Learning the Game?

[DDlovessoftball]

You're the parent. You don't talk a 6/7 year old out of something. You tell them and they do it.

I guess I should have worded it differently. I meant that I tried to encourage her to consider trying other things next year and then decide if she would like to get back into softball. Right or wrong, if she loves the game, I will support her until she says no more. I was just making sure she understood that there are other activities out there

How many innings are there in a typical game for her team? Will she still be 8u next spring or does she turn 9 this year?

In a typical game, probably 6 innings. She will have to move up to 10U next year. She does get to play at least one inning, normally two. If some of the kids are absent, she gets to play most of the game, and pretty decently I may add ;-) However, that has only occurred twice.

Thank you all for your input! Our team is very competitve (but not considered the best) but winning is the ultimate goal. I cannot say I didn't know that going in, but I guess I didn't understand that meant some players wouldn't play or bat (yes, silly me!). So we have decided to try out for a team that appears to be focused on teaching the kids and making sure they all get to play in order to improve. They may not win every game, but I have noticed the girls are having fun and learning. If that doesn't work out, we will just go from there. In the mean time, I will let her play Fall Ball and will do some research on softball techniques myself in order to help her. Again, thanks!

 

[Amy in AZ.]

At 8YOs, you would be surprised how many girls don't know if they won the game or not.

 

[Lozza]

I guess I should have worded it differently. I meant that I tried to encourage her to consider trying other things next year and then decide if she would like to get back into softball. Right or wrong, if she loves the game, I will support her until she says no more. I was just making sure she understood that there are other activities out there

I get it now I would still have her in other thing but let her play year round.

I also think you're doing the right thing by having her go for a different team. I find it disgusting that a 7 year old is sitting for a third of the game. She won't get better without playing.

As to what Amy said. My Subbies team is all under 10 with one 11 year old. They were all brand new when they started with three having played t-ball. They didn't lose they came 2nd. If we were asked a separate time we would then say we'd lost. At such a young age our focus was on getting better. I teared up when my little 7 year old pitcher who couldn't get the ball across the plate her first practise pitched one full inning with NO walks her last game. That's what the game is about at that age. Not winning.

 

[Sparky Guy]

My parents had me play one more year of netball just to keep well rounded. Not a happy girl at the time, but I did enjoy my last season of netball.

Lozza,

I saw you mention Netball a couple of time before. So I grabbed the highlights of the world championships. After watching it for about 5 minutes I was bored to tears. Catch the ball, stop and pass. No dribble, no running only passing. It looked like a gutted version of basketball.

 

[chinamigarden]

At 8YOs, you would be surprised how many girls don't know if they won the game or not.

14u; today we were up 10-2 and a girl asked if it was a close game.

 

[CoachKevin]

14u; today we were up 10-2 and a girl asked if it was a close game.

lol classic. Been there too

 

[Lozza]

I saw you mention Netball a couple of time before. So I grabbed the highlights of the world championships. After watching it for about 5 minutes I was bored to tears. Catch the ball, stop and pass. No dribble, no running only passing. It looked like a gutted version of basketball.

Lol. To each their own. I enjoy watching it (and watch it because it's the only televised women's team sport outside the Olympics and Commenwealth Games. It's the most popular women's participation sport in Australia. It's heck on the knees and ankles though!

 

[dbias]

For the most part 8u tb is a parent ego thing to me. At that age most kids do not know who won the game. When dd was 8 she did travel cheer and gymnastics and rec ball. Cheer and gymnastics def made her tough and drilled into her attention to detail. The cheer team won national championships three years in a row and the practices were far more physically demanding than softball ever thought of being.
I have often observed that the "gifted" players at a very young age usually end up being small in stature later in life. Idk if their slower growth rate gives them time to get used to their bodies control or what but thats just how it seems to play out. This is true even of boys bb and fb teams.

 

[MsDinosaur]

At the younger ages I told the outfielders you have 3 rules; #1 Do not let the ball get behind you. #2 Know where your going to throw it before the ball is hit. #3 Do not hold onto the ball, throw it to someone.

As far as stratagy, I would pick 1 or 2 topics a week and cover them at home (no runners on and a ball hit to RF, throw to 1st.) If you don't know softball stuff, I would suggest doing a lot of research to learn yourself.

I agree with LAdad, quincy and CoachKevin, before every pitch, she should have a plan of where she's going to throw the ball if it comes to her. Many of the young ones wait till they have the ball and then try to figure it out--while the runners are circling the bases and everyone is screaming. Way too late and under too much pressure.

When she was little, DD and I used to make a game of it while we played catch out in the yard. We played one pretend inning after another until it got too dark to see; I'd throw pop-ups or grounders, etc. and she'd have to try to make outs by catching it or throwing out the runner or both... (I was usually assumed to be the first baseman, but I started making her tell me when I wasn't and explain why.) We'd keep track of who was on base and how many outs. It was actually one of her favorite things.

There's also a CD-ROM called "Where's the Play?" that she played on the computer. It was created for little league baseball, but still is useful for the young girls, IMO. It starts out with elementals like "Where are the force outs?" and moves on to things like "Who backs up the throw?" and "Who and where is the cutoff?"

Rather than watching games on TV, I'd try to take her to some local games. The televised games always seem to focus on the pitcher and batter and then just follow the ball if it's hit, but it's more useful if she can see the whole field and watch how all the players move (to cover bags, back up throws, take cutoffs, etc). You can tell a kid over and over that they should be moving on every play, but it's not like seeing it in real life.

 

[DDlovessoftball]

MSDinosaur, do you recall where you may have found the "where's the play"
CD? I have googled but no hits :-(