NHAA Instructional League Softball:

Offered for kids ages 9-10, the primary goal of the 10U League is to transition from a "coach-controlled" environment to one that resembles an actual competitive game, while still maintaining the major goal of learning, developing, and having FUN. This is probably the biggest transition your child will make throughout their softball career because it introduces them to seeing actual live pitching from other kids as well as throwing pitches themselves. It is also a very big transition for YOU the parent because, while your child may have been a great hitter throughout Beginners and Instructional, they may struggle a bit adapting to other kids throwing the ball. Our advice is to just be patient, and for that brief moment they're in the batter's box or on the pitchers mount ... take your parent hat off and just be a fan.

Schedule

• All practice/game schedules will be finalized once registration is closed, quantity of teams is determined, coaches are selected, and rosters finalized.
• All practices/games will be held at Rosecliff Field
• Depending on the weather, you can anticipate (1) practice/game on a weekday and (1) on a weekend.
• You can anticipate each practice/game should last approximately 1-1/2 hours.

Expectations:
The NHAA believes strongly in keeping things simple when teaching the game of baseball and softball. With that in mind we have developed five goal areas for each of the age groups. As a coach we want to keep these five goal areas in mind every time we plan a practice. They represent the fundamental building blocks for success. The goals at one level need to be accomplished before the goals at the next level can be pursued.

 These are the Five Goals that we believe and you should expect your child to have achieved at the completion of the Instructional League Level: 

• Learn the Basic Rules - force outs; tagging up; baserunning (when you don't have to run; not running into or past teammates on the base paths); balls and strikes.

• Throwing Mechanics - introduce the correct way to hold the ball; point the front shoulder, step, and throw; introduce the concept of generating momentum toward the target and following the throw.

• Catching and fielding- thrown and hit balls; fingers up versus fingers down; see the glove and the ball; use two hands; forehands and backhands; inroduce the underhand flip; first-base fundamentals; crossover and drop steps.

• Hitting - choosing the right bat; proper grip; hitting pitched balls; introduce drill work (tee work, soft toss, short toss)

• Learning Positional Play - learn the positions and the areas each player should cover; cover the base when the ball is not hit to you; basics of cutoffs and relays.