Softball potential at 8 years old

Sometimes it's a self-fulfilling prophecy, unfortunately. If you've read Outliers by Gladwell, you realize that by setting that arbitrary age cut-off, we put the 8Us born in the 2nd half of the year at disadvantage. That girl born on Dec 31st might be the worst girl at 8U in 2016, but born a day later, she might be one of the best 8Us in 2017. The older girls at 8U get all of the reps and we get a cumulative affect as they are that much better the next year. Sometimes the nature of the secondary options for playing games aren't great (ball4...ball8...ball12). I think finding ways to get the younger girls into practices at young ages, even if they're not in the 'top12' can mitigate this affect.

I agree with the point that it's not hard to pick out the more gifted girls at 8U. Coaches who think they can project accurately of what girls that aren't there yet in 8U do the player and the sport a disservice, IMHO. Help her to find a place to practice and play and keep her in the game.

As for finding ways to harness the potential. I think the right formula is playing different sports during different seasons (limiting softball to 1-2 seasons), finding the right intensity for the girl's personality, and setting your own expectations, as a parent or a coach, if the girl's desire doesn't match yours.

My DD's first year of 8U, her team went 0-12, and she struck out every at-bat for from about Game 6 until Game 12. This was coach pitch, btw. Last game of season, she hit a nubber that went 2 feet from home and 1 inch foul, but the umpire called it fair. A parent says, 'That was foul!'' Umpire whispers, ''I know, she hasn't had a hit all year!'' She beat it out. She reached base all 3 times that game, her best hit a slow grounder toward short, and the fans were jubilant. One player's grandmother gave DD a teddy bear . She named it Polka Dots and slept with it for about a year. If not for that, I'm not sure she would've come back the next season.

So, 9 years later, DD is verbally committed to play in college. Still not the best, but still playing.

CoogansBluff said:

My DD's first year of 8U, her team went 0-12, and she struck out every at-bat for from about Game 6 until Game 12. This was coach pitch, btw. Last game of season, she hit a nubber that went 2 feet from home and 1 inch foul, but the umpire called it fair. A parent says, 'That was foul!'' Umpire whispers, ''I know, she hasn't had a hit all year!'' She beat it out. She reached base all 3 times that game, her best hit a slow grounder toward short, and the fans were jubilant. One player's grandmother gave DD a teddy bear . She named it Polka Dots and slept with it for about a year. If not for that, I'm not sure she would've come back the next season.

So, 9 years later, DD is verbally committed to play in college. Still not the best, but still playing.

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I love this story. <3

The coach who sent the text is an idiot but maybe it lights a fire under her to get better?

With that said, some kids excel early and continue to get better. For example, one year DD played 8U all stars and faced an outstanding pitcher throwing hard (mid to high 40's), with very good mechanics and accurately. With a 10inch ball at 30 feet, she was unstoppable (I think at one point she struck out 28 of 30 batters on our team over several games). Fast forward 7 years and she is verballed to Stanford.

CoogansBluff said:

My DD's first year of 8U, her team went 0-12, and she struck out every at-bat for from about Game 6 until Game 12. This was coach pitch, btw. Last game of season, she hit a nubber that went 2 feet from home and 1 inch foul, but the umpire called it fair. A parent says, 'That was foul!'' Umpire whispers, ''I know, she hasn't had a hit all year!'' She beat it out. She reached base all 3 times that game, her best hit a slow grounder toward short, and the fans were jubilant. One player's grandmother gave DD a teddy bear . She named it Polka Dots and slept with it for about a year. If not for that, I'm not sure she would've come back the next season.

So, 9 years later, DD is verbally committed to play in college. Still not the best, but still playing.

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Great story but you left me hanging - is Polka Dots going to college with her?

I understand that at 8 you can definitely see potential in a player. But, can you really tell a kid to basically hang it up at 8 years old because you just aren't softball material?

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I agree that 8YOA is too young to judge a child, but:

For a child to be "good" at anything, there has to be an "ecosystem" in the family to support the child's endeavor.

That is, the parents need to work with their child. If the parents aren't going to invest the time, the child will never be "good". It could be obvious at 8YOA that the parents are not going to work with the child on softball.

