Move up 10u or stay 8u?

[RyLou]

We moved our 8y old DD up to a 2nd year 10u and at first it was a STRUGGLE. Pitching, hitting, base running…. But she loved it, worked and worked, and by June had our second highest batting average and was getting good innings pitching. Fast forward to her starting her 3rd year at 10u, and those struggles pitching, hitting, everything she went through has her confidence through the roof. Having that extra year of pitching innings was huge for her. Learning how to work through a bad inning and such…She just played her first PGF tournament this weekend and threw great . Anyway, from our experience, if DD wants to do it, and it doesn’t kill her confidence, that extra year of pitching and hitting is great

 

[forkliftgator]

Our DD is same age. We kept her down, because our son's first year of kid pitch was a walkfest he saw maybe 4 strikes all year and spent had 1 ball hit his way in the infield. We wanted her to get a year as a dominant 8u team leader and get better reps in the field and good pitches to continue to progress her batting.

But if she can get game reps as a pitcher that will certainly be a benefit in the future

 

[Dew5000]

I am in the same situation with my league age 6 daughter (2014 birth year) Our 8U rec rules are similar to t ball rules, and we have 5 yo up to 8 yo playing.

I started a 8U "travel lite" team this year to play in some tournaments. It's still coach pitch, but played like an actual game. It is really good competition for the girls, and they get a ton of defensive work because the ball is put in play A LOT.

I would say the 8U "travel" is very similar to our local 10U rec, if not even a little more advanced. The only real difference in the kid vs coach pitch. Which locally 10U rec pitching sometimes isn't the greatest either.

I think my ultimate decision is going to be to keep her in 8U "travel" for one more year but move her up to 10U for rec ball.