 At what age should my child start playing hardball cricket?When they are ready!
There are no hard and fast rules in this area and everything is really down to the child and their physical and emotional development. If we had to generalise, most youngsters will feel ready to start with the hard ball at perhaps eight or nine, although some may be ten before the feel entirely confident in the hardball arena. We have seen six and seven year olds mixing with nine, ten and eleven year olds without any real problem, but this is unusual.
The size of the child is a big factor, but that is not to say that a smaller or younger child cannot start playing hardball cricket. Their willingness and enthusiasm to play, coupled to a lack of fear of the ball and the older cricketers that they may be playing with is far more important. However, we would counsel strongly against pushing a youngster into hardball cricket if they do not feel ready.
More often than not, the youngsters themselves will let you know when the time is right. There is nothing to stop parents getting hold of a hard ball and trying a few gentle catches. A little nervousness is to be expected at first, but in those who are good and ready this will quickly disappear in favour of a desire to attempt more and more challenging catches. To accelerate the process, repeat little and often - familiarity breeds confidence.
Be sure to avoid getting into casual, unprotected throwdowns, no matter how gentle. One decent blow on unprotected flesh risks setting the child's development back some considerable distance and a top edge into their face can put youngsters off for life!
Hardball cricket is as much about emotional and psychological development as it is about physical and technical development. With proper coaching youngsters can hone their techniques in batting, bowling, and catching and fielding almost as effectively against a Kwik Cricket ball as they can against a hard cricket ball, so there is no need to panic if your child is taking a little longer to get to grips with hardball cricket.
As with everything else in the game of cricket, patience is the key!
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