E.g., if a kid can't catch a ball at 8YOA, then the parents haven't spent the time and energy in teaching the child how to catch. If they haven't put in the time by by 8YOA, it is doubtful they will change and do it in the future.

This doesn't mean that the child lacks the physical skills...it is simply that the "softball ecosystem" in the family doesn't exist.

Softball/baseball is brutal about this...without parental time in the backyard playing pitch and catch, it is almost impossible for a child to become "good".

Greenmonsters said:

Great story but you left me hanging - is Polka Dots going to college with her?

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Great question! Hadn't thought of that. I'll ask that when she gets home from school today.

The past year, DD has played on much stronger teams than ever, and she's struggled a little with confidence as she has realized she's not as good as she thought as she compares herself to others, many of whom are just more athletic, stronger. Reality is that she's as good as ever but played on teams from age 13-15 where she was one of the stars. I marvel at some of her teammates now and take pride that DD belongs on the same field, even if she's in the lower half. But she compares and judges. I've talked with her about her identity through all this. If she thinks she's supposed to be 'the natural,' the star, then it's going to be very humbling and frustrating. That's not who she is. Her real identity is Polka Dots. Maybe she does need to bring Polka Dots to college to remind her of that. She's the one who started at the bottom and went far beyond what anyone imagined.

So thanks for that question. We might need to free Polka Dots from that box in the attic.

JJsqueeze said:

people like this coach justify my misanthropy.

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There is no such thing as werewolves.

At 8u I saw kids whose parents stuck them in softball because they were too slow, or not competitive enough for other sports, as assessed by the parent. The parents naturally thought softball would be good because it is so slow and easy, as compared to soccer, lacrosse etc. These kids did not have REC, age appropriate skills and was a disaster waiting to happen when throwing with other kids that did. Most of these kids learned to not like the game because they were scared all the time of getting hit by a thrown ball, hit by a pitched ball or looking bad. ONE season of working with kids like this to get their thumb up when catching and to focus on just having fun when swinging at the ball made many more enthused to go forward. It is a lot of work and a part of me really wanted to go spend more time with my kid and work with my better players. As a stereotype, I found that most of these kids did not have the consistent attention at home of trying to build these skills. Soccer, softball, whatever. Just that extra attention, and interest, was enough to spark them getting more engaged with the game. By the end of the season to see that kid be able to get her mitt up and catch the ball, or swing with passion and see the look of accomplishment on their faces really adds a lot to being a coach.

sluggers said:

I agree that 8YOA is too young to judge a child, but:

For a child to be "good" at anything, there has to be an "ecosystem" in the family to support the child's endeavor.

That is, the parents need to work with their child. If the parents aren't going to invest the time, the child will never be "good". It could be obvious at 8YOA that the parents are not going to work with the child on softball.

E.g., if a kid can't catch a ball at 8YOA, then the parents haven't spent the time and energy in teaching the child how to catch. If they haven't put in the time by by 8YOA, it is doubtful they will change and do it in the future.

This doesn't mean that the child lacks the physical skills...it is simply that the "softball ecosystem" in the family doesn't exist.

Softball/baseball is brutal about this...without parental time in the backyard playing pitch and catch, it is almost impossible for a child to become "good".

Click to expand...

Yep. I've seen plenty of that, too. There were a couple of girls on my DD's first all-star team (8U) that were really good natural athletes, but didn't get any extra work outside of team practices. Over the next couple of years, you could see the separation in skill levels become more and more apparent as the dedicated and hard-working kids' skill development was on an entirely different curve.

While I was coaching rec ball, I can't recall how many times I was asked by a new parent how their kid can get better, sometimes asking what my DD did to gain her skills. There is only one answer - hard work, and lots of it. Some parents had an "ah ha" moment, and made the extra effort with their kid. Some gave me the "I ain't got time for that!" look.

I'll never forget a little girl who played church league soccer with DD when they were 4. Yes, 4. This little girl ran circles around everyone, dribbling the ball with perfect control and making about 5 goals per game. She was unstoppable. We don't really know her, but we see her every year in rec basketball and she dominates at that too. You can pick out the phenoms young, but others can and do catch up with hard work. I've seen DD's catching improve significantly just over this past tryout season (months of July and August) due to all the reps. If she keeps up the dedication, I think she'll have a real future in softball.