A lot of 8 year olds just need to play multiple positions (shortstop, catcher, outfield), long toss and learn to be an athlete. Allow them to throw missiles from a standstill in long toss as well (see Yamamoto) and pull down on the way in. The delivery will take care of a lot of things without much coaching in many cases. The coaching of the lower half is individual specific because you might only give them 1 external cue based on any issues they have. You're not going to yip-salad them with 7 cues for each part of the throw. Generally, what to look for: -You want to see an athletic drift with a stable back foot -A seamless drop into back hip tension and riding that out without jumping for as long as possible (sustained linear move) -Relaxing and rotating hips into landing without bringing the front side with it (separation/segmentation). -Smooth yet violent rotation into release with the trunk (not forward flexing and guiding the ball) -Allowing the arm to relax and whip through the arm slot, not guiding/pushing the ball -Aggressive deceleration with the hips (pimp the finish) indicates efficient pelvic/trunk decel The "just throw strikes" crowd ruins pitchers early. Most don't need to specialize as pitchers at 8, they need to be athletes and learn to throw the crap out of the ball (with proper workload, arm care, annual deload and on ramping constraints, of course). When they end up trying to throw 90% strikes, and "taking some off to locate", they tend to adopt linear, pushing mechanical solutions that limit them as they develop. You want smooth, explosive, athletic, dynamic patterns. Those emerge through variability (playing multiple positions, throwing from different arm slots and body positions with varying time constraints) and trying to organize their body to throw hard. youtube.com/watch?v=1Jh4z4Lg…