10YR Old Ready To Shut-it Down

[Rocketech1]

I'm not big on the bolded part. I liked the rest of your post.

What is it about that quote that you don't like? With some colleges looking at and verballing 14U players, Eric F brings up a good point that some players may have the dream of playing in college some day, even at a young age.

Heck, my DD attended an overnight UCLA softball camp as a 9YO and had a great time with her softball friends and the college players were amazing with these young players, full of encouragement, etc. But I guess 10U softball is meaningless....

 

[wave_twister]

We cut back on practices (non-team) days and I just let her loaf around. No, not eat and do stupid crap but if she wanted to read a book or *gulp*...color...or anything kid related. I stopped scheduling in practices and let her more or less take the lead with asking to practice. We stopped showing up 1 hour before the 1 hour 30 min team warm up just for the sake of being "ready-er" and getting more reps. I stopped hovering over her (I too, coach) at games and hollaring adjustments. I let the other pitching coach take over despite our disagreements in styles.

There's a fine balance that we've learned between giving her the control to practice or not and me stepping in when she appeared to be out right lazy. But as a family we're happier, dd is happier, and her love for the sport has grown it appears. And from time to time, I generally approve of an all-out, let loose do nothing break for a couple days.

Don't get me wrong, I still apply pressure in other ways like limited time/reps to achieve a goal (locations, movement, etc). I still get upset, yell from time to time, etc. but it's gone down 90% over the months. But the general idea of when something "bad" happens, apply more, more, more till it's fixed needed to go. Or, if your dd doesn't already...I hate to suggest it but have her play another sport in her off time. DD just started tennis and really, really enjoys it - I do too because I cannot coach it. Plus it has some transfer over so I find that growing "athleticism" is my new angle and letting that athletic vibe seep into softball, not the other way around.

 

[Eric F]

I'm not big on the bolded part. I liked the rest of your post.

What don't you agree with?

For my DD, her goal (at the moment) is to play for the Oregon Ducks. Maybe she gets there, maybe not. Maybe her goal changes along the way. I'm fine with it, regardless. However, the road to her goal requires playing at a much higher level than is available in our local rec leagues. For her, 10U was also the time when she clearly outgrew the level of competition in rec ball, and wanted/needed to be somewhere that she could play with and against girls at her skill level and above. The switch from rec to TB was a pivotal moment in her softball journey in the game. There is still a lot of road ahead, but we had to come through the door to TB at some point if college ball is ever to become a reality. For my DD, 10U was a good time to make that move.

 

[CLM265]

Agree with you Eric as tons of girls start TB when they turn 10 and 11. Absolutely nothing wrong with going that route and if a kid has a goal let them go for it.

There have been really good pitchers that I know of that quite pitching because it was to stressful for them. So, who knows what the real reason this player wants to hang them up but sometimes young players need to step back a little and learn to love the game first much like your daughter has.

 

[MNDad]

I appreciate all the good post. some of the post are off subject. I am not wrapped up in 10U softball, well not anymore than anyone else on here. My point is she signed up to pitch for this team and now all of a sudden does not want to. I do not want to force her and take the fun away. I want her to fulfill her commitment and also enjoy doing so. Again thank you to all of the posts that understood the concern and provided great information.

She's not going to enjoy being forced to honor her commitment anymore than she'd enjoy outright being forced to pitch. It won't hurt her development to dial it back a little for fall ball. Short breaks often have a positive affect.

Is fall ball less formal than summer in your area? At 10U I've always viewed it as development and a chance for girls to play other positions. Maybe you have other girls who want to learn to pitch? I viewed the comment about 10U not meaning anything as wins and losses are secondary at this age. I'm sure it wasn't meant to be offensive.

 

[WinThemAll]

You cannot "win" a scholarship at 10U (12U), but you sure can lose one.

 

[29dad]

I viewed the comment about 10U not meaning anything as wins and losses are secondary at this age. I'm sure it wasn't meant to be offensive.

That's how I took it as well.

My advice to the OP is to scale things way back. Agree about the commitment, but if she needs a break she needs a break. I am sure you could decrease the practices and I seriously doubt it will effect her performance. And even if it does, if for example the team loses two more games than it would have if she had been "sharp," in the grand scheme of things those losses won't matter. Not sure where you are from but my dd has played ball in three different states and in each of them the Fall season was much more relaxed. Much less intense. A great time for the coach to try and develop another pitcher.

