Hitting during practice

HasBeenorNeverWas · Sep 11, 2018

Thank you all for your responses!! I appreciate all the insight. I have begged the girls to try and get their parents outside working with them, but not sure that is happening with most of them. Only 1 is taking my advice and going to hitting lessons and I have 3 in pitching lessons. We are a very inexperienced rec ball team trying to move up to travel ball.

Eric F · Sep 11, 2018

ambern11 said:
Thank you all for your responses!! I appreciate all the insight. I have begged the girls to try and get their parents outside working with them, but not sure that is happening with most of them. Only 1 is taking my advice and going to hitting lessons and I have 3 in pitching lessons. We are a very inexperienced rec ball team trying to move up to travel ball.

I would suggest that two 2-hour practices per week isn't enough time on the field for a team playing at the TB level. For a rec league team playing against other rec league teams, it's probably more than most teams are doing. For a team intending to complete against a higher level of competition full-time, it's not enough. ESPECIALLY if there is not outside work happening.

When my DD made the move to TB in her second year of 10U, the biggest shock to the system was the 4 hour field practices on Saturdays (plus and additional 30 minutes at the start for Ps and Cs, my DD being a C). We also did team hitting sessions on Tuesday nights (team split into 2 groups - early and late - rotating through stations), and a 2+ hour field session on Thursday nights. In addition, every player was working on their own at least one additional day (private instruction or with a parent). Sunday was game day. Usually 3 games, but sometimes 4. Tournaments changed the weekend schedule, but not the weekdays. This was our schedule through 12U. Last year, starting 14U, we changed teams, and the only team events were on the weekends. Players were expected to work on their own. Those who don't do the work get passed up by those that do, and players lose their spot. Positions are not earned by showing up to practice and paying your team dues. Positions are earned by demonstrating to the coaches that they are the best player for that position. There is no guarantee of equal playing time (this can be a hard pill to swallow for a lot of parents new to TB). The upside is that all that work builds a damn good ballplayer (if the coaching is decent), but the ONLY way to get good is to do the work. There are no shortcuts.

There are players who don't want to work that long and hard, and pursue the goal of becoming the best player they can be. Travel ball is not for those players. There are parents that don't want to commit that much time and effort...and money. Travel ball is not for those parents.

canyonjoe · Sep 11, 2018

There is some great advice here but if you really want to improve use the upcoming off season(if you have one) and try and work indoors. A place with multiple cages allows you to get a lot of hitting done in a short period of time. Develop some hitting stations that keep them moving and give yourself some time to work with individuals who have major flaws. Work on hitting to all fields,etc. I'm not saying you can do this outdoors, but this can have you come out of the gate strong in the spring.

HasBeenorNeverWas · Sep 11, 2018

Eric F said:
I would suggest that two 2-hour practices per week isn't enough time on the field for a team playing at the TB level. For a rec league team playing against other rec league teams, it's probably more than most teams are doing. For a team intending to complete against a higher level of competition full-time, it's not enough. ESPECIALLY if there is not outside work happening.

When my DD made the move to TB in her second year of 10U, the biggest shock to the system was the 4 hour field practices on Saturdays (plus and additional 30 minutes at the start for Ps and Cs, my DD being a C). We also did team hitting sessions on Tuesday nights (team split into 2 groups - early and late - rotating through stations), and a 2+ hour field session on Thursday nights. In addition, every player was working on their own at least one additional day (private instruction or with a parent). Sunday was game day. Usually 3 games, but sometimes 4. Tournaments changed the weekend schedule, but not the weekdays. This was our schedule through 12U. Last year, starting 14U, we changed teams, and the only team events were on the weekends. Players were expected to work on their own. Those who don't do the work get passed up by those that do, and players lose their spot. Positions are not earned by showing up to practice and paying your team dues. Positions are earned by demonstrating to the coaches that they are the best player for that position. There is no guarantee of equal playing time (this can be a hard pill to swallow for a lot of parents new to TB). The upside is that all that work builds a damn good ballplayer (if the coaching is decent), but the ONLY way to get good is to do the work. There are no shortcuts.

There are players who don't want to work that long and hard, and pursue the goal of becoming the best player they can be. Travel ball is not for those players. There are parents that don't want to commit that much time and effort...and money. Travel ball is not for those parents.

I agree with a lot of this.....I guess I shouldn't really classify us as a "travel ball" team....I've classified us as a level C/Rec team and will just be playing in local tournaments to get a little more competition than our small town rec league. Definitely still feel like we need more than 2 practices a week...not sure I would be able to get people on board for that. We will see how long this lasts

Eric F · Sep 11, 2018

ambern11 said:
I agree with a lot of this.....I guess I shouldn't really classify us as a "travel ball" team....I've classified us as a level C/Rec team and will just be playing in local tournaments to get a little more competition than our small town rec league. Definitely still feel like we need more than 2 practices a week...not sure I would be able to get people on board for that. We will see how long this lasts

It sounds like we're talking about 2 pretty different scenarios. My DD is playing in the very competitive arena of So Cal "A" ball. It's relentless. Even in 10U.

