Are we asking too much at a young age?

[grcsftbll]

I know of at least one local coach, and I'm sure there are others, that has one catcher (actually 3 but he almost never puts anyone in but the #1) and will also pitch his #1 until her arm falls off. To me this is nothing but bad coaching. It's all about winning this game, this tournament. At this age it just seems ridiculous to me to risk permanently disabling a child so you can say your team won a game. That kind of ego trip is beyond my comprehension. Some people should not be coaching kids period. If they don't care enough to protect their players from injuries they're only being selfish and living vicariously. It hurts the less experienced players who never get to grow because they don't get to play, and it hurts the #1s too, when they end up sitting out for months because they have an overuse injury.

I know the common theory is you let the coach do the coaching and be quiet about the choices but in this case I think parents need to speak up to protect their kids. Unfortunately parents' egos often very involved too. "My kid is so great she catches/pitches almost every game."

 

[GoCaboNow]

DD is a late 2005 playing 12u as well. Everything is bigger, faster, harder at 12u than it was at 10u. The pace of the game is faster. Girls are bigger and faster so you need to throw faster to get them out, or need to run harder to be safe since girls can throw faster than 10u. We just have one catcher that wants to be a catcher and works on her game. Like yours, she works her tail off in games and should be able to take a game off here or there. We are in the Northwest so it is not hot very often, but if she gets hurt we are not as good, plain and simple.

 

[Proudmumof2]

DD is a late 2005 playing 12u as well. Everything is bigger, faster, harder at 12u than it was at 10u. The pace of the game is faster. Girls are bigger and faster so you need to throw faster to get them out, or need to run harder to be safe since girls can throw faster than 10u. We just have one catcher that wants to be a catcher and works on her game. Like yours, she works her tail off in games and should be able to take a game off here or there. We are in the Northwest so it is not hot very often, but if she gets hurt we are not as good, plain and simple.

We are in the Northwest as well. We may have played against each other

Some of these 12u girls are huge! We played a team in April where 4 of their girls were over 6' and the shortest player was 5'5". We joked that they had driven themselves to our game. My daughter didn't even come up to their knees in her catchers position.

 

[BobInMadison]

I used to work with a guy whose wife was a softball addict. She caught as a kid, but is no longer physically able to catch.

Her dad was the coach, and would NOT put in a backup catcher, or take her out of games, no matter how much she begged.
Finally, one tournament she had to be carried from the field. The damage to her knees and her throwing arm were permanent, and she could never catch again.

I often get upset that my DD 3 doesn't practice pitching as much as I would like. However, DD 3 is really skinny, and too much pitching can hurt. Maybe I should learn to realize it's OK if she is just a strong B level pitcher, and not D-1 bound. She has great talent, but I also wonder how much is too much.

 

[csuttonthompson]

I have had experience with a coach who wanted to pitch my kid all the time so we would win. The very first tournament we played he pitched her 3.5 games one of them was a 10 inning game-on elimination day. Her previous coach wouldn't even think of allowing her an opportunity to pitch, so I think we were a little in shock and didn't say anything but when she couldn't move her arm for two days after I learned real quick I had to be the one to set boundaries. I had to have a conversation with the coach and give him a limit on the games she was allowed to pitch in a row or in a day. You always have to be the one looking out for the long term, I know I don't want my kids career to be over by the time she's 16-17 nor do I want her to haVe an injury that winds up paining her for years to come. MANY coaches are only concerned with winning the game happening right now- it's unfortunate but true.


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[JAD]

I know of at least one local coach, and I'm sure there are others, that has one catcher (actually 3 but he almost never puts anyone in but the #1) and will also pitch his #1 until her arm falls off. To me this is nothing but bad coaching. It's all about winning this game, this tournament. At this age it just seems ridiculous to me to risk permanently disabling a child so you can say your team won a game. That kind of ego trip is beyond my comprehension. Some people should not be coaching kids period. If they don't care enough to protect their players from injuries they're only being selfish and living vicariously. It hurts the less experienced players who never get to grow because they don't get to play, and it hurts the #1s too, when they end up sitting out for months because they have an overuse injury.

I know the common theory is you let the coach do the coaching and be quiet about the choices but in this case I think parents need to speak up to protect their kids. Unfortunately parents' egos often very involved too. "My kid is so great she catches/pitches almost every game."

When a lot of coaches reach 16U, they look back at what they did at 10U, 12U and 14U and shake their heads in disbelief. It is the equivalent of a "face palm selfie"....

 

[KPower]

My DD is a 1st yr 12U player. She is on the small side - 4'11" and 72 lbs. She is our starting catcher. I absolutely love watching her behind the plate. She is fast, smart and fearless. But we will absolutely not let her catch 6-7 games in a weekend. She would do it if asked, because she loves it - but she knows in the long run it is better to give her body a rest. Are we stronger with her there - absolutely. That's why the coach is strategic about when he plays her and when he lets her play her secondary positions. We have seen DD reach her limit and actually pass out - won't happen again!

 

[grcsftbll]

This is probably why I love our coach so much. I love, love his perspective. His daughter plays in college; he is coaching the team for a friend of his whose daughter is on the team, and because he loves softball. He's so calm about everything, and doesn't care much about winning. I mean, obviously we all want to win, but he talks about 1st year 10U as a kind of throw away year. The girls are learning and growing and you can't expect big wins. He's very into developing the players & he just has so much knowledge. My DH started assistant coaching and he's in heaven learning so much. It's just really cool to have a coach who's done it all before and realizes that all the 10U craziness isn't necessary. We've had some drama on the team, over playing time as usual, but it seems to take care of itself for the most part.

 

[riseball]

Once your DD plays in college you quickly realize that very little of what happened on the field in HS and TB really mattered. The championships and accolades are all footnotes. What is important is what they learn and who they become.

Then once your DD completes her college career you quickly realize that very little of what happened on the field in college...

 

[Doug Romrell]

Are we asking too much at a young age?

In many cases..... HELL YES!