10u Travel advice opinions

[catmaster]

Canyonjoe. When she plays she is in leftfield. We didn't join this team for her to pitch. When we joined she was in her first month of pitching lessons. She has progressed very well and could really help some teams that are struggling at pitching. Now that she's progressed at pitching coach wont give her a chance even in practice. Which I am fine with that. Its really all about playing time period. I posted above how much she's played in the 3 tourneys. As far as her hitting she's struggling right now. Lost her confidence and being scared of the ball. She's starting to pull out of it but its been a slow process. I have startup 10u team that would take her now. That's why I posed the original questions. I don't want to be a jerk and just quit on a team.

 

[canyonjoe]

I seriously hope she find a situation where she can play and be happy. If I could do it over again with my 14 Year old I would make that the top priority.

 

[grcsftbll]

So she's not pitching at all, and all the time she gets to play is left field? I really don't think you're being a jerk if you find a better situation for her. It doesn't sound like they need her if she sits that much; find a team that does.

 

[Hawkeyes]

Similare situation with my DD. First year on this team

She started the year batting 11 (out of 11) and that is where she should be. She has worked her tail off and is not batting 6th and having a great year at the plate. OBP is over 500.
Prior to this season all she has done is pitch. She is #4 on this team and hasnt pitched an inning in 21 games. She continues to work hard and has spent more time practicing pitching than the 3 girls ahead of her. I think she can move into the 3 spot in the rotation. maybe not as the others are really good. She had no position in the field. We tried her in the outfield and it wasnt great. So we decided to try her at 1st. Side note - i am the AC on the team, thus the we statements. She busted her tail for the last 2 months learning 1st base. At the last tourney, the HC said its time. She played great, better than i ever imagined.

Started out the season as #11 with no place to play. Now playing 1st base and batting 6th. If she wasnt so slow she could be batting 1 or2. Unfortunately, has he dad's speed.

I would suggest to encourage her to keep working hard and do what's best for the team. have a great attitude and be a great teammate. Just make the most of every opportunity you are given.

Re-assess as the end of the season if you need to find a new team.

 

[Seattlecoach]

Hmm... Hawkeyes, I'm not sure if its the same situation. Batting 11th on a team that bats 11 is one thing but batting 11th on a team that bats 9 and rarely rotates you in is another. Agree to use it as motivation to work harder but not getting any playing time really isn't helping anyone.

I'd see if things pick up at all and at the very least try to pick up with these teams. If it really looks like she won't get to play for the rest of the year I would be honest with the coach and move on but if at all possible I would try to stick it out for the rest of the year.

 

[grcsftbll]

My 9 year old spent all fall busting her butt to earn her spot on our last team. She actually had the 6th or 7th highest OBP (went back and forth) and was the strongest first baseman on the team at the time. She was the #3 pitcher and typically pitched about a game per tournament. Our coach kept picking up players and benching her. Finally in Feb she realized what we'd already realized; she couldn't earn a spot. The coach didn't want her to play and she wasn't going to play. I'm not saying the OP's scenario is like ours - it sounds like she really could benefit from moving down a level. But it may be that on this particular team, his DD isn't going to be able to earn a spot. We're very much in favor of working hard - in some situations though, it won't make a difference, and at those times it's just better to cut your losses IMO, once you identify that that's the case. It's not like a #1 diva pitcher leaving her team in a lurch because she's mad about some sort of drama. We're talking about 10 year old not getting to play ball.

 

[GoCaboNow]

It seems pretty cut and dried.

She wants to pitch. Coach won't even let her pitch at practice, let alone games.
She wants to play but is seeing very spotty time in the field and at bat.
She is an 06 on an 05 team and, as was mentioned, they will be moving up in the fall and things will get a whole lot tighter when these 05's are playing 04,03's with a lot more growth and experience than the 05's and 06's they see now.

If she was demonstrably better at pitching than the two starters, it might be worth it to stay and eventually push your DD in front of the coach. My DD went through something similar last year as an 05 on an 04 team. If the 7 2004 pitchers ahead of her had been similar, or better, we would have had to move on to, most likely, a 2005 team to get circle time as the coach is not going to put a younger P ahead of the older ones unless she is obviously better - or she is the HC DD.

 

[catmaster]

Coach said he was going to try to get here more playing time. We have a 4gg tourney this weekend and 7gg tourney the following weekend. So we will at least play 11 games in the next 2 weeks. If things don't change over the next 2 tourneys we are done. DD has had a good attitude about it but she's ready for a opportunity to play. Its not like my DD is horrible and is a liability. She's solid player but she needs work. Heck they all need work at this age. We will see how it goes and decide from there. Thanks for all the advice and opinions.

 

[grcsftbll]

That sounds like a really reasonable course of action. Good luck! I hope she sees more playing time the next couple of weeks.

 

[Snotbubbles]

I'm running into Daddy Ball issues with my current team. We have 3 pitchers, HC's daughter is one of them. This weekend we played 4 games. HC daughter pitched 3 of the games, the other two pitchers split a game. That's just the pitching end, his batting order is HC DD#1, daughters friend, daughters friend, HC DD#2, everyone else. LOL!. Time to move on methinks.