And finally, one last piece of advice from a dad who has been there - intense year round pitching at that age is a recipe for disaster. I can still see myself pushing my daughter at 11-12U, even when she was complaining about back pain, telling her that she had to tough it out. Eventually we got the double stress fracture MRI results. Needless to say I did not win Father of the Year. She NEEDS time off. At least two months of no pitching. Repetitive use injuries are no joke. There is a lot of data out there. So once Fall season is over I urge you to shut her down. I wish I had many years ago. Just my two cents. Best of luck to you and your dd.

 

[BT3100]

My wife and I were just talking about 10u last week.
We named the pitchers on DD's 10u team who pitched while she sat on the bench and watched.
Emily, Maddie, Rachel, Keri all pitched while DD rode the bench.
Last week DD made the same team at 14u that Maggie Balint played for. Those other pitchers who took time from DD at 10u?
Only 1 still pitches and she is lucky to get junk time on a weak "B" team.. DD is getting better each day.

When DD was in 10u it meant so much to me and my wife. Now we realize that Sluggers may be right. In the grand scheme of things it really matters little.

Here's a thought for OP... your DD is 10. Look at what most 10 year olds are into
They really are just kids!

Oh and to add...
DD's 10u coach asked her to tryout for his 14u team in early August. He hadn't seen her play in 2 years. He was so blown away that he made her an offer on the spot. That's not a brag, he has an okay team. It's just proof that people (him) think that a kids skills at 10u are an indication of their future ability. My DD is proof that they are not.

 

[TigerForty]

These 2 videos are 2 years apart, My DD had 5 months break about half way through this period because in her words " I just don't want to do it any more Daddio, I want to try something else". This journey what ever it is will always be what my DD chooses and where ever that takes her will be her choice and her choice alone NOT MINE. Yes I mentor her and educate her and give her sound advice that she can choose to take. She took a break and 5 months later asked me if I wanted to go for a throw, the rest is history and now every night she is waiting at the front door ready for training. What will be will be, she has to own this herself.

As far as committing to the team for the remainder of the season, good life lesson to stay and full fill her obligations just like we would face in many facets of life. again this has to be her choice to live and learn by.

GOODLUCK mate it's tuff one!

[video=youtube_share;Ya30KRR0j9c]http://youtu.be/Ya30KRR0j9c[/video]

 

[FP_Catcher_Dad]

My DD is a catcher. She started relatively late at 11 in 12U rec, and at 12 in 12U travel ball team. She loved the game instantly.

She has her goals as well. She would like to play for a college team. However, we are providing her guidance; academics come first. We are telling her that she should select a college for its academics and if they have a softball team that wants her, then so be it. We are not sure if in the end that is how things work, but it will be her decision.

Going back to 12U softball, the only thing I don't negotiate and I'm strict with my DD is her throw. She has a strong arm, but sometimes lead too much with the elbow and she ends up with pain. We had taken her to training, specifically for throw and arm care. So I sometimes have to remind her to practice her throw, especially when she is not doing anything productive (like watching silly girls in YouTube). The reason is because that is precisely what got me out of baseball when I was playing. I injured my arm, and I don't want the same to happen to her.

It is her choice, but as long as she wants to continue playing, she needs to do this right. She practice her throw every other day, and while there she might get some batting practice. Many times on her own... Sometimes I sent her a reminder. But if she doesn't want to practice, I don't "force her", but tell her the consequences of not getting the throw right (sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't).

I know that pitchers training is different than catchers, but practicing almost everyday seems a bit too much in my view. Your DD needs to recapture the love for the game, and the best way to do that is giving her the space imho. I'm not adding too much here than what had been said already.

The only experience I had with our DD not wanting to keep playing anymore was with rec 10u Soccer, she was 9. She came to us during the middle of her 2nd season and tell us... "I don't want to play anymore... I'm tired of running... Too much running in Soccer and I'm tired". We told her "OK, but you have to finish the season because you made a commitment". And she did.

After this, she took a long break (about 2 years) and then she found fastpitch softball.

Maybe your DD needs a break to recapture her love for softball, or find that other sport that she will really love.

Best of luck to both of you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk