7 & 8 yr. skills

What Kathy said is so true. Fundamentals and keep it fun... for everybody. RAD's ideas make things fun too.
At this age they are just starting out so our goal as coaches should be to plant a seed that hopefully will grow into a deep passion and love for the game of baseball. If thats the only thing you do then you've done a great job.
As far as skills are concerned, the things I see that need to be taught are...
1. Throwing technique. Most 7&8 yr olds severly shortarm the ball. Emphasize "reaching back" when you are teaching them to throw. I also use a method that I call "The right left throw" or(Left right throw for southpaws).
Start with a short jab step with the right foot, SEPARATE and REACH BACK while striding forward with the left foot, and then THROW. What I like about this drill is that it gets the feet moving so that they learn to use the whole body to throw with instead of just the arm.
Another common throwing mistake I see is failure to get the elbow elevated to shoulder height. It looks like they are pushing the ball instead of throwing it.
I use the photographs on baseball cards to show the kids that getting the elbow up is not just something that I've dreamed up. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Baserunning. For some reason, by nature, most 7&8 yr olds will not run hard all the way THROUGH first base. One day, on the way home from practice, I asked my son "why is it that most of you guys slow down to a stop when you reach first base". My 7 yr old son told me the answer. "It's because most of them don't know that you can over run first base" he said. Boy, did that open my eyes. You can't take anything for granted. Don't assume that they already know even the most basic things about the game.
Use a stopwatch to time them from home to first. Call out their times. They will see for themselves that their time will be much better if they "keep bookin all the way through the base". Also time them all the way around the bases. A good time to do this is immediatly after a game because the real bases are already set out. In just 10 minutes everybody will have gone around 4 or 5 times.
Fielding. Most 7&8 yr olds won't recieve a ball that is above their navel with the fingers pointing up. For some reason this is a tough one for a lot of kids to learn. Try having them remove their glove and catch a tennis ball tossed at their face. Most of them will instinctivly catch it with their fingers pointing up. Put the glove back on and see what happens. Usually they go back to the old way of doing it. It could be that their arms aren't strong enough to turn the glove over(make sure that they are not using Dad's softball glove). Like I said, this one takes some time for them to learn. I tell em, striaght up, "Your not ready to go to the next level until you learn to catch a with your fingers pointing up". This seems to light a fire in them and motivates them to learn to do it right.
RAD uses hoola hoops but I like to use a high quality pitch back. Start off with 10 throws from 30 ft. They throw from behind the line but can cross over the line to catch the ball. 1 point for hitting the pitch back, 2 points for catching the rebound in the air (possible 3 point play).
This is the kind of stuff Kathy's talking about when she says keep it FUNamentals.
Good luck GW
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