Teaching 8U how to slide

[druer]

The video link is a very short segmant from the Sliding DVD that is available in the Winning the Short Game series available at www.GetDirtyFastpitch. Rather than trying to explain the bat drill, this clip shows 3 different girls of different ages, youngest happens to be 7 at the time I shot it.

I've never been a big fan of the slip-and-slide because girls will slide on something slippery like that regardless of their mechanics. Sliding on a wet mat, doesn't correlate to being able to distribute your weight and avoid friction and avoid injuries when you come to a screaching stop. The video series explains how to best avoid injuries for both sliding and diving. I teach the sames drills in the video at clinics/camps for girls as young as 5. I'm a big advocate of girls learning sound mechanics and getting over their fears as early as possible.

Sliding Bat Drill - YouTube

 

[Sweet Lou]

We had a lot of fun with cardboard and baby powder last night (7 & 8 year olds). A few didn't quite get it, one was sliding on her knees, not good, but most had pretty good form and at the end of practice when I asked what was most fun today it was near unanomous "Sliding!"