Posted by: Mark H. (mark_h45@hotmail.com) on Sun Jul 6 18:40:13 2003

My 8 yr old daughter played softball for the first time this year on our city league.What a surprise when she turned out to be a great hitter! Her hitting qualities landed her on the All-Star team after the regular season closed. She is a great hitter but not very consistent. During one game she became very distracted by the opposing teams chatter(our league doesn't allow chatter so our players are not accustomed to it) and struck out at every bat. This fall and next year she will move up to a beginning fast-pitch. Her father is in the military and will probably be gone much of the seasons so he won't be able to help her much- I have never played softball in my life- WHat do I do to help her? I want to encourage her but I am clueless. Are there books, videos, etc for a promising beginner that I could use to help her? What do you advise for the nerves during batting? I don't want her to become discouraged because I can't help her. I appreciate any advice !

Sheri's Mom,

Good for you for getting on the net and doing your research. There is just no excuse for there being so many coaches out there who don't. You can learn a lot about hitting on here but for general softball knowledge and questions, you can't beat the helpful expertise on fastpitchforum.net
Keep in mind, if your daughter adopts the hitting principles you find on here, chances are you will have local coaches trying to mess with her. Keep in mind too many cooks spoil the soup and chances are, the local coaches won't have a clue what she is trying to accomplish. You will have to run interference for her at some point. And for your own peace of mind, you will want to be able to argue the strong and weak points of the two main hitting mechanics. Not that hard though. People on here and on FPF will help you through it.