The State of Softball with Sue Enquist (Jan. 15, 2015)

[dbronstein]

When I was a kid, all the boys in the neighborhood would get together just about every summer day and pop across the street to play baseball on the grass in front of the middle school. We played with a tennis ball, used trees and bushes for bases (and our gloves for 3B), the street was our outfield, and the house across the street was a homerun. When we didn't have enough for a game (and we'd play down to 3v3), we'd play pickle until we couldn't move. If there were only 2 of us, we'd just go play catch and talk about our favorite players/teams. The younger boys picked up the game from the older boys. This was in the 70's, so not exactly ancient history.

That kind of thing doesn't happen now, at least not where I live. Now we have to schedule "play dates" and try to fit it in between too many different sport schedules, music lessons, extracurriculars, and electronic devices. The only way for them to get the exposure they need to be better players is specialization, private instruction, and a little bit (or a lot) of tiger parenting. Someone else said kids don't have time to just play. I would say that they are not given that time by us parents.

It's a bit of a chicken-egg thing. My youth was similar - we'd go out and round up some kids and play. We didn't have sports and activities like the kids do now. We had soccer in the fall, and that was practice two afternoons and games on Sundays. There was basketball and wrestling in the winter. Baseball was in the spring and it was four or five days a week between practices and games, but the season was only two months. The top players made the travel team and they went maybe a month longer into the summer.

Today, even in rec leagues, seasons are longer, there are more activity days per week, and there are a lot more kids playing at competitive levels. The kids who want to just go out and play don't have anyone to play with, because they are all at practice or games or private instruciton or whatever other scheduled event.

 

[JJsqueeze]

I understand the point you are trying to make with better quality at the higher end. The issue is that at 9, 10, 11 and perhaps even 12 years old it is a little early in a child's development to be writing them off as a softball player. I have seen many girls who were considered not very good in their youth blossom into great players in high school. Have seen it the other way as well. Girls expected to dominate as little girls fizzle out. The more girls you keep active at a younger age the better for the sport IMHO.

That wasn't my point at all. My point was that the diamond sports are losing players to more fast paced games where there is more "action". It is a much larger trend than just girls playing softball at the young ages. BUT this loss of players is being counteracted to a large extent by a higher quality of player due to better coaching/technology. Think of it as a factory, if you do not have access to as much raw material but are more efficient in your manufacturing processes you can still keep up the same output. So instead of focusing on how many players are signing up at lower levels, the focus should be on the best possible instruction and experience for the players that do sign up.

 

[Jojo]

The other piece with pitching is that most girls give it up at 10 if they are just good, not great. We have a good set of travel teams in our area and most girls try out. I was talking to a kids father a few years ago. Our kids played together 10U rec ball. She was a year older than my kid. She was a good pitcher but the father told me that she was giving it up as she would "never" make a travel team as a pitcher and he wanted her to get better at OF. At that time she was better than my kid by a lot...
I saw him and his kid at our pitching practice facility last week. We said "wow your kid looks great". I was thinking to myself; imagine if you didn't give up on your kid, she would be a great pitcher. Sorry for the rant.

I had a very similar experience, I had 2 8yr olds sign up for pitching lessons at about the same time. They were back to back at lessons.
They both were doing really good, then one moved to another time for a few months and during that time she made a lot of improvement.
Then one day she went back to her old class and the mother of the other 8yr old saw her and said, "My, she has gotten really good!" "Why isn't mine that good yet?" She started going on and on how her kid must not be built to be a pitcher and no matter what I said about kids advancing at different levels, she just couldn't stand the fact this other kid was better than her DD, so she quit her DD right there.

 

[WinThemAll]

Maybe "actively engaged" is a better term to use there? And that is the issue in a nutshell.

When I was a kid, all the boys in the neighborhood would get together just about every summer day and pop across the street to play baseball on the grass in front of the middle school. We played with a tennis ball, used trees and bushes for bases (and our gloves for 3B), the street was our outfield, and the house across the street was a homerun. When we didn't have enough for a game (and we'd play down to 3v3), we'd play pickle until we couldn't move. If there were only 2 of us, we'd just go play catch and talk about our favorite players/teams. The younger boys picked up the game from the older boys. This was in the 70's, so not exactly ancient history.

