Daily drills? 8u/10u

[Unaballer]

Hey everyone! I have a Feb 2015 DD. I am pretty sure she should be in 8u for one more year but we got invited to a 10u team. My DD is a catcher and got tossed in with some girls that are consistently throwing low 40s. She is now pretty intimidated I am looking for some drills that I can work on with her to build her confidence. She also recently completely let go of her batting form. I am looking to put together a little 30minute Window each day to help her with these problems. 15 minutes catching 15 minutes hitting. This doesn't sound like a lot but I am looking to add this outside of her team practice and our weekend cage time. I also don't want to over work her, so the more fun fun we can make these drills the better. Thanks for the help!

 

[CoachCeetar]

I don't have any specific drills, but a lot of it's just reps. I'm finding it really hard to find something that accurately simulates a 9-10 year old pitcher from 35 in a game situation though. My daughter (she's only six months older than yours) was doing a lot of the classic "looks great in practice, but then doesn't swing like that in games!" stuff, and now looks like we don't have numbers for fall ball, which kind of sucks, reps wise.

I think it's worth remembering when we talk about swings and muscle memory just how NEW those muscles actually are with these kids. (and those muscles keep changing/growing!) live pitching is best, but I'd think anything that reinforces the good swing would be helpful. Even if it's just a couple dozen swings on a tee, or front toss, or heavy balls, or whatever you feel works best and she actually wants to take time to do.

Don't know as much about catching, probably depends on on what specific 10u rules you have regarding throwing to bases, etc. But can you 'pitch'? Just throw her some pitches. Or switch it up entirely and just play catch. or play catch with some socks in the house. Doesn't have to be that serious.

 

[Adam S]

Don't have any drills to suggest but if your daughter is a 2015 birthday then yes she should be moving up to 9/10u level.

 

[Unaballer]

Don't have any drills to suggest but if your daughter is a 2015 birthday then yes she should be moving up to 9/10u level.

Would she move up in Feb? Or?

 

[Unaballer]

I don't have any specific drills, but a lot of it's just reps. I'm finding it really hard to find something that accurately simulates a 9-10 year old pitcher from 35 in a game situation though. My daughter (she's only six months older than yours) was doing a lot of the classic "looks great in practice, but then doesn't swing like that in games!" stuff, and now looks like we don't have numbers for fall ball, which kind of sucks, reps wise.

I think it's worth remembering when we talk about swings and muscle memory just how NEW those muscles actually are with these kids. (and those muscles keep changing/growing!) live pitching is best, but I'd think anything that reinforces the good swing would be helpful. Even if it's just a couple dozen swings on a tee, or front toss, or heavy balls, or whatever you feel works best and she actually wants to take time to do.

Don't know as much about catching, probably depends on on what specific 10u rules you have regarding throwing to bases, etc. But can you 'pitch'? Just throw her some pitches. Or switch it up entirely and just play catch. or play catch with some socks in the house. Doesn't have to be that serious.

The NEW muscles thing is a great point. I for sure think Tee time is going to be a big part of it. I can not pitch underhanded. I have been supplementing with sitting on a bucket and pitching so that she has a low trajectory. We do have a pitching machine but I feel like it needs to be lower as well .

 

[Adam S]

The new softball season starts on Sept 1 so she'd technically move up to 9u/10u level this Fall.

Would she move up in Feb? Or?

 

[CoachCeetar]

The NEW muscles thing is a great point. I for sure think Tee time is going to be a big part of it. I can not pitch underhanded. I have been supplementing with sitting on a bucket and pitching so that she has a low trajectory. We do have a pitching machine but I feel like it needs to be lower as well .

tbh it's really not tough. You don't really need to 'pitch' it, just throw it underhand. dominant foot forward, hands in front of you, then just step with non-dominant and move your arm in a circle and release underhand. You don't really need to good form/mechanics or anything for bp, and it's really almost identical to throwing overhand just instead of reversing your arm when you pull it back to go forward, you just let it keeping going back down around the circle. It's alright if there are some bad pitches, they need to see those too!

 

[Unaballer]

The new softball season starts on Sept 1 so she'd technically move up to 9u/10u level this Fall.

Well, I reckon She is right where she needs to be then. Gotta get her more confident with faster pitches.

 

[Unaballer]

tbh it's really not tough. You don't really need to 'pitch' it, just throw it underhand. dominant foot forward, hands in front of you, then just step with non-dominant and move your arm in a circle and release underhand. You don't really need to good form/mechanics or anything for bp, and it's really almost identical to throwing overhand just instead of reversing your arm when you pull it back to go forward, you just let it keeping going back down around the circle. It's alright if there are some bad pitches, they need to see those too!

Oh I understand the concept. Even if my blown out shoulder doesn't LOL. I just know I can't match the speed she is seeing right now. And that's the part that scares her more than anything else.

 

[CoachCeetar]

Oh I understand the concept. Even if my blown out shoulder doesn't LOL. I just know I can't match the speed she is seeing right now. And that's the part that scares her more than anything else.

I'm lucky it was my right arm I broke. Although trying to catch wild throwing 8 year olds with it was good rehab ;-)

The speed is tough, but they get used to it pretty fast. I wonder if catchers actually adjust faster, since they see more pitches. I don't know how competitive your league is, but a lot of times the ones throwing harder are actually better because they're a little more consistent. Other kids throw like 20 and it might be behind you, above you, who knows.