I'm trying to do a pitching camp for 5 of my boys this summer now that spring ball is over. I have this summer and next to try and get them prepped for 9U kid pitch. Right now we just completed our 7U season, with next season (8U) being their last of coach pitch.

Long story short, I see three routes here.
$$$The boys going to a pitching camp
$$Hiring a local coach for some instruction
$Buying all the studying/instruction materials and DIY

I’ve looked into all three and it seems that DIY is most likely the best long term route. If I know the techniques myself, I can start “tuning” these boys now and get the report started now. Local Camps and Coaches are hit and miss as it all depends on who’s biased opinion you get. And as much money as you spend on those two options, I want to make sure it’s worth the boy’s while. I went to the same football camp for 6 years and want something similar for my boys, you know, a camp they can grow accustomed to as they progress and get older. I would know more about these things, but not being a native to this area, it’s hard trying to pull trustworthy advice from my fellow coaches in this league. I just took this team over last fall ball, and still have yet to get settled in.

Advice:
#1
Anyone in the DFW area know/trust any camps or coaches that I can source for prepping my five prospects over the next couple summers before we transition to 9U?
#2
I saw the stuff out there like Tuff Cuff Jr and other related materials for us DIY’ers, is there any other books/dvd’s I should check out?

In advance, any advice is much appreciated. Thanks.

were I grew up the local high school coaches would get together every summer and do hitting and pitching camps (I attended many of those), those were helpful, and I know the kids are young but if there are any stand outs good coaches will remember, and maybe be able to assist with other camps they are familiar with, honestly your best bet would be to invest some money in some decent material do the research, and do it yourself if these coaching camps are not available. Check around I also attended a few camps put on by local junior colleges in my area when I was younger as well.

Being that young, I would just do the DIY if you know alittle about the game. When your prospects get up to 10-12 is when i would get them into more camps and coach's. It's changed a lot in the past few years since I played but after they turn 10 is when they need to fully focus on the techniques. and go ahead and start getting them into a light workout routine. It will help them greatly if they want to commit to play later on if you start them now.

I coached my daughters teams for awhile and she is also a pitcher and at this point I have taken her as far as I can. I pitched baseball into HS and the softball stuff and what I knew was somewhat dated.

I went to the local college and did some inquiries into lessons and the softball coaches at each school offer personal lessons. I'm sure if you combined the kids you may get a better rate and its worth talking to them about.

I also looked at it like this way , they are kids and sometimes they respond better to someone they dont know as opposed to a father, so it has been working well so far.

http://dbat.net/
this organization will put together camp for you and your boys. they will teach you how to teach your boys and give them high level instruction. the ultimaste goal is to get them in high school ball. this will get them headed in the right direction. several facilities in your area, and they are at the top levels of competition year in and out.
My son is a competitive ball player, plays at the usssa AAA classification on a travel team, we have faced many d-bat teams and they are always tough, so they get great instruction my son will 14 for this coming springs season so his last year in the little leagues. we have faced d-bat teams since he was 9. they always compete.

Two day pitching camp complete, and total success! Invited five prospects, and one catcher. I had nothing but awesome results from these boys. It was amazing to coach something that two months ago I knew next to nothing about, did some research, got some advice, and translated it all to 7 year old attention spans.

Each day was two hours, and we instructed/practiced warm up drills on day one, then took to the mound on day two.
Since I’ve had all these boys for a couple years now, I know them pretty well, and had a good idea what to say to get them to respond. So I saved a lot of time in “instruction” department and could focus more in practicing.

Out of the five, I have one natural with what looks to be a “power arm”. I have two that throw really consistently, but with hardly any arm strength, they’re going to be somewhat easy to hit. I'm not so worried about arm strength with 7 year olds, that will come in time. And my last two are going to need constant attention during the offseason if they’re going to retain the mechanics. So, overall…. Success.

Thanks for all the advice and help everyone. I didn’t spend a dime, nor did my parents, and the boys learned something new and had fun doing it. Thanks.

Sounds good.

For the ones that need to work on the power, have them take a scrap of old carpet about 12 x 18 and hang it on the fence in the backyard, creating a strike zone.

10 minutes a day, maybe 25 pitches, never to the point they are tired or sore. Go about 2/3 distance and work back to your leagues mound over a month or so.

They will build accuracy and strength very quickly.