Travel Ball inquiry response vibe

bmakj said:

I guess I misunderstood, tennis balls are mostly for developing soft hands, not mechanics of fielding grounder as you describe (although I think they can be useful for teaching them to get all the way under a pop fly, catching above their shoulders, as well as teaching them to squeeze). although he might just be trying to develop the mechanics using something the girls are not afraid of, get the habits ingrained, ie.

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I agree about popups and using tennis balls. Tennis balls are even good for teaching how to catch at an early age. However IMO developing "soft hands" are really about mechanics, e.g. catch it out front and funneling it back to your chest area ie thinking about receiving it vs. going and getting it. Lots of other things involved in good fielding, footwork being at the top of the list. The footwork aspect is really hard to teach, other than getting them to have their momentum going to first base as they are catching it e.g. trying to get to the right of the ball and fielding it under their left eye. The hard part is having them adjust their feet so that they get a long or short hop if at all possible. I don't remember anybody ever teaching me that I think it may just come with experience. DD isn't there yet regarding that but a few million more buckets of grounders and maybe she will get there

Good luck and I hope it works out. Love watching the little ones like that coming up and learning.

"His practice was organized. It was fairly obvious he hadn't played past LL himself (which is ok) but had picked some stuff over the years while coaching his daughter and/or just watching practices and looking online"

do not get hung up on how much playing experience a coach has had. I am finding out first hand that a pedigree as a player does not necessarily mean a good coach. coaching at the younger ages involves a great deal more:

-understanding the players you have, where they are, what they need
-keeping it fun
-not overloading the players (imagine trying to drink from a firehose)
-fundamentals, keeping it simple (get a good handle on fielding/catching/throwing, before a lot of situational stuff. knowing how to handle a particular play is useless if you cannot execute it.)
-observing and knowing what priorities are to work on

bmakj said:

"His practice was organized. It was fairly obvious he hadn't played past LL himself (which is ok) but had picked some stuff over the years while coaching his daughter and/or just watching practices and looking online"

do not get hung up on how much playing experience a coach has had. I am finding out first hand that a pedigree as a player does not necessarily mean a good coach. coaching at the younger ages involves a great deal more:

-understanding the players you have, where they are, what they need
-keeping it fun
-not overloading the players (imagine trying to drink from a firehose)
-fundamentals, keeping it simple (get a good handle on fielding/catching/throwing, before a lot of situational stuff. knowing how to handle a particular play is useless if you cannot execute it.)
-observing and knowing what priorities are to work on

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Thanks. Not hung up which is why I said it was ok it was just an observation.

Another practice tonight..hoping for more players to show up. There is also an open tryout for another team looking for 09's next Monday which I might
have her go to if she wants to. If nothing else she will get the experience of going to a tryout.

Practice update from last night:

8 08's/09's at practice last night and 1 07' The 07 is the only player with pitching experience
and she already plays with a larger organization which will obviously have her whenever they need her.
The 07 threw live BP to the kids and I would
say she was only in the mid 40's which probably isn't that great even for a 10 year old. Anyway, point being I am
not sure they can count on her being there for every tourney or even most.

The guy also asked me to pitch to the girls so I threw front toss both straight underhand and windmill on the side at angle to field
at the same time the coach threw bloop front toss on the diamond and later the 07' There were not any kids in
the field so I didn't say anything regarding the danger of that but I was right
in the line of fire for anybody late on the ball on the diamond and I usually use a pitching screen with my daughter anyway.
They had one so I moved in front of me and the guy asked me why I was using that. He said he had
been hit when pitching slow pitch to big guys and it didn't bother him. I asked him if he had been hit
in the head and said no..I left it at that. He also asked me if I wanted to catch that girl when she was pitching
to the kids to "see how fast she was.." I was like, no catching gear no catching thanks. I told him getting
hit wasn't worth showing how manly I could be..


