Reality has sunk in for DD1

Lauren Haeger didn't start pitching until she was 13. She was a catcher.

We had a girl on our 12U team who moved away when she turned 13. She was a pretty good player but started toying around pitching. She will graduate this year and is going to pitch at a D1 school next year. I know others who played rec until they were 13 and now are likely to get some good looks over the next few years. The National team is a whole different story.

I can't tell you how many players have developed over the years at the age of 13 to the top collegiate levels. There are several reasons for this. For some, it was because they were late bloomers. For others, it was because they finally found knowledgeable, worthy coaches to teach them the proper fundamentals and push them. For even more, it was because they had the drive to succeed no matter what. Any combination of the above will usually get her to play at the collegiate level. A combination of all 3 with the proper exposure/familial marketing has the possibility of getting your DD her ultimate dream. It's never too late IMO. However, she needs to work her tail off to reach for the golden star...or at least the USA Olympic SB team.

ETA: Just look at Adam Rippon. 18 years of skating with numerous setbacks and on the third try he finally made the Men's Olympic skating team only to lay out an almost perfect session at the age of 28 which is old by most figure skating standards; not to mention so many more Olympic athlet's at the "older" athletic ages not only perservered, but won medals in their particular chosen sports.

I really encourage you to watch some D1 games that aren't on ESPN in June. Your daughter may never be good enough for Oklahoma (or she might!). But there's a whole wide world of D1 that ain't OU.

I think there were 295 D1 softball schools last year. That's a lot of schools! Try to find a MEAC or SWAC game (no offense to anybody who has a DD who plays in those conferences!). I think you'll see a pretty big difference between what you see with the SEC/Pac-12 schools and what you see with those. And, of course, there are some excellent schools on the lower end of D1 softball competition.

Verbose way of saying: Your daughter might be better than you think, and not all D1 is created equal.

Bob - if your daughter is the best player on her team (and she is determined to become a better ball player), you need to find a new team. Find one where she isn't the top player. That will push her in a direction she can see immediately. I really don't like the "A/B/C" labels on teams. Its so arbitrary & many coaches sandbag to bring home hardware. Find a very competitive team & give your DD an option to step up. Her teammates will be players with the same goals. Good luck!

Also, another question to ask is "why D1?" If she has good grades she's likely to get more money at D3 based on academics and merit than sports money at a D1. There are some tremendous D3 teams and a lot more D3 schools than D1. They also "usually" carry smaller rosters. So while they play fewer games, she may see more time on the field.

A lot can happen between 13 and 18. I have seen several 14B and 14C girls play college ball. One went to a top 25 D1 team. She was a late-bloomer who was batting 9th and playing RF in 12U. I know another player who was basically benched until she quit her 12U team and she is now a D1 pitcher. However, as others have said, D1 is not always all that it is cracked up to be. Softball becomes a job at that level. If you love the competition, can balance tha academics, and you LOVE softball it is perfect for you. If not, D3 can be a great way to be a student/athlete and get a little more of the typical college student experience.

pattar said:

We hit off the tee and I front toss wiffles (behind a bownet) in our garage. We have a 3 car garage but it could be done in a 2 car garage. You just have to be willing to withstand the constant banging of the wiffles against the garage door We also do some ground ball work as well. Only thing a person can do is work as hard as they to achieve their goals. If you do that, whatever the outcome, you will not have any regrets later in life.

Edit: Just saw your post about no basement/garage. Have her take dry swings somewhere in the house. When I was growing up in MA, we didn't have a basement and we had a 1 car garage with no room. When I wasn't playing hoop, I would take a 100 swings with a weighted bat and another 100 with my game bat. Not sure it did any good but at least I felt like I was doing something and confidence in your abilities is half the battle sometimes....

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On rainy days, I front toss my DD Anywhere Balls in our living room for hitting work. The ABs wont break windows or TVs...and sting a lot less than wiffles. She will do bare-hand receiving work with the ABs, too.

let it be fun said:

A lot can happen between 13 and 18. I have seen several 14B and 14C girls play college ball. One went to a top 25 D1 team. She was a late-bloomer who was batting 9th and playing RF in 12U. I know another player who was basically benched until she quit her 12U team and she is now a D1 pitcher. However, as others have said, D1 is not always all that it is cracked up to be. Softball becomes a job at that level. If you love the competition, can balance tha academics, and you LOVE softball it is perfect for you. If not, D3 can be a great way to be a student/athlete and get a little more of the typical college student experience.

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And there are many D2's that are the same way as long as you look for them and promote/market properly.

BB875 said:

Bob - if your daughter is the best player on her team (and she is determined to become a better ball player), you need to find a new team. Find one where she isn't the top player. That will push her in a direction she can see immediately. I really don't like the "A/B/C" labels on teams. Its so arbitrary & many coaches sandbag to bring home hardware. Find a very competitive team & give your DD an option to step up. Her teammates will be players with the same goals. Good luck!

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You said this better than I did above. You don’t have to be in an A team, but if she wants to play college, she needs to play in A level tournaments. Is it impossible to get to college not playing in these tourneys? Yes. But much more difficult.


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