8u pitching practice...how much is too much?

[PerpetualBeginner]

The best thing that helped my DD was just playing catch while throwing underhand. This is not pitching it is just throwing the ball back and forth underhand while playing catch. This is where she found the fine motor controls needed to control ball location. This is in a super casual setting.

I would be spending as much time with overhand mechanics as underhand at this age. Austin Wasserman and Dan Blewett are great sources(keyword Waterbottle drill). I would also use baseballs or tennis balls don't let the weight or size of the ball mess with good mechanics.

I would add a focus on fun-throwing days. We would walk through the park throwing rocks at trees or skipping rocks on ponds. To this day I still randomly play "Here Catch this" where I throw something randomly at her to see if she can catch it. Pitchers need quick reflexes when on the mound to defend themselves. The idea is to work skills without it being work.

I'll definitely throw in underhand throwing, thanks! I'll throw my wrenches at her to see if she can catch them. If she can catch a wrench, she can catch a softball.

My daughter will tell her jokes with her catcher during wrist snaps. And that made her pitch better - because it loosened her up mentally.

She has been reading up on pitching and the other day said- I’m not supposed to wrist snaps with IR, am I? But I feel like they are important to my catcher and I starting up.

I ate lots of peanut M&Ms swimming D1. I’m sure that’s not best practice- but I swam better when I ate M&Ms.

Remember to leave room for fun/ weird traditions. It’s supposed to be fun.

I definitely agree this all should be fun. She enjoys pitching, even practicing. The only time she complains really is when the weather sucks or she's tired, at which point we stop practice.

 

[Jeffrey]

You can replace “wrist snap/flick etc.” and “T” with what many refer to as “whip flip” and/or “W” or “9:00” drills. You can do these from a distance where you can still chat and be goofy. The key at the first position is stability (shoulders over hips) and the basic I/R release from ball up at 9:00.

 

[PerpetualBeginner]

You can replace “wrist snap/flick etc.” and “T” with what many refer to as “whip flip” and/or “W” or “9:00” drills. You can do these from a distance where you can still chat and be goofy. The key at the first position is stability (shoulders over hips) and the basic I/R release from ball up at 9:00.

Thanks, I'll give that a go when she wants to practice next.

 

[Dabears17]

You can replace “wrist snap/flick etc.” and “T” with what many refer to as “whip flip” and/or “W” or “9:00” drills. You can do these from a distance where you can still chat and be goofy. The key at the first position is stability (shoulders over hips) and the basic I/R release from ball up at 9:00.

Was going to say the last year my DD played the pitcher she usually warmed up pre-game would do “whip flips” from a close distance and they chatted some while doing that.

 

[Tazman]

Top goals.
Do not burn out.
Do not get hurt.

You might search softball drag box.

I'll add. Come out of the journey with a better relationship with your dad/daughter vs a worse one. At one point I had to give my daughters the power to kick me out at any time with no questions asked to preserve this.

 

[Gags]

The best thing that helped my DD was just playing catch while throwing underhand. This is not pitching it is just throwing the ball back and forth underhand while playing catch. This is where she found the fine motor controls needed to control ball location. This is in a super casual setting.

@tomorrow beat me to it - this is key - just play catch underhand.

Don't sit on a bucket, or squat. Just play catch. It's my favorite advice for beginners. My daughter will still at times revert to one over hand, one under hand for warmups, so you can always work in both types of throws. In my limited experience (14U to date) - the pitchers with the most potential can do this seemingly simple task of throwing underhand. The others will revert to some form of straight-armed T-drill or give you a full windmill motion even though you're only 10' away from them.

That Hillhouse article that was linked to earlier quotes Bill as saying (paraphrasing here) - "you look so smooth when you throw". That's your goal - smooth and effortless.

If you can throw (not pitch, but throw) the ball underhand, (AND dodge a wrench!) I believe there's a high correlation to proper mechanics and future pitching success.

 

[PerpetualBeginner]

I'll add. Come out of the journey with a better relationship with your dad/daughter vs a worse one. At one point I had to give my daughters the power to kick me out at any time with no questions asked to preserve this.

On this front I think I did pretty well given last season was my first time coaching. As the season ended my daughter asked if I was going to coach again and said she wanted me to be her coach again. Warmed my heart a bit since I know I wasn't always the best coach, made mistakes, learned from them, etc.

You were probably being more specific to the one on one pitching time, but she enjoys our time together from what I can see. I like the idea of having her the power to stop practice if I'm getting on her case too much.

 

[PerpetualBeginner]

Just an update.

We start our practices just tossing each other the ball underhanded. She's pretty good at it and seems to like it. The ball comes straight to me, every once in a while it'll roll to me, but not too often. The ball always comes to me straight and I don't have to move to get it.

Wrist snaps, T, and K dropped for W to focus more on her forearm fire, does well at this also. Hard to tell if she's doing it 100% proper since I'm on the bucket, might need to setup a camera.

I don't know how much of an influence these changes had on her practice, but her last two practices, she was on fire.

Still working on her lean, but she doesn't do it as much so she's getting it.

Thanks again, everyone.

 

[dogpatch]

Hi everyone, I practice around 4 to 5 days a week (including 1 day with pitching coach) with my 8 year old daughter. Right now I'm trying to fix one glaring issue which is her ending up in a bowling ball position when she finishes, but other than that we practice her fastball and change-up (horseshoe grip).

We usually go until she says she's tired. This is the point where I say "Ok, 3 batters" I don't say keep going, you're not tired, don't be like that etc. When she's tired, she's tired, so we start to wind down the practice.

My question is, is that okay to do or should I be stopping before that? I definitely don't want to cause any injuries.

She never says anything hurts or anything like that, just that she's tired.

We usually go 30 minutes or so. Sometimes it's a bit longer if she isn't tired. I don't really count how many pitches she throws, maybe I should?

We always start pitching practice consistently:

1. Wrist snaps
2. T position
3. K position
4. All fastballs, aim for my glove placement
5. All changeups, this is a new pitch for her so I just have her throw down the middle
6. Tired stage - 3 batters. 1st batter all fastball, aim for my glove position. 2nd batter all changeup, down the middle. 3rd batter mix of both pitches.

Sometimes she'll "strike" 2 batters out and say she wants to keep going so she'll go another 2 batters. Other times she'll be good with just 3 batters.

I also tried incorporating batting practice into the net in between "innings" but this just seemed to much for her as she got tired way more quickly...also not sure what to do about that since she loves pitching and I think we're taking away batting time. Not sure if 2 practices per week for everything else is fine since we don't pitch during team practice.

Any suggestions are very welcome. Thanks!

You seem to have a good grasp on managing your 8 year old. Not pushing her beyond what she wants to do is important. Her most productive practice time takes place when her full attention is on the task at hand. Taking occasional breaks from the weekly grind is also essential in developing any age player. You will find that well planned breaks from softball will help rather than hurt her progression.

As for the "bowling ball" issue... This mechanics problem, if not fixed, WILL limit her ability to develop high pitch speed and ball movement as she grows. "Bowling" makes it easy to hit fastball/changeup spots, and gainst 8 year old hitters she may be very effective despite the flaw. But beyond age 12, you will begin to see her loosing ground when facing the better hitters. By high school, this fundamental flaw is VERY difficult to fix and will cause her to be ineffective if involved with softball at the more competetive levels. Be aware that 8 year olds are soft clay that can be molded by skilled coaching. The older they get the harder the clay becomes!