here.

Get some TCB balls; both the small whiffles and the baseball size weighted balls. Also, if you have space for a machine, get a machine. They are really valuable for newer batters. It's after the players have good fundamentals that the machine is not so good for their timing training. But they are great when used for the right purposes. Lots of good uses for a machine.

 

[HannahsDad]

Thank you for the additional suggestions.

 

[SBdad]

You already have a net, so get a batting tee and work on mechanics first. If you want a fun hitting aid your DD can use to work on hitting a moving ball, then I would reccomend trying the Ultimate Hitting Machine (shop.beebesports.com) Works the same as a kid self tossing to him/herself, but you tap down on a foot pad to toss the ball in the air, instead of tossing ball with the hand. Just make sure you have the ball toss set high enough, so after tapping down on the foot pad to toss the ball up, she will have plenty of time to load/step and swing as ball reaches the top and starts back down.

 

[HannahsDad]

Thanks. I'll check it out.