teaching a 7 year old timing

[panthercoach]

help my dd all of a sudden late on the ball choking up a little seems to help I think it is a mental thing she started out the year fine but the last couple weeks is late on everything I let her try a lighter bat in practice but still late not as late but still down the 1st base line everytime. Not sure what to do here other than keep practicing but she is starting to get discouraged and I dont want her to get down on herself. (plus we need another good stick for our postseason tourney) hits great off tee and softtoss but when me or other coach pitches always late even if I try and slow it down some.

 

[Dragoncoach]

help my dd all of a sudden late on the ball choking up a little seems to help I think it is a mental thing she started out the year fine but the last couple weeks is late on everything I let her try a lighter bat in practice but still late not as late but still down the 1st base line everytime. Not sure what to do here other than keep practicing but she is starting to get discouraged and I dont want her to get down on herself. (plus we need another good stick for our postseason tourney) hits great off tee and softtoss but when me or other coach pitches always late even if I try and slow it down some.

I would teach her to get into an agressive position to hit the ball. have her bat angled across the pony tail hole with knob facing catcher (wrist cocked) at load (coil).She should also have some tilt (stay low). Make sure at contact her back arm is bent at about a 90, hands above the barrel and her back shoulder should lower going into rotation. Do not choke up. get the right size bat. 16oz probabally depending on her size,strength and swing. Do the matrix drill 10 times every night. Use the cue hit it out in front.

 

[rdbass]

Hope posting this web site is aloud? Try this web site coaches name is Randy Skaggs. mvlags.org click on coaches corner under external sources on the left. Click on hitting aspects.I found this very informative for 6-8u and even older girls.Easy to understand.I have learned alot from the 3 videos.Hope this helps?

 

[SoftSocDad]

but still late not as late but still down the 1st base line everytime.

Reposition her in the batter's box. Move her towards the catcher.

And don't forget that she's 7. Success is fun, true, but just being out there playing ball with friends is what it's all about at that age. Enjoy it and try not to be too hard on her. Unless she's a pitcher, of course.

 

[Lozza]

One thing that helps people of all ages is 'step when the pitcher steps' It is a great timing device and unless the pitcher is super slow (which your daughter won't really face) it works nearly every time.

 

[Fastpitch_1]

Having exactly same issue. Good Luck

 

[bromine]

My 7yo DD went thru the same thing this spring escept way ahead of the pitch(machine). All thru rec league games hitting and hitting hard. Towards the end of the season nothing but strike outs and very weak hits. Kept working with her as much as possible (just telling her she was in a slump to keep spirits up). Thru the first 3 games in state tourney she was 2 for 9. Championship game whe went 3-3 with 2 doubles and 1 triple. The light just cam back on. Try to keep it positive and let your DD work it out.

 

[JJsqueeze]

swinging late at this age can have a lot of causes. Sometimes it is just them getting wrapped up in trying to only swing at strikes so they decide too late, sometimes it is something mechanical like a lot of extra back motion in the load. When my youngest was this age she had pretty good timing and could hit pretty well until we switched from just having fun to trying to develop a good eye, so she started "thinking" and would decide too late. If you could post a video it would help give specific input.

I'm a big fan of "overcorrecting" with young players to illustrate what I am trying to teach, so with timing issues I will start having them try to beat the ball to the plate. By this I mean have them try to swing before the ball gets to them. Doesn't matter if it hits or not, just that their bat swings in front of the ball. Once they can do this then you work the problem from the other direction, some girls are better at slowing down than speeding up.