Rec ball

[Phathead]

Travel 40 minutes...

Ok, that may not be fair at 8. Is there enough girls from ALL the teams close to you to create a travel team locally? If you can find a parent who is willing to step up, then that might be all you need to get it going. That is how many of us who frequent this board started out with their DD - by being the person who stepped up not just for their own DD, but for 10-12 others people's DD as well.

This^^^^ ^^^^^. At that age all you need is someone who will work the basics with up to date information that us easily obtained on this site.

 

[finalcloud]

I would drive the 40 minutes in a heart beat. Especially if the 8u team was kid pitch. My DD wants to learn how to pitch so badly. Side note if it's 40 minutes north a me, a certain theme park would be very close. Softball and rollercoasters!?!?! Perfect.

 

[WARRIORMIKE]

I would move her up in the rec ball world . Have her play up at 10's. Don't do travel right away. Wait till shes around 12 before getting into it full time.

 

[wheresmycar]

This is my DD 3rd year playing rec ball. She is 8. She is upset that the team keeps loosing due to team mates not putting fourth the effort with learning. She pitches, ss and 3rd. She has it in her head that she needs to give 500% to make up where her teammates lack. How can I get it across to her that she cannot do it all.
What gets me is that it is clear that the rec ball here is more of a babysitter than anything else. But in order to get her on a good team we would have to travel at least 40 minutes.
Any help or suggestions will be awesome!!!!

Travel ball at 8 is perfect way to burn your kid out by 12....

 

[Seattlecoach]

To be honest, with the huge influx of girls in 10U travel ball it is not easy to find a team of motivated girls in 10U travel either. Especially in California. Our DD currently plays 10U travel, and understanding that there would be travel for tournaments, friendlies etc we wanted to keep the practice travel to a minimum. Long story short the teams close by weren't the best fit. We currently play for a team that is 40 minutes away. It is a much better fit for DD, and to be honest it's not that bad. It is good bonding time.

The most important thing is to find the right fit, and to do that you may have to travel. You just need to decide how far.

Every time I talk to a player who has to travel 45+ minutes to PRACTICE I always ask what she does during the trip. Sure, sometimes they say HW or listen to music, but they almost always mention something about usually just chatting with their parents for most of the drive. Think of as she grows up, and most pre-teens and teens begin to distance themselves, how valuable this time can be.

 

[Eric F]

Every time I talk to a player who has to travel 45+ minutes to PRACTICE I always ask what she does during the trip. Sure, sometimes they say HW or listen to music, but they almost always mention something about usually just chatting with their parents for most of the drive. Think of as she grows up, and most pre-teens and teens begin to distance themselves, how valuable this time can be.

We do a lot of music-listening, singing, and air-drumming. We do a lot of talking. We also do a lot of yelling at the radio during Dodger game broadcasts.

I love it.

 

[grcsftbll]

I hope mine doesn't burn out. We did All Stars when she was 7 and tried to go back to rec. Made it one season. She wasn't having any fun, there was no challenge. We did spring/summer on a B team then flipped to A this fall. A has been more stressful for her dad and me (more drama, politics, etc) but she loves it. I actually think she'd be more likely to quit at 12 if we stayed in rec. She'll be 10 in September so she's not 12 yet. Guess we'll see. I'm pretty careful when tourney season gets crazy to make sure she has plenty of non-softball time too. But it's hard to keep her off the field. When we take my older one to baseball practice she goes out and fields balls with them and stuff. She just loves it.

The drive to practice was a concern for me when we joined our team but it's really only an issue when the weather is iffy. Driving over an hour then getting rained out is NOT fun. But we chit chat, listen to music, whatever. It's nice.

 

[big_motor_jumbo]

My current 12u softball daughter and I travel 45 minutes twice a week each way for practice, another time for hitting practice, and then 15 minutes for catching practice. That being said, if she were 8 I would probably have her play 10u in rec ball for a year or so and then 10u travel ball when she turns 10.

To me 40 minutes for practice is worth it as long as the coaching is good. If her coach were just your average parent coach then forget it.

The hard part from what I have seen (we have been fortunate) is that sometimes you don't know what have gotten into until you are fully committed and stuck till the end of the season.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

 

[TexAg1998]

I drive my 15 year old to practice for her travel team 3x/week 2 hours and 15 minutes each way. I wish I had the days of a 40 minute drive back.


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