Practice 8 year olds

Question
Hi Dennis,

I actually have a couple of questions.

Last year i managed my sons team, level coach pitch.
This coming season the kids have to pitch and catch themselves.

I let them practice a lot on hitting and throwing.
Maybe you have some drills for me to use.

I also train my own kid extra at least ones a week.
We throw for like 8 minutes and than move on to hitting. I throw life BP and he connects like 85% on strike pitches. On most balls he doesn't swing.
I do a practice when i let go of two balls (one yellow and one white). I tell him in advance which one he has to hit, 90% he hits the wright one. I have the idea he is doing pretty good for his age, he's 7 now

Do you have any other things i can do at this age ?

Also when would be a good age to start with the long toss. I hear a lot about young kids throwing to much and have arm injuries at a young age. Is 12 a good age to start ?


thanks,

Tony

Answer
Hey Tony,

There is so much out there (on the Internet) to help you with drills.

One of my favorite youtube videos for instruction with youth is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhnQV5xIGag
but there are so many on youtube, you should watch and choose.. You can even send the links to your kids and test them on it.

As far as working with your own kid, I am a little old fashion and still feel that throwing a ball against the local factorys can teach you so much.  It goes something like this.
Find a factory that has hardly NO parked cars. This can be done after 4pm or on the weekends, or maybe a factory that has gone out of business.  Get some chalk and make a strike zone (box) that is good for your son.  Slightly lower than the "letters to knees."  Now your set.  Get a hard ball or a rubber coded ball, and start to pitch to him.  Instruct him to swing at only strikes.  This will help him know the strike zone, as well as get some live pitching.. Your son can always get a friend to do this with anytime.
As far as long toss goes... As long as he warms up properly he should be fine.  Start by throwing from pitcher to catcher distance and then increase.  Just don't have him over throw.  It doesn't have to be THAT LONG.

Good luck, Tony.
Dennis