That kind of thing doesn't happen now, at least not where I live. Now we have to schedule "play dates" and try to fit it in between too many different sport schedules, music lessons, extracurriculars, and electronic devices. The only way for them to get the exposure they need to be better players is specialization, private instruction, and a little bit (or a lot) of tiger parenting. Someone else said kids don't have time to just play. I would say that they are not given that time by us parents.

So how do I get my rec girls actively engaged in a sport that they only play during that sport's season, where the majority of the play time is spent standing around waiting for something to happen, where they are coached by a parent who had to be coerced into the job because no one wanted to do it (and if they did want to, didn't take the time to learn how to do it adequately), and then come to me at 12U not knowing how to slide or when to tag up (or even what "tagging up" means)? And then I'm supposed to take 8practices and 12 games and get my girls to love the sport?

I get the ideas of challenging them, making them think, and rewarding them for effort and accomplishment. Been doing that for years. 2 of my best players whom I've coached for 5 years now, and who love to play, couldn't come play fall ball for me because their folks made them play soccer. It felt very much like the parents viewed softball as a "filler" season and not as a future athletic path for their girls.

Someone else talked about the 3 sport athletes as a good thing. I guess I agree, as I played baseball, football, and ran track. But I didn't start playing football until I was already an athlete, where baseball was my passion from the time I was a kid. I think that it is hard to develop a passion for a sport if you're only playing it for a few months at a time and then moving to the next thing. Heck, my DD is more actively engaged with the stupid iPad I let her buy than with anything else, and she's a stellar, gifted musician.

Apologies for rambling - the above was very stream-of-consciousness. Feel free to ignore and move on.

I always wanted to do a "sand-lot league" no parents. . .just drop them off, pick a team and let them play.

 

[vikingcoach]

That wasn't my point at all. My point was that the diamond sports are losing players to more fast paced games where there is more "action". It is a much larger trend than just girls playing softball at the young ages. BUT this loss of players is being counteracted to a large extent by a higher quality of player due to better coaching/technology. Think of it as a factory, if you do not have access to as much raw material but are more efficient in your manufacturing processes you can still keep up the same output. So instead of focusing on how many players are signing up at lower levels, the focus should be on the best possible instruction and experience for the players that do sign up.

I understand and respect your point. We just differ in some opinions or beliefs.

 

[bucket pinata]

Not sure her pulling that kid had anything to do with the Kid. I would guess the parent got tired of spending the time and money and was looking for a excuse to quit for a while and took the out. Some of this trend might be that parents for what ever are not willing to spend the time, or effort as they did in the past. Not to mention the economic conditions we are still trying to dig out of.

I had a very similar experience, I had 2 8yr olds sign up for pitching lessons at about the same time. They were back to back at lessons.
They both were doing really good, then one moved to another time for a few months and during that time she made a lot of improvement.
Then one day she went back to her old class and the mother of the other 8yr old saw her and said, "My, she has gotten really good!" "Why isn't mine that good yet?" She started going on and on how her kid must not be built to be a pitcher and no matter what I said about kids advancing at different levels, she just couldn't stand the fact this other kid was better than her DD, so she quit her DD right there.

 

[spleen1015]

I'm willing to bet that the kid that improved was also pitching outside of lessons and the other wasn't. Just a guess, but from my own experience with DD and the other pitchers she plays with, the skill level goes hand in hand with the amount of time they spend practicing.

 

[Jojo]

Not sure her pulling that kid had anything to do with the Kid. I would guess the parent got tired of spending the time and money and was looking for a excuse to quit for a while and took the out. Some of this trend might be that parents for what ever are not willing to spend the time, or effort as they did in the past. Not to mention the economic conditions we are still trying to dig out of.

Parents can be very strange. I'm pretty sure she felt like if her kid wasn't going to the best pitcher out there at 9yrs old, then she wasn't going to spend the money or time.
Playing other positions doesn't require extra money or time, so she'd take her chances there.

I've had several other parents quit their kids early before, it's always hard to see it happen.

I had one quit her kid once because she wasn't firing bullets and strikes after the 2nd lesson.

 

[undergroundga]

Look at the bright side. Dwindling numbers means that there will more scholarships to go around!

 

[dbronstein]

Cost is a big factor as well. Someone mentioned how they thought $80 for a rec league was expensive. The rec league we are playing in this spring is over $300 for 10 games plus playoffs. The going rate for leagues around here for any sport is generally over $200 aside from the really laid back ones like the Y.