JJsqueeze
Dad, Husband....legend
There is no such thing as werewolves.
well played sir.
Softball potential at 8 years old
- Thread starter rocktheball
- Start date
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well played sir.
I told this story before, but I'll tell it again...
There was a little girl who could play basketball much better than my DD#3 when they were young. The other girl could run rings around my DD#3.
But, the other little girl never played varsity HS basketball. My DD#3 started varsity as a sophomore, played in college, and won a D3 championship.
What happened? The other girl was 5'3" when she was 12YOA, and was 5'3" when she was 18YOA. My DD#3 was 6'2" at 18YOA.
- Aug 18, 2016
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I don't understand why any coach would feel they need immediate results when they are coaching 8 year old girls. I'm not even going to worry about wins till around 12U. I understand there comes a point where you will see if the player is improving and if not their playing time comes into question. Coaching an 8U team and being so worried about wins that you dump players who you feel "aren't softball material", in your eyes yet, is a mistake in my opinion. This team where the girl I picked up previously played is burning a lot of bridges. Their reputation wasn't that good to begin with.
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- Aug 18, 2016
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Totally agree with your point. Yes, some kids naturally have the talent but of all the girls on my team now the most advanced players have also the most supportive parents of the team and they have stated how they do tee drills at home or just get out and play catch. My daughter struggled making contact but now is making solid contact every at-bat due to me doing tee drills with her. I make it a game so the drills are move fun for her and I'm very happy with the results.
- Nov 18, 2013
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What I’ve witnessed is most of the little stars at 8 to 10 have either quit or no longer stand out when they get to HS. There's no way of knowing who can or can't play in the future at the age.
- Mar 8, 2016
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When my daughter was playing 10u rec softball as a 7 and 8 year old (we didn't have 8u teams) occasionally she would get to catch. At this time she played in a dixie league that did not allow stealing. I would go out before the inning started and warn the umpire to watch his shins because a lot of balls would get by my daughter. I would then go stand at the backstop to retrieve wild pitches/passed balls to keep the game going faster. I bet 75% of the pitches got past my daughter. My dd is now 14 and even though I have rose colored daddy glasses she is a pretty good softball player. At 8u kid's coaches should encourage kids to work hard, make things fun, and put them in situations to be successful and want to keep playing.
Interesting. I wonder if part of that is the fact that in MN kids have to play in their own association until 14U. My DDs both played on true TB teams (what we would call club teams in MN) when they were 10U and almost all of those girls were solid HS players and many are playing in college or will be next year when the youngest graduate. I was just looking at a photo of one of the little 10U teams the other day and I am still amazed at how many really good ball players were on that team.
- Nov 18, 2013
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That’s a good point. We lose a lot of softball players to other sports because we only have rec level until 14U. I’ve found most who leave for other sports are just tired of teams where other parents “don’t have time” to play catch with their daughters or going to the cabin takes priority over a tourney. Some of it comes down to numbers too. Hockey has enough kids a rec program can have “club” mentality teams and also more leisurely teams. MN Softball you end up having everyone lumped together.
I’ve seen young players who stayed among the top all the way to college or even the pro’s. More often I see have other interests or fall to the middle of the pack out after puberty when other kids caught up.