After practice I mentioned to the guy, as nicely as possible, that I would be willing to go to a few more practices but
if they didn't have the #'s needed to enter a tournament within the next couple of weeks we would have to keep looking.
At the moment I would said they about 5 or 6 girls who are committed to play with the team but
about 30 minutes after we left practice the whole team received a text saying that if everybody who was
at practice last night would commit to playing with them they could start entering tournaments. They wanted
a verbal commitment so that they "could buy uniforms and then they could start to enter tourneys"

The text also said they would be playing 10U tourneys
at the moment so that some of the girls who can't play 8U could play. Basically that 07' pitcher.
So at this point they have one kid who can pitch but can't play any 8U tournaments
and about 5 or 6 08/09's who it looks like are committed to play with the team. Two
of the kids who were they last night were there for the first time and one was a kid from my
DD's rec team whose dad was the manager on the rec team. In talking to him I am not
sure he is sold on the team. Regarding pitching, this team's manager's DD takes pitching lessons
but I have yet to see her throw and there is that girl from the first practice who I doubt could pitch in a game yet.
So even if they do have enough to enter 10U they will have 1 pitcher with any experience who or may not be able
to play because of her commitment to the other team. Not ideal IMO.

I don't fault the guy for wanting to see how many committed players he has but I think he is being
overly optimistic that he can enter 10U tourneys with 1 pitcher...If they can field a full team of 08/09's
(preferably with 10 kids) so they can enter 8U MP this summer/Fall and then work with the girls who want to pitch the rest of the summer/ Fall
that would be the best option IMO.

There are a few other options which I am looking at the moment and will play it by ear. Don't plan
on committing to this team until I am comfortable with the #'s including viable pitching options.

My text to manager this morning. Reasonable or not?

Coaches Name,

Good practice last night. Here is the situation I would be comfortable with before (DD's name)
fully commits to the team through at least the end of the year. At least 9 or preferably 10 or 11 08/09's at a practice so that the girls can play some 8U MP for the Summer/Fall while you develop or recruit 2 or 3 pitchers for next year. This is basically what the original post on the ****** forum stated with regards to how you planned on proceeding.

At the moment you can only enter 10U tournaments assuming everybody there last night commits and even at that you are at the whim of your 07 pitcher who is committed to another team already. Also she won't be able to pitch in 10U next year I believe hence it is important that you need to start to either develop a few pitchers from within or recruit some.

Until that situation occurs, e.g. 9 or (preferably) 10 /11 girls at practice, you can treat (DD's name)
as a pickup for the 10U tourneys if you can get at least 1, but preferably 2, additional pitchers with experience for each tournament either through pickup or getting 08's or 09's who are viable pitching options. I am not comfortable entering a 10U tournament with only 1 girl with any pitching experience.

Thank you.

Still practicing with that team. They signed up for an 8U tourney this weekend but only have 6 girls who can go so they will have to pick up at least 3...DD has a private tryout tonight for an organizational TB team so we will
see how that goes..

pattar said:

Still practicing with that team. They signed up for an 8U tourney this weekend but only have 6 girls who can go so they will have to pick up at least 3...DD has a private tryout tonight for an organizational TB team so we will
see how that goes..

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Coach invited her back for a second tryout next week with that team. Said everything looked "pretty good" but just wanted to see a couple more things before deciding. The fact that he is inviting her back before they have their open tryouts in a couple of weeks is a good sign I guess.

She also has another tryout with an 09 team (other team she tried out for was 08) which will play a mix of coach,kid and machine pitch through the spring. Not exactly what I was looking for as she has already played 2 years of MP but I have heard good things about the organization so I might be willing to back off on going straight to all kid pitch if I like what I see in the tryout.

Finally, she also is playing in a MP tournament this weekend with the team she has been practicing with. To be honest the team isn't very good so I am not expecting good results but hopefully my DD has a good time.

You’re clearly passionate about your daughter having the best experience possible and that’s great. I’d echo a previous comment about not becoming over invested and just enjoy it for a while. You said “The guy is super-positive about everything,”. There’s nothing more important at that age so if he can get enough payers I’d suggest sticking around. All you need to do is keep it fun so she wants to play again the following year. No reason to get stressed if she’s at SS or any other position.

Just an observation in your comment about playing only SS until college and not wanting the same thing happening to your DD. Don’t ever say or even think about college and a 7 yr old again.  I know you were speaking more in general terms of when she’s older, but at a quick glance it sounded pretty funny. FWIW there’s nothing she can be taught at this age, good or bad, that will having any bearing on her future development. Hopefully she has a long and prosperous career ahead of her.