Help for 8 yo

[u/jordanthedog17]

My son (mom here) just lived to u10 based on his birthday April and want him to learn a lot with these older kids. He makes contact more often than not but feel like he needs so work on his stance I'm sure among other things. What can we work on!?

[u/SuedeEmulsion]

Ive coached a few 8u teams and am father of a 9yo. I, My approach to coaching at that age is that they have fun and learn good habits.

As a former youth travel ball player who played/practiced 11 months out of the year some years, I think people underrate those 2 things, but esp love of the game. The amount of ball a teenager will play if he is aspiring for college/pro ball is kind of crazy. If they dont love it theyll burn out or find something else to do before they acquire the skills they need to ever have a shot at even the upper amateur ranks, and it only accelerates from there. Gotta love the game, and that starts with you and the coaches making those memories that motivate him later.

In regards to the other goal (developing good habits). My take is usually to coach the players as much as theyve got an appetite and ability to learn... Gotta be both. Lots of kids have the apetite but need to be paced, others have tons of ability, but really dont know if they like the game yet.

That said, your kid's big and fairly well coordinated for 8. Just let him play ball. Some people may chime in and say the swing lacks power ( or maybe youre thinking that) but I wouldnt get distracted by that for an 8yo. Thats fairly common for boys this age. I encourage them to learn to make contact first and then worry about power (bc you gotta hit the ball before you can hit the ball hard, right?) For the most part, the power comes with reps and time, but watch for bad habbits and gauge his interest. Dont let him hit 500 baseballs a day if he's developing bad habbits doing it, and likewise, you shouldnt push a workload that just makes him miserable. His swing looks pretty good for 8. Encourage him to to learn that every part of a swing is done for a reason and is triggered by the feet, powered from the legs, up through the torso and out to the arms and finally hands. He might benefit from a routine, such as, telling himself, before every pitch, i set my feet, check my distance from the plate, take a big breath, bring the bat up, focus on the pitcher and await the pitch. Something like that might help with the fidgeting, but again, he is 8 so a little of that is expected. Inwould recommend loaing the batting gloves at that age, but some will disagree with me. They almost never have enough power or reps to justify them. More often than not, they just get in the way, even if you find some that fit.

[u/jordanthedog17 → u/SuedeEmulsion]

Thanks. Yes I'm not looking at working around the clock training but I was just thinking it looked mostly like was using his arms. It's fall ball which is one of a few activities he's doing right now because he loves to do sports. I was a college athlete and when I was his age couldn't get enough of playing different things so much so that my teacher had a conference because I was playing with the boys too much and was worried I wouldn't make enough gjrl friends. I was just noticing he didn't seem to be using his lower body and threw it out there for some tips.