How did your DD(or you) get involved in Softball?

[TwinkleStar]

When my daughter was 5 I wanted her to play a team sport and I was actually hoping for soccer and she wasn't interested. She said she wanted to play softball so I signed her up with for coach pitch pee-wee ball. (co-ed) Her best friend backed out of joining the team but she decided to play anyway. There was only one other girl on the team and they became close friends. Before they had their first practice I took my daughter outside to play catch and the ball hit her in the mouth and knocked her front tooth out (it was loose). She proceeded to throw her glove down and yell "I am never going to play softball AGAIN!!!" I convinced her to go to the first practice since I had already paid all the fees and she hasn't looked back since. This is her 6th year and she is still playing with the girl she met on her first team. My husband has helped coach all of her teams as either coach or assistant coach. She loves playing softball and she wants to practice every day we even heated our garage so that she could practice any time she wanted this winter. She pitches so I spend a lot of time sitting on a bucket but I know I will miss catching for her once she starts throwing too hard for me to catch.
My younger daughter is following in her sisters footsteps and is playing her second year of 8U this year. She also wants to pitch so I have this "here we go again..." feeling.

 

[Ivy's Dad]

My DD did competitive diving for 5 years when she was younger. She did well, winning a Summer championship meet as well as several invitational meets, but after 5 years was burned out from the intensity of it. My wife bought a wiffle ball set (ball and bat) at the grocery store, and my DD and wife would mess around with it in the back yard. After figuring out that she was very good at hitting, my DD asked to play softball. I explained to her that the other girls had already been playing for 5 years, and that she would have to work very hard to catch up. She assured me she would.

We started working in the back yard, with my DD using my wife's old glove. After about a month, we bought her a softball bat and glove. We signed her up for a Nike Softball camp, which sent us a list of things she needed to bring (shorts, sliders, equipment bag, etc.). That really got us up to speed on what equipment she needed. The camp really got my DD ready to play, and she received the "Most Improved" award at the end of the camp. All of the instructors emphasized to us how hard my DD worked, participating in all optional workouts when most of the other girls were swimming in the pool.

At that point, my DD was a "real" softball player. She started playing in rec. leagues, and has recently been asked to try out for a TB team this Fall. If we're lucky (unlucky?), we'll be doing the TB lifestyle for the 2011-2012 season. It's been a crazy ride, but she's worked hard for everything she's gotten so far. It'll be interesting to see how/when it ends.

 

[PAcoach]

My family was always big baseball people. My dad coached long before my brother and i were born. After HS, i still played on town team. My brother started playing slow pitch SB and they needed a OF so i too started playing. I was then ask to help coach a girls FP town team ( i was 19). i helped for a few years and then it went o back burner. Once my brother had daughters, we coached them as they progressed from town ball to HS and then travel. 1 of his DD pithced D2. When my daughter got old enogh she wanted to be like her cousins. She started playing town ball, then was selected for a 10U team and now she made her varsity team as a freshman.

 

[Big Daddy]

DD was in gymnastics from 5-9, and one evening a friend invited to her son's LL baseball game. DD said "I want to play that", so I was able to get her into a machine pitch SB league for the summer and it was miserable. Two TERRIBLE female coaches we dubbed "The Screamers", that had my DD wanting to quit altogether half way through season. After that misfire, I convinced her to play one month of instructional league fall baseball in Sept., and if she didn't like it she could hang it up. She played and LOVED the coach who was a great guy. He quickly rekindled that spark for her, and she has excelled since. Now a freshman starting varsity at her HS, plays very competitive "A" level TB, and our family has so many awesome memories and new friends because of it. Sure it is expensive, but I don't bat an eye at that. I LOVE this game and everything good and bad involved in it. My wife, goes through her "I hate SB!!!" spells, but then she snaps out of it once I get her back with the Red Cup Gang!!

 

[quincy]

Some nice stories here, thought I would bump it for the Holiday season.

 

[bobbyb]

We were just talking about this last night after a practice. I remember the first phone call...a dad that had twins was starting a team and called to see if she wanted to play. I asked her and she said.."Who all is playing?". He rattled off a few names and she said "sure". We got a purple bat and a pink glove and we were set! Fast foward a few years...at 14 she wrote me a letter for Christmas about softball and what I have put in to it to help her. It is my best Christmas present ever. I know grandma put her up to it...but I will cherish it for the rest of my life!

 

[Mylil32]

Put DD in rec ball when she was 3 years old, cutest thing I'd ever seen. We just wanted her to be around other kids really. We moved to Little League when she was 4 and then at 8 she played the pitcher position (still coach pitch at this point, but played the position); 1 game and she was begging us for pitching lessons. The league president actually approached us and told us she should be in travel ball, where she's been ever since and he has told us several times he regrets telling us that because she left little league!

 

[crystlemc]

I played when I was a kid, 4 year Varsity letter. I didn't even know travel teams or college teams existed, so that was the end of it for me. Fast forward a few years, and my stepDD was an absolute FP beast! Going yard consistently at 9yo, top ranked catcher in the state her freshman year. My DD watched her sister play. Then she began to play coach pitch/peewee and stunk up the field...lol. She moved up to 10u rec ball and stunk the first year. After one of her games, she asked if she could play travel ball like one of her teammates. I had to figure out a diplomatic answer for that one. I told her that K@# practices a lot and if she wants to play travel ball, she needs to practice a lot before she tries out. Well, she took that to heart, and practiced that whole fall/winter. We moved to the next town over, so she started rec ball with completely different girls and coaches that next season. All of a sudden, she was pitching, because she pitched REALLY hard. She was scary, though. I don't even know how many girls she hit that year...lol. She also became a fantastic 3rd baseman. It was that season that a TB team picked her up. 2 seasons later, she can play pretty much anywhere with a good degree of skill, and is a really good pitcher. She refuses to play rec ever again. Her little sister (9yo) just informed me that she wants to pitch (after telling me last year, she never wants to play softball again)...ugh. Seriously? I can't afford two of these...lol.

 

[redhack]

Signed DD up for Tee-ball when she was 4. Friend who's DD was older put her on his team of coach pitch. DD was always bigger than most her age back then and always seemed to have to play up (soccer, SB). She played that year and hated it. She got pinched in the leg with the catcher gear, and said she would never play again, and all her friends were in tee ball. Talked her into to going back out the next year, and she had more fun, same girls. Then in the 3rd year her schoolmates moved up, and she was a step ahead of them, but still very average. Through this whole time Soccer was her true passion. First year of kid pitch and she gets the nod, with two others, cause she can throw it over the plate. She was hooked. Started lessons with a HS pitcher that season and on the advice of her dad found a PC in the fall. played one more year of rec, which her team dominated, with some strong pitching (not just DD) and moved on to TB. Struggles at the top levels TB and dominates at the rec. Now it is non-stop. TB, rec and fall ball. with PC lessons year round and practices from 1-3 times a week. Heat the garage all winter for her to pitch and hit. She is really looking forward to this year. And soccer is gone for good.

 

[MagicDad]

When my DD was 8 we were watching tv and came across a HS allstar game being played at Disney. While watching it we saw a local girl playing in it so we watched some more. About a week later she came up to me and said she wanted me to find her a travel team. Now our rec. program is almost nonexistant and I coach a travel baseball team, but I had no knowledge about travel softball. With a little research I located a team close by, she tried out and made the team since then she has moved to a different team. Her new team will be playing in Disney this Feb. So I guess this part of her story is going full circle.