My dd is 8 years old. She is currently playing fall ball but this past spring season I started noticing her slacking. Not hustling, not paying attention and just dogging it. When we work out at home she does great. Hustles, charges ground ball, pays attention. Works on the things she does wrong. Just all around better player. When we go to our practices with the team she reverts back to no hustle, not paying attention and dogging it. When she's on she pretty good. I'm just not sure what to do. I've asked her if she likes softball and wants to continue playing and she assures me she does. I'm her coach and I push her pretty hard. Its just frustrating because I know what she is capable of but its just not translating to the field. She has all the physical tools and proper fundamentals. Just not utilizing them. Help
8 year old DD advice
- Thread starter catmaster
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A couple things come to mind...
1) It's been my experience that parent coaches are either over critical of their DD, or see everything she does through rose colored glasses. Get a second opinion of what she's doing in practice.
2) Is she on a team that have players better than her? Meaning, is she being pushed?
3) Review your practices. Are they geared toward 8u? Are they fun? Do you break things up? You aren't going to get extended concentration at that age.
3) She's 8. Please remember that. That doesn't give her a free ride to loaf around all the time, but we're not talking about 14u here either.
4) As my DD got better and older, I reached a point that I no longer wanted to coach my DD. We spend so much time working at home, she needed someone else to work her at practice. It's certainly been a positive for both of us, but each case will differ.
Good luck.
1) It's been my experience that parent coaches are either over critical of their DD, or see everything she does through rose colored glasses. Get a second opinion of what she's doing in practice.
2) Is she on a team that have players better than her? Meaning, is she being pushed?
3) Review your practices. Are they geared toward 8u? Are they fun? Do you break things up? You aren't going to get extended concentration at that age.
3) She's 8. Please remember that. That doesn't give her a free ride to loaf around all the time, but we're not talking about 14u here either.
4) As my DD got better and older, I reached a point that I no longer wanted to coach my DD. We spend so much time working at home, she needed someone else to work her at practice. It's certainly been a positive for both of us, but each case will differ.
Good luck.
JJsqueeze
Dad, Husband....legend
She is 8. All you can and should do right now is help her build a love of the game, if she loves the game she will want to be better at it, if she wants to be better she will hustle more. I have two daughters, one who hustles and one who doesn't, I have talked till I am blue in the face about hustle and now she is 12 and she still doesn't hustle the way I would like, but then I just have to realize that she is different than me, she does not go out for blood all the time, she does not take it as a personal offense if she is slower than another kid and has no desire to be the best player on a team. Her sister is the opposite, she watches girls in front of her in drills like a hawk and plans how she can be quicker/stronger/better than teammates on every drill. Both are good players, one is just more competitive than the other and views each drill like a playground game that she wants to win.
With time maybe your DD will get after it more, but even if she doesn't, it is not the end of the world. I do know that parental reminding to hustle is about as effective as parental reminders to clean a room.
With time maybe your DD will get after it more, but even if she doesn't, it is not the end of the world. I do know that parental reminding to hustle is about as effective as parental reminders to clean a room.
Hey thanks for the advice. Its always good to here how other people would handle things. I know I'm hard on her and always try to get the best from her but guess I need to change my approach. I may have to accept the fact that she's not a competitive person. She has a lot of potential if I could get her to bring it.
Are the players standing around at practice or are you keeping them consistently busy?
Kids only like to play if the game is fun.
A lot of the talented girls in this area quit at some point, usually in HS, because the game just wasn't fun anymore.
A lot of the talented girls in this area quit at some point, usually in HS, because the game just wasn't fun anymore.
I'm defiantly harder on her than other girls I coach. Mainly because I know what she can do. She brings it at home. She just doesn't bring to the field. We keeps our practices moving. The girls are always rotating and moving to different lines and drills. We try not to give them much down time. I've asked her about me coaching her and she keeps telling me she wants me to coach her. JJsqueeze's post kind of sounds like my daughter. Maybe she's just not competitive. I know she's young and I will continue to encourage her. I had a long talk with her about bringing it in practice and games. Just like she does at home. We have practice this evening. I wil see if it helped any and report back. Thanks
- Aug 15, 2014
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My question is, does she have off time from the game ?
When have you and her did something not related to softball ?
Taking a break is a good thing for them, continous practice may be getting her worn out ?
Just my thoughts
I am sure she would come back with more fire with some time off
When have you and her did something not related to softball ?
Taking a break is a good thing for them, continous practice may be getting her worn out ?
Just my thoughts
I am sure she would come back with more fire with some time off
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