Why are there even 7U or 8U tournaments or teams? Shouldn't they just be doing fun scrimmages or league games? What happened to Little League??
The argument is that it is expensive and you can get pretty much the same level of development at that age playing catch and wiffle ball with them everyday at home . Travel ball before the mechanism which delivers the ball to the plate is actually trying to get the batter out is silly imo. That said if you have money to burn knock yourself out..My DD plays 8u what you can call travel ball. They do have rec ball here where I live and they play 10-15 games in the spring. If your kid wants to play more than that you have to play travel ball. They practice 3 days a week and play 3 tournaments a month and she loves it. It is much better than sitting at home playing video games or looking at a tablet. You have kids that do other sports like gymnastics and dance that start much younger and practice much more. Not sure what the argument is against 7-8 year olds playing softball that couldn’t be made for any other age under about 14. There are some really good 8u teams I was surprised at how many plays some of these teams make in the field.
I would disagree that you can get the same level of development at home playing catch. I think no matter what age you are you need to play against people that are at your same level. Some of these teams will amaze you for there age. The last game DD played in had zero kids strike out the entire game and the score was 8-5. That was pretty amazing play in the field for a bunch of 7 year olds. I do agree however that compared to rec ball it would be considered expensive.The argument is that it is expensive and you can get pretty much the same level of development at that age playing catch and wiffle ball with them everyday at home . Travel ball before the mechanism which delivers the ball to the plate is actually trying to get the batter out is silly imo. That said if you have money to burn knock yourself out.
Yes I am sure I would be amazed. I also bet those amazing 7 YO work quite a bit at home in order to not strike out against their coach..I can hit my 7 YO DS more ground balls in 30 min at home than he would get in 3 TB practices. It also helps if you know something about fielding ground balls properly but even that isn’t all that important at 7 YO.Some of these teams will amaze you for there age.
Yes I am sure I would be amazed. I also bet those amazing 7 YO work quite a bit at home in order to not strike out against their coach..I can hit my 7 YO DS more ground balls in 30 min at home than he would get in 3 TB practices. It also helps if you know something about fielding ground balls properly but even that isn’t all that important at 7 YO.
Whatever additional development (which I will still argue is minimal at best..) they get with Patty Gasso style TB practices at 7 YO won’t mean a hill of beans by the time they are 16.
IMO play TB when kid pitch starts if rec ball doesn’t provide what your kid needs to continue to enjoy playing and developing. No need to start the meat grinder that is TB before the kid needs it..
I wonder how much these girls practiced...