Nature v. Nurture

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sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,133
113
Dallas, Texas
Hate to rain on everyone's parade:

Most kids who excel at this age because of physical maturity, not because of exceptional athletic ability. In a year, everything could be reversed, and your kid will be at the bottom of the stack. I've seen it happen many, many times.

E.g.: The reason little Janey at 12 can pitch better than Suzy is because Janey stopped growing at 5'. Suzy can't walk and chew gum at 12, because she is 5'10" and still growing, but will end up 6'3". Guess which one has the potential to be the college superstar?
 
Oct 23, 2009
967
0
Los Angeles
Hate to rain on everyone's parade:

Most kids who excel at this age because of physical maturity, not because of exceptional athletic ability. In a year, everything could be reversed, and your kid will be at the bottom of the stack. I've seen it happen many, many times.

E.g.: The reason little Janey at 12 can pitch better than Suzy is because Janey stopped growing at 5'. Suzy can't walk and chew gum at 12, because she is 5'10" and still growing, but will end up 6'3". Guess which one has the potential to be the college superstar?

I don't think exceptional athletic ability has much to with whether a girl will be a good softball player. Proper mechanics/technique, lots of practice, and passion for the game are key IMO.
 
Jan 6, 2009
165
0
Texas
I don't think exceptional athletic ability has much to with whether a girl will be a good softball player. Proper mechanics/technique, lots of practice, and passion for the game are key IMO.

Agreed. Proper mechanics/technique, lots of practice, and passion beat exceptional athletic ability. And raw love for the sport is what I appreciate the most. When a kid asks me, hey call up my hitting coach and see if he has room for me this evening, I get excited. Or I dont have much homework tonight, lets go some more, I could use another round on that pitch. Or 'kid, you need to make a choice this weekend, we have both pitching lessons and a pitching camp, which do you want to do?', and she says 'Can't we do both?'. This is after 8 years of pitching.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,133
113
Dallas, Texas
Well, I understand your point, it doesn't work that way. "Good", for me, is playing (not watching from the bench) college softball. All the kids love the game, practice and have good skills. The reason some kids end up on the field others end up watching is because of genetics.

Softball is an athletic sport--meaning that the level of success depends upon speed, strength and eye-hand coordination. Speed/strength/coordination can be enhanced by training, but the individual's peak performance at those tasks is limited by the person's genetics.

At the younger ages, kids with good skills stand out from the rest. As they get older, kids with poor skills quit. By 16YOA, all the kids have good skills. The differentiator becomes the inate speed/strength/coordination of the person involved.

That is why I preach to parents to "Enjoy the journey," because you won't know if the softball journey is going anywhere until the kids are no longer children.
 
Jan 6, 2009
165
0
Texas
>> "Good", for me, is playing (not watching from the bench) college softball. <<

Wow. I need to write this stuff down.

>> All the kids love the game, practice and have good skills. The reason some kids end up on the field others end up watching is because of genetics.<<

Oh really.

>> Softball is an athletic sport <<

Again, wow. You need to pass this stuff around.

>> By 16YOA, all the kids have good skills. <<

Well maybe after you have been around this game awhile, you may feel differently.
 
Oct 19, 2009
1,277
38
beyond the fences
Your 'quoted' statements come from the teammate who I agree, is not a good teammate. These are "all about me" statements, last time I checked, a dugout consisted of 10-12 players, not just the genetically perfect, but the role players that all coaches covet. I prefer to have 12 average girls with heart than a dugout full of girls with attitude, softball is a game a teammate should never take the fun out of the game. I won with an average team (like the badnews bears) I liked the girls, they in turn liked me. End result, they would have walked thru fire for me, it is a bond of respect and friendship. It is nice to have great athletes, not at the expense of chemistry.
 
Oct 19, 2009
639
0
Hate to rain on everyone's parade:

Most kids who excel at this age because of physical maturity, not because of exceptional athletic ability. In a year, everything could be reversed, and your kid will be at the bottom of the stack. I've seen it happen many, many times.

E.g.: The reason little Janey at 12 can pitch better than Suzy is because Janey stopped growing at 5'. Suzy can't walk and chew gum at 12, because she is 5'10" and still growing, but will end up 6'3". Guess which one has the potential to be the college superstar?

I couldn't disagree more. I've spent a lot of time coaching girls at the younger spectrum and had some dynamite kids regardless of physical maturity. The girl I was referring (my daughter) to is 40% percentile size for her age but has exceptional athletic ability (ie speed, coordination, live arm, etc). A lot of the big kids (not most) are uncoordinated and / or poorly coached. No real correlation between physical maturity and ability to play the game in my experience.
 
Sep 6, 2009
393
0
State of Confusion
Hate to rain on everyone's parade:

Most kids who excel at this age because of physical maturity, not because of exceptional athletic ability. In a year, everything could be reversed, and your kid will be at the bottom of the stack. I've seen it happen many, many times.

E.g.: The reason little Janey at 12 can pitch better than Suzy is because Janey stopped growing at 5'. Suzy can't walk and chew gum at 12, because she is 5'10" and still growing, but will end up 6'3". Guess which one has the potential to be the college superstar?

Some truth to it. But girls mature faster than boys, and are full height at about 13-14. The fastest to mature wont separate the college players from the rest , skills will.

Definitely for boys though, the best male athletes in high school are usually just the the boys that matured the fastest. Some are grown at 15, some wont be grown until early 20s. Thats why a lot of HS stars fizzle out, by the time they get to college the rest catch up. Also why some of the great professionals sat bench in HS,and why they will redshirt freshmen.
 
Sep 3, 2009
675
0
I couldn't disagree more. I've spent a lot of time coaching girls at the younger spectrum and had some dynamite kids regardless of physical maturity. The girl I was referring (my daughter) to is 40% percentile size for her age but has exceptional athletic ability (ie speed, coordination, live arm, etc). A lot of the big kids (not most) are uncoordinated and / or poorly coached. No real correlation between physical maturity and ability to play the game in my experience.

I agree with you 100%. The two fastest girls on my dd's team, are also the smallest in height and mass. They both have speed like a Jackal, and are prolific stealers. One is my dd. ;)
 
Oct 22, 2009
1,532
0
PA
Hate to rain on everyone's parade:

Most kids who excel at this age because of physical maturity, not because of exceptional athletic ability. In a year, everything could be reversed, and your kid will be at the bottom of the stack. I've seen it happen many, many times.

E.g.: The reason little Janey at 12 can pitch better than Suzy is because Janey stopped growing at 5'. Suzy can't walk and chew gum at 12, because she is 5'10" and still growing, but will end up 6'3". Guess which one has the potential to be the college superstar?

For those that have more time than common sense, I would suggest taking a look at Chapter 2 of SuperFreakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner for an interesting perspective on this issue. They point out that one factor makes a baseball player 800 times more likely to go on to play in the major leagues than the average person - a father that played in the major leagues. Is that nature or nurture? I vote more nature than anything else, though I would not discourage otherwise "normal" kids from working hard towards their goals.

In terms of physical maturity, consider in softball that the age cutoffs are December 31/January 1 of a particular year. Now consider that a 7 year old born on Jan 2 plays at the same level as one born Dec. 30. The one born earlier in the year (she is almost a full year older) will generally be more physically mature and the differences are much more pronounced at the younger ages. Combine that with greater athletic skill and at the younger ages you have a kid more likely to dominate. That becomes less of an issue as all the kids physically mature and catch up, but subtle differences remain based on what month of the year a child was born. Read the chapter - if nothing else it makes for some fun reading and quotable material.
 

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