This thread reminded me going to watch my 10-year old nephew play baseball last week. He plays in a league with 10 and 11 year olds and this is the first year that they pitch (they use a pitching machine in the age groups below) for themselves. Boy, it was tough to watch.
For starters, my brother-in-law is one of FIVE parents hovering around the boys on the bench and on the field. How do you keep "the message" consistent among that many coaches? There is no reason to have that many cooks in the kitchen. With all of those parents involved you would think the kids would be focused and engaged in the game or whatever the coaches need them to be doing...nope. When the kids were up to bat there was a group of them playing "500 up" with the ball routinely flying into the crowd of parents trying to watch their kids play ball. Had I not been watching out of the corner of my eye I would have gotten a ball in the ear but luckily caught it just in time. Told the boys the take their game elsewhere or to grab a seat on the bench and watch the game but they just shrugged and continued to throw caution to the wind. There were a few more playing soccer with siblings. And then there were a few swinging bats all over the place. Sheesh.
The game...well, any boys pitching on my nephew's team were all over the map with their wind-up and delivery. Sometimes they'd go with a full wind-up and other times they'd go from the stretch with no rhyme or reason. At this age they can't lead so there is no benefit to going from the stretch. Pitch to pitch, everything was different. Weird. Then, to make the game "move along" they don't have walks. When the count gets to four balls the coach comes in and soft tosses it to them so they can get a better chance to get a hit. Seriously?! So what do you think the majority of the kids do when they're at the dish? Yup, they don't even entertain the thought of swinging or even standing in the batter's box and wait for "ball four" and the soft toss. Hard pass, thank you very much. What a damn joke.
I ran into my brother-in-law a few days later and asked him about what they were teaching for a wind-up while pitching and he tells me that they decided to just let the boys figure out for themselves..."do what feels comfortable" was what he said. LOL. Yeah, that's going to help 10-year olds learn how to pitch. SMH.