JJsqueeze
Dad, Husband....legend
There is no such thing as werewolves.
well played sir.
There is no such thing as werewolves.
You can pick out the phenoms young, but others can and do catch up with hard work.
Unfortunately some coaches need immediate results for a team during the season and player development doesn't always coincide with the timeline needed. Hard to find coaches to put in the time although the real work should have been done at home IMO. I 100% believe that the text was sent as described. I've known a girl who took batting lessons for a year before she could hit a ball. That girl wouldn't be denied and is now one of the best hitters on her team. I had faith in her work ethic to get better and it is nice to see a girl turned away make a change for the better.
I agree that 8YOA is too young to judge a child, but:
For a child to be "good" at anything, there has to be an "ecosystem" in the family to support the child's endeavor.
That is, the parents need to work with their child. If the parents aren't going to invest the time, the child will never be "good". It could be obvious at 8YOA that the parents are not going to work with the child on softball.
E.g., if a kid can't catch a ball at 8YOA, then the parents haven't spent the time and energy in teaching the child how to catch. If they haven't put in the time by by 8YOA, it is doubtful they will change and do it in the future.
This doesn't mean that the child lacks the physical skills...it is simply that the "softball ecosystem" in the family doesn't exist.
Softball/baseball is brutal about this...without parental time in the backyard playing pitch and catch, it is almost impossible for a child to become "good".
What I’ve witnessed is most of the little stars at 8 to 10 have either quit or no longer stand out when they get to HS. There's no way of knowing who can or can't play in the future at the age.
Interesting. I wonder if part of that is the fact that in MN kids have to play in their own association until 14U. My DDs both played on true TB teams (what we would call club teams in MN) when they were 10U and almost all of those girls were solid HS players and many are playing in college or will be next year when the youngest graduate. I was just looking at a photo of one of the little 10U teams the other day and I am still amazed at how many really good ball players were on that team.