I'm not usually a 'bat-as-solution' guy but I will say this. With my younger daughter I kept her in a short, light bat longer than most of her peers. Now she was a little thing to begin with but very athletic and twitchy. I'm talking 28 inch at 10u and no rush to get longer or heavier. It helped her learn how to use her hands and not prematurely start dragging around something too long/heavy for her.I get the HLP can/does work. But I believe if you ask an 8-year-old to snap/turn the barrel as teacherman proposes, 95 percent of them are going to dump the barrel. Most girls simply do not have the hand strength.