8u Transition to 10u

[Razor011]

I'm a little late to the party on this one, but I am/was facing almost the exact same situation. 2/3 of my 8U rec team has to move to 10U in the spring. Most of those girls just started playing softball this season and only one is really ready to move up - the others would be better served playing another season in 8U. Now, my girls that are still eligible for 8U are more ready for 10U than the others. In fact, my 8U girls were my starting infield. I knew way back in August that I'd have a difficult decision to make about moving everyone up to 10U or splitting the team.

I hated to break up the team because we had good chemistry, but I decided to split the team for a number of reasons. Although we went 11-5 and came in 2nd place, my 8U girls have a lot of room for improvement in 8U. I'll utilize the spring season to further develop fielding (emphasis on fly balls), hitting mechanics, knowledge of the game and start to develop pitchers so they'll be ready when we move to 10U, hopefully in the fall.

I made the decision to stay in 8U because I think the 8U game is more fun for girls this age. In our league, the girls hit coach pitching really well and the game moves pretty fast. In 10U, we have modified player pitch. Although there are no walks, the player pitching isn't great and there are a LOT of balls thrown. The game is a lot slower and less exciting for my ADD girls to focus.

I'll be sure to revive this thread in mid-spring to let everyone know if I made the right decision or the wrong decision.

Yes, please do! We don’t have the option of a modified player pitch. And I really dread the pace change of the game! What’s funny is every parent that has older siblings that also play is against it. A final decision hasn’t been made here yet either. We regroup after the new year, I’ll update as well!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Mike_Dyer]

Have your kid play with kids who are at her level.

If that means "playing up" then play up.

If you do have her playing up there will come a day when you'll want to pull back on allowing her to run off and spending the night and all that with the kids on her team.

They are just at different stations in life.

But, by all means, if she can do it you need to go ahead and let her.

 

[Razor011]

Have your kid play with kids who are at her level.

If that means "playing up" then play up.

If you do have her playing up there will come a day when you'll want to pull back on allowing her to run off and spending the night and all that with the kids on her team.

They are just at different stations in life.

But, by all means, if she can do it you need to go ahead and let her.

Lol, i don’t think they can do it, not yet anyways. Coach does though. And it’s not the parents trying to be Debbie downers. We just see some areas that need further development before going to new rules, bigger players, etc. We’ll see what happens....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[uncdrew]

Perhaps a little harsh, but coach pitch isn't softball.

I was eager to move on from coach pitch ASAP, as that's really just batting practice with fielders. There are many 10U teams that can pitch well and give you competition. The part that might be harder is your team's pitching. Our coach, when the girls were 8, asked the families and girls who wanted to pitch and then set up weekly group lessons. We had 4 girls and they all improved quickly and we were competitive at 9 year olds in 10U tournaments.

Get on to real softball. You'll love it.

 

[CloudofDust]

Perhaps a little harsh, but coach pitch isn't softball.

I was eager to move on from coach pitch ASAP, as that's really just batting practice with fielders. There are many 10U teams that can pitch well and give you competition. The part that might be harder is your team's pitching. Our coach, when the girls were 8, asked the families and girls who wanted to pitch and then set up weekly group lessons. We had 4 girls and they all improved quickly and we were competitive at 9 year olds in 10U tournaments.

Get on to real softball. You'll love it.

Maybe in your area...in mine travel ball is stealing all the talent, especially pitching and catching. This is rec ball and our league doesn't allow select players to play in the rec league.
We have no girls anywhere close to being ready to pitch, so I'd rather spend next season developing my players to get ready for 10U than standing around watching kid pitchers walk in 5 runs every inning. That's not softball either.

When my older daughter played in 10U, they actually had good pitchers and then the league disallowed it and they all left for select teams. A lot has changed in 5 years.

 

[uncdrew]

Sounds like a lousy situation.

Again, start getting your pitchers selected and working on pitching. Move to travel ASAP.