Weak team with great coaching

I have recognized that my daughter has to have someone to chase. If she is the best on the team she will settle into that role and not step on the gas. If she is not she will chase down the "best player" quickly and step up her game over and over again.
So if you DD is anything like mine, as "weaker team" can hold her back, no matter who the coach is.

We had this same situation this past season. We were a decent B team, coach was great and tried imparting a lot of knowledge on the girls. Some took it and some didn't. My DD ended up being one of the top girls as a first year 12U on a mixed 11/12 team. Went to tryouts on Tuesday for 12U and she wasn't impressed with the girls that were there. She made the decision the next day to try and play up on the 13U team her friends from 12U were moving up to. Her HC who is somehow coaching 12U, 13U, and 14U held her down in 12U even though she looked great. She knew she did good and was very disappointed she didn't get picked for 13U. That kind of put a chip on her shoulder, so we went to tryouts at a well known org this weekend to see if she could play A ball. She ended up getting offered a spot on an A team and couldn't be happier. Time will tell, but the coaches seem great so far and hopefully being surrounded by strong players will push her to improve.

Hawk_ said:

I have recognized that my daughter has to have someone to chase. If she is the best on the team she will settle into that role and not step on the gas. If she is not she will chase down the "best player" quickly and step up her game over and over again.

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Not discounting your observation but I am just curious as to what the above looks like in a 10 YO? Works harder in practice? Wants to work more outside of practice? More aggressive in the games? All of the above?

Unless you’re moving to another team with great coaching don’t even consider it.

My DD likes to be the best player on her team, but she raises her game to a new level when she is NOT the best player.

pattar said:

Not discounting your observation but I am just curious as to what the above looks like in a 10 YO? Works harder in practice? Wants to work more outside of practice? More aggressive in the games? All of the above?

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In my observations, it's all of the above. A player self-motivated to improve will work relentlessly.

pattar said:

Not discounting your observation but I am just curious as to what the above looks like in a 10 YO? Works harder in practice? Wants to work more outside of practice? More aggressive in the games? All of the above?

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It's mostly attitude honestly. Maybe it's natural progression but she seems to want to be the best, so she works harder in practices, more focused, applies coaching quicker. She has a strong drive to be the best, so if she sees someone working harder or hitting and fielding better than her she is more focused instead of it just being another practice. So much so that she is doing something softball related 30 mins a day everyday currently (on her own) because we had a very very advanced guest player last weekend. She saw a whole new level and she wants to be at that level. This is without me pushing her any.

Eric F said:

In my observations, it's all of the above. A player self-motivated to improve will work relentlessly.

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This exactly.