Winter workouts: Start now or in January?

[Dusty]

My youngest dd's 12u team just finished their fall season and overall the team exeeded expectations, we were competetive in all our tournaments and won the last one.

Now that the season's over there are some parents agitating to get in the gym immediately and begin our winter workout program while others want to wait until January. The coach mentioned that begining winter workouts before January wasn't in the team budget and therefore not factored into dues but he's fine with starting earlier if everyone wants to pitch in for it.

I tend to be of the opinion that starting sooner isn't going to make much of a difference at this age and most kids would be better off starting a winter sport like basketball that will improve their cardio conditioning and give them a chance to forget about softball for awhile. Kids that want to improve swing, throwing or pitching mechanics can start immediately if they want to but can do so with private coaching that doesn't need to involve the whole team.

I'm curious what everyone's opinion is on this and what your team's experience has been with this scenario.

dusty

 

[PA SB Dad]

Do the PLAYERS want to keep going or is it the PARENTS that want to keep going? At 12U (and at any age really), I think the kids need a break and Nov/Dec is a good time to take the time off from softball. Individual players can continue private lessons if they are motivated, but what are you really trying to accomplish as a team between now and January? Will it REALLY make a difference when your first tournament isn't until April? How much team practice can you really do indoors (such as fly balls and cutoffs, base running, pick offs, bunt coverage, etc)? Unless it is a large facility, these team-oriented drills are hard to practice indoors. If all you're going to do is hit off a machine and take some ground balls, you are really not getting much value for the extra time and cost.

 

[jay]

good topic. i'll give you the three scenarios i can account for:

my 12U team's season ended July 31. took three weeks off and started fall. currently we are in the middle of a six week break. once we start Dec 5, it's on the rest of the year.

my 9 YO daughter's coach isn't taking any time off at all.

my good buddie's 9 YO dd finished in july and is off until the start of the new year.

I'm a huge fan of taking a break. while i don't want to because we have too much to do, i know it's healthy to miss things and come back re-energized. some of my parents and players are itching to get rolling as we're in the middle of this 6 week break. i'd rather have them complaining to get going than complaining they want to stop...the latter is deadly and sometimes not fixable.

 

[Bugoozi]

We live in Michigan and my dd's 11u team moved indoors at the end of October. I personally think that the girls are improving with the indoor practice. We have a 3 hour practice on a Friday followed by a 1 1/2 hour batting practice on Sunday afternoon. I have noticed improvement in both the fielding practice and hitting. These practices are mandatory unless they conflict with a winter sport or school activity. We play in an indoor league beginning in January so the coach wants the girls ready for that.

 

[Momo'sDad]

As a parent, DD's mom is eager to keep going. As a coach, dad is thankful that this break has finally begun.

9yo DD could go either way. She loves playing softball, but it's been ingrained in her since she was younger that a balanced life is generally a good life and that she doesn't have to do something 350 days a year in order to excel at it. That's my parenting philosophy, however, which I don't expect everyone to agree with. She's excited to play basketball for the 1st time.

We need to talk more about when she'll stop her pitching lessons for a little while and also about when she'll resume hitting lessons. As for the team and our league, the plan is to offer a few optional weekend workouts between December and mid-February, but none have been scheduled yet. So, even the kids who played winterball will get no less than 4-6 weeks off if they choose to participate. A little over 20% of our league participated in rec winterball and over 25% were playing if you count those who departed rec after the summer to join TB teams.

I don't see anything wrong with doing things to keep the skills sharp, but winter workouts should be relaxing and infrequent at the 10u and 12u levels. There's something to be said for allowing the hunger to grow a bit.

 

[CoachAl]

take a break!

every team is different, but I am a believer that no sport should (especially for younger kids) be nonstop year around with no break. i realize that is against the norm these days though.

as others have said, pitchers will continue their pitching lessons. those taking hitting lessons will continue that, but November and December off is a very good idea in my opinion. it prevents burnout, provides time for girls that play other sports and it also creates a certain energy and excitement when you crank things back up again....the players are very excited to see each other again and get back to work in Jan! it's also a great time for coaches to set goals, improve their skills, etc.

 

[Quake Softball]

I think a break is a good thing. We played fall ball and are still practicing right now. Next Sunday will be our last team practice until Jan 8th. Hitting and Pitching will continue but that is it.

 

[Coach JV]

Take off until January, let the kids be kids thru the holidays

 

[rdbass]

I believe if your pitcher you need to keep practicing.Take in consideration for age and DD desire.Also work on hitting a few times a week.Our team is taking a few weeks off for basketball tryouts and bb practice.Will start back up indoor in Dec.Once a week.DD and myself keep practicing pitching 2x a week and hitting in the garage every other day atleast 1 hr. When indoor starts keep your ears and eyes open make sure your DD is getting good instruction. Don't make the mistake that we made when my DD was on her travel ball team last year parents manned the hitting stations.10 different hitting opinions.Girls were just hacking away learned some bat habits.As a result had a bad season.

 

[RichK]

We are trying something new this year. We played our last tournament end of October. We are giving them off from team practices until Jan 1.

But...we are offering half-hour weekly slots for "private" one-on-one hitting lessons. Turns out to be six weeks. This is optional but encouraged, most of the girls are excited about it. For them it's a half an hour a week and can set a great foundation for January and beyond. For me/us as coaches, it's a bigger commitment, but I'm just as excited about what it can do for us.

My own DDs became hitters going to private hitting coaches. At this point I feel comfortable I can do just as good a job as coaches costing $40 and more per half hour. I've also learned after trying and trying that you can't really do one-on-one work within a typical team practice environment, even during the off-season.

We'll see how this goes : >