10U Pitching distance & high performance bats

[RetiredCoach]

I have a hard time believing that a pitch hit back to the pitcher in 10U/35ft arrives much faster than at 14U/43ft. None the less as someone said tweak the ball not the bats or you will quickly lose players.

I do think it should be considered that 10U reflexes and skills are not nearly what they are (or should be) at 14U.

I agree that the best solution is tweaking the ball.

 

[Westwind]

I have a hard time believing that a pitch hit back to the pitcher in 10U/35ft arrives much faster than at 14U/43ft. None the less as someone said tweak the ball not the bats or you will quickly lose players.

I gotta disagree with you on that one. When dd moved up from 10's to 12's the first fall her good hitting team hit miserably with the 40' pitching distance. They were all getting around the ball and pulling everything.

Gotta figure a 10u pitcher throwing 48 or 50 is releasing the ball at 30' or so from a 35' rubber that ball looks pretty snappy. It gets back to the pitcher pretty quick as opposed to 43' rubber at 14's. 8' is a lot of difference.

 

[quincy]

Ball is smaller too.

 

[Eric F]

For that level of play, the expensive bat (or having each kid buy their own bat)is a deterrent to families signing up for softball in greater numbers. So find one bat with less performance and mandate that the entire league use it. Typically a bat under $100 will not have any of the high performance characteristics if not just going aluminum.

Sorry, OILF, but you are out of touch here. Rec leagues do not mandate that parents buy expensive composite bats for their young players. I see a LOT more sub-$50 bats in the rack during 8U-12U rec games than I see CFs, Makos, or Xenos. Bat cost is NOT an issue that is a "deterrent for families signing up for softball".

 

[riseball]

...It is also proven that kids are leaving softball in droves (Aspen study), and going to soccer, lacrosse, etc. So stay with what you got while the ship goes down or change.

The "Aspen Study" was an opinion piece, not a detailed analysis backed up with reliable data. You continue to cite it because it fits your chicken little narrative of softball. While seeing kids leave in droves may very well be your personal experience it is not happening everywhere and in many places the sport is growing. Maybe it is time to look in the mirror and ask yourself why it is happening to you? It may be that it is your ship that is sinking.

 

[xygent1]

imo and experience from what I have seen the last 4 years and why girls leave the game is #1 they start to key in on their specific sport whether it be softball, volleyball, basketball etc. with all sports becoming year around activities you honestly in most cases cannot be a multi sport kid these days if you want to play and compete at the level certain girls get too. of course you can play multi sports but for example and this is just in my experience we have 3 girls that play competitive volleyball which runs all year long pretty much anymore and are were very good players in both sports from 10u-14u but now I can totally see how they are starting to get left behind in skill in all aspects of the game of softball compared to the girls that have designated softball as their sport. so in saying that imo the reason you see girls leaving the sport is just simply they are picking a sport that they may be better at, and these are the ages that the girls that are going to be playing in hs and possibly college stay playing. now Im talking about competitive tb totally. not rec.

 

[Eric F]

We run clinics for rec orgs and rec kids try out for JV; we are near urban centers, and we have a lot of kids whose families lack money for sports. My coaches and I have adopted a team from an urban school.

And almost all of the parents, regardless of income, say that bat cost is an issue (among other costs for helmet, glove, etc.). You can think what you want but you have no right to deny my experiences. It is a solution to the problem. The reason parents don't like it (or feel pressured to buy expensive bats) is that the performance of those expensive bats is proven to be better. Who wants to send their kid out there against others who hit better than their kid does, just because of a bat? So they buy the bat (or don't try out).

It is also proven that kids are leaving softball in droves (Aspen study), and going to soccer, lacrosse, etc. So stay with what you got while the ship goes down or change.

You're right, OILF, I do not have the right to deny your experiences. My apologies. Based on your history on DFP, however, I do question some of the conclusions you draw from your experiences. It also appears that our experiences are vastly different.

I have been a parent, coach, and board member in a rec league for the past two years. Our league serves families with a wide range of financial backgrounds from very well off to those who are on scholarship for league fees and are using borrowed/donated equipment. If a girl wants to play, we find a way to make it happen. My experiences have centered mostly around the 8U and 10U age groups, but I hear plenty from the 12U and 14U parents and coaches, too. I am right in the thick of it pretty much every day. NOT ONCE have I heard that a parent's decision about having their kid play softball was related to their ability to buy a top-level bat (or any other gear), or felt their kid was at a significant disadvantage because of the bat they have. In the dugout, every kid is treated the same no matter what bat they swing. Thinking through the top 10 hitters in our current 10U program, there are 2 who use a top-level bat, and neither girl is at the top of the heap. Kids aren't hitting significantly better JUST because of their bat - proof again that the indian is much more important than the arrow. Also, in my experience, there is a very low percentage of parents who even understand that there is a difference between the green bat that Maddie swings and the blue bat that Sally swings, other than color and length.

If bat quality is a topic of discussion that is changing parents' decisions about whether or not their kid plays softball, I would be concerned about the environment, culture, and attitudes being portrayed by the league. The deterrent for me wouldn't be that I couldn't provide a top-level bat for my DD, but rather that my kid might be looked down upon or treated differently for not having the best equipment. If that's what is happening with the kids you see, then I'm VERY thankful that my experiences are vastly different than yours. Going to a league-mandated bat (or even a league-provided bat) would be a feeble attempt to fix a culture/attitude issue.

 

[Rocketech1]

OILF's agenda is that adult males and the cost of composite bats are killing the sport of fastptich. No sense in trying to convince her otherwise. I'm just happy my DD won't be playing high school soffball in the same state as her. I'm confident that the high school coaches by us don't live in her strange parallel universe.