7U or 8U???

[Anthony Vertuccio]

Why are there even 7U or 8U tournaments or teams? Shouldn't they just be doing fun scrimmages or league games? What happened to Little League??

 

[Dabears17]

Good question. My league would have the 8u All-Star team play 4 tournaments between Memorial Day and the last weekend in June, then enjoy the rest of the summer. When I coached, I squeezed in 3 or 4 friendlies mid-week to get some more games in. Give them a taste of higher level ball, but don't burn them (or their parents) out.

Though, when my DD was 12, we did a B tournament in La Habra and they had 6u teams there that likely would of beaten Nor Cal 8u teams.

 

[lostcreek1]

My DD plays 8u what you can call travel ball. They do have rec ball here where I live and they play 10-15 games in the spring. If your kid wants to play more than that you have to play travel ball. They practice 3 days a week and play 3 tournaments a month and she loves it. It is much better than sitting at home playing video games or looking at a tablet. You have kids that do other sports like gymnastics and dance that start much younger and practice much more. Not sure what the argument is against 7-8 year olds playing softball that couldn’t be made for any other age under about 14. There are some really good 8u teams I was surprised at how many plays some of these teams make in the field.

 

[Strike2]

You can play on a league team, or you can play on one that does tournaments. Some do both. Your choice.

 

[_MIA_]

My DD plays 8u what you can call travel ball. They do have rec ball here where I live and they play 10-15 games in the spring. If your kid wants to play more than that you have to play travel ball. They practice 3 days a week and play 3 tournaments a month and she loves it. It is much better than sitting at home playing video games or looking at a tablet. You have kids that do other sports like gymnastics and dance that start much younger and practice much more. Not sure what the argument is against 7-8 year olds playing softball that couldn’t be made for any other age under about 14. There are some really good 8u teams I was surprised at how many plays some of these teams make in the field.

The argument is that it is expensive and you can get pretty much the same level of development at that age playing catch and wiffle ball with them everyday at home . Travel ball before the mechanism which delivers the ball to the plate is actually trying to get the batter out is silly imo. That said if you have money to burn knock yourself out..

 

[Gambler Bob]

Our rec league offered an in house part time travel team for those that wanted to play more at 7u and 8u. The part time travel team practiced 1 x per week, in addition to what ever your rec team practiced. The 8u travel team would play some double headers against other local travel teams that were in a very similar situation. The rec league ended around Memorial Day. After the rec league was over the 8u travel team played in 3 tournaments over the course of the summer and practiced two x per week.

It was very cheap, if I remember correctly it cost about $400 to be on the part time travel team.

 

[lostcreek1]

The argument is that it is expensive and you can get pretty much the same level of development at that age playing catch and wiffle ball with them everyday at home . Travel ball before the mechanism which delivers the ball to the plate is actually trying to get the batter out is silly imo. That said if you have money to burn knock yourself out.

I would disagree that you can get the same level of development at home playing catch. I think no matter what age you are you need to play against people that are at your same level. Some of these teams will amaze you for there age. The last game DD played in had zero kids strike out the entire game and the score was 8-5. That was pretty amazing play in the field for a bunch of 7 year olds. I do agree however that compared to rec ball it would be considered expensive.

 

[_MIA_]

Some of these teams will amaze you for there age.

Yes I am sure I would be amazed. I also bet those amazing 7 YO work quite a bit at home in order to not strike out against their coach..I can hit my 7 YO DS more ground balls in 30 min at home than he would get in 3 TB practices. It also helps if you know something about fielding ground balls properly but even that isn’t all that important at 7 YO.

Whatever additional development (which I will still argue is minimal at best..) they get with Patty Gasso style TB practices at 7 YO won’t mean a hill of beans by the time they are 16.

IMO play TB when kid pitch starts if rec ball doesn’t provide what your kid needs to continue to enjoy playing and developing. No need to start the meat grinder that is TB before the kid needs it..

 

[Bonesaw]

Yes I am sure I would be amazed. I also bet those amazing 7 YO work quite a bit at home in order to not strike out against their coach..I can hit my 7 YO DS more ground balls in 30 min at home than he would get in 3 TB practices. It also helps if you know something about fielding ground balls properly but even that isn’t all that important at 7 YO.

Whatever additional development (which I will still argue is minimal at best..) they get with Patty Gasso style TB practices at 7 YO won’t mean a hill of beans by the time they are 16.

IMO play TB when kid pitch starts if rec ball doesn’t provide what your kid needs to continue to enjoy playing and developing. No need to start the meat grinder that is TB before the kid needs it..

I wonder how much these girls practiced...

 

[_MIA_]

I wonder how much these girls practiced...

Looks like kid pitch..either that or those Moms use some amazing anti-aging cream. Either way, I stand by my statement. Yeah they may learn situational stuff earlier but skills can be learned at home at a young age if a parent puts in the time.