Posted by: Scott B (baseball@integritycorp.com) on Thu Sep 26 18:53:10 2002

My opinion on this is very "personal". I grew up playing every sport, albeit poorly, and eventually worked my way into some pretty competitive High School and College athletic programs. However, I can only recall one time my dad ever tossed a baseball with me. He watched the kids of his friends play football, etc., and was a great baseball fan, but he never saw a single competitive athletic event I played in. I admire every father that spends time with his son. You betcha I do! Way-to-go!

No, 4 yrs old is not too old, if you take into consideration his attention span and physical development. 10 minutes may be his entire "practice". Make up lots of competitive games, set the "bar" low enough that he can succeed, and he'll have a blast.

That's why I'd probably not recommend a swing trainer, and direct you towards an ordinary, every-day batting "Tee". He won't have the mechanics or coordination to hit a pitched ball (unless maybe you use one of those hollow plastic bats and 8 inch balls). The Tee will help train his mechanics, and you can use it with games (points for how far he hits it, how many times he makes contact), and bring his buddies into it. As soon as they've competing, they'll be training harder than you could ever get them too doing some sort of drills.

As far as age/maturity is concerned, I've coached 10 yr olds who couldn't throw a ball 30 feet, or swing a bat, and I had one kid who just turned 7 playing short-stop in Little League with 12 yr olds, hitting a ton, etc.. The kids develop at their own pace. I get upset with coaches who look at a kids performance for six weeks, or even a couple of years, and say "this kid can't play ball". I re-evaluate the kids every three weeks, and if I'm doing my job correctly, someone is always "breaking out", even at the 14yo level I'm working with now.

Good luck, and have fun!

- Coach Scott