Do what you can to encourage the players to want to work on their games at home, and encourage the parents to support it. Good luck!

HasBeenorNeverWas · Sep 11, 2018

Eric F said:
It sounds like we're talking about 2 pretty different scenarios. My DD is playing in the very competitive arena of So Cal "A" ball. It's relentless. Even in 10U.

Do what you can to encourage the players to want to work on their games at home, and encourage the parents to support it. Good luck!

Yes, I am sure we could find some tournaments like that here in So IL but, we're still working on learning how to catch lol

Eric F · Sep 11, 2018

ambern11 said:
Yes, I am sure we could find some tournaments like that here in So IL but, we're still working on learning how to catch lol

At the age you're talking about, one of the very biggest factors for development is simply reps - practice reps and game reps. If you can get your players excited about becoming better ballplayers, and get them to understand that becoming better means working hard on their game, you're moving in the right direction. With that in mind, always - ALWAYS - keep it fun.

CoachJD · Sep 11, 2018

Westwind said:
I’m curious what is telling about my comment... I don’t follow.

I say this not to pick a fight or accuse you of anything malicious, please know that.

But it demonstrates that you don't recognize your level of privilege. Private lessons are expensive. They often require a parent to be available at specific times to travel fairly long distances. I'm not saying a person has to be a millionaire to afford it, but it does require a certain economic status. And my comment only says that I think you assume more people have attained that status than is reality. The assumption is "this is what everyone is doing," but the reality is "this is what certain people like me are doing, and the advice may not be helpful for everybody else."

HOWEVER, if you didn't specifically mean that sort of lesson, then I am more in agreement with you. It absolutely requires work outside practice time to become good. And while private lessons are great, I don't think they're always necessary (I 100% believe that if you find the right hitting/pitching/fielding YouTube videos, come to DFP for questions, and just talk to local coaches you can develop a great young player without paying out the wazoo for lessons).

Again, I'm not trying to pick a fight, and I know the word "privilege" is loaded these days, but I do think it's an important element to consider here when giving advice on this board. What scares me most -- and I'm not saying you said, suggested, or implied this -- is that we're pricing out a large percentage of our kids, and I don't think that's a good thing (nor is it necessary to develop top-notch athletes).

Westwind · Sep 12, 2018

Well, I didn’t see that coming! You are correct. I assumed that the poster was probably talking about a young travel/club team. And I probably assumed some things that I shouldn’t have. Keep in mind there just isn’t much rec ball in my area. There is no junior high softball. If you want to play softball here, it is going to be high school and/or on a club team. (And when I say club team I mean as cheap as $450 to practice and play all year.)

I really wouldn’t say lessons are expensive where I live. I don’t know anywhere you could spend more than $35 for hitting or pitching.

Back when we were doing additional hitting it was only $10. We are very fortunate in my area, there are lots and lots of people giving “lessons” in actual businesses, their garages, their farm sheds that range from $15 to $35. They are everywhere. And most are quite good.

I do want to point this out: I spent a half hour typing out a post to try to help someone that was asking for help. I was once there myself. People here answered my questions and helped me. I was trying to do the same. I assumed some facts. I guess I should not have done that.

And I do mean work outside of practice. The kind of work you can do with a tee, a bucket of balls and a pitching screen of some kind. When my kids started playing, I already had what we country people call a machine shed. I put up a cage inside of that building and we can hit any time of year even in a Midwest winter. I truly enjoy it but I probably could have done the same thing with the local high school gym for free. IMHO, softball attracts a certain kind of player/parent. I’m not convinced it is solely economics. That’s a story for another day though.

If a 9u softball parent would ONLY 1)play catch with their kid, and 2) buy a damn dozen wiffle balls and throw them for their kid and 3) start reading DFP, they would never have to pay for a lesson. Good luck trying to get them to do it.

_MIA_ · Sep 12, 2018

Westwind said:
If a 9u softball parent would ONLY 1)play catch with their kid, and 2) buy a damn dozen wiffle balls and throw them for their kid and 3) start reading DFP, they would never have to pay for a lesson. Good luck trying to get them to do it.

TBH, if the kid is fairly athletic only doing 1 and 2 would be sufficient for the most part . A lot of us developed into decent ballplayers without the benefit of DFP

Edit: And yes, I know 3 was a bit tongue in cheek but honestly you will be surprised at how a fairly athletic kid will organize their body movements if given enough reps, even without instruction.
I had a number of friends growing up whose parents didn't do a dang thing with them and ended up playing HS baseball because of the copious amounts of wiffle ball, speed ball, etc they played
in the neighborhood.

Hitting during practice

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