Am I right or wrong here?

[Snotbubbles]

Keep telling yourself that. All the players who we knew who were on teams doing that sort of schedule in 10U when we were in that age group are now all gone from the sport by the time we hit 2nd-year 14U. The few remaining are still mainly doing it for their parents and hate the game and it is not going to end well.

There are 2 exceptions. They are 2 of the very best of the absolute best and are total softball beasts and probably would have been no matter what happened in 10U. But that is 2 out of maybe 90 or 100 girls. The odds it is REALLY your DD are not good.

How do you know if a kid is the exception to your rule?

 

[MNDad]

The kids love it. It's more of a grind for the parents.

EDIT: And we don't go every weekend, but probably 3x a month. We're doing some indoor tournaments this year in the Pocono's.

To play 20 tourneys from mid-march through end of July you’d ned to play every weekend. Three tourneys a month at 10U is still a lot. If your coach wants 100 games, does he also play a summer league? Kids need reps, but most of their development takes place practicing or training. That many games is counterproductive, especially for a pitcher.

 

[MNDad]

At 10U there are no exceptions. Her long term development won’t be stunted or improved from anything you do. The only thing that matters is keeping it fun so she wants to come back next season. If she’s still a phenom at 14U consider specializing in softball. Prior to that let them be kids and experience a variety of sports.

 

[marriard]

How do you know if a kid is the exception to your rule?

You don't. And you most likely wont find out until it is too late. That is the point.


-----------------------------------
The real exceptions also don't need the massively intense schedule when they are young. They are going to play and succeed if they play 20 games or 200... or in some cases just rec until 14U (primarily because they are typically awesome naturally at a lot of sports). And I have seen the exceptions give up as well - there is one in particular - she is a junior right now. All state softball short stop in our toughest high school class. Hasn't played a single play of travel softball since 12U - just plays high school. Will not play college ball.

I was absolutely on the verge of overdoing it with my DD. I was lucky - someone I trusted was very blunt with me. Without that I am certain my DD would not be playing today.

 

[grcsftbll]

We try to follow DD's lead. We do play about 3 weekends per month in the spring, 6 week or so break after the world series in July, and 2 to 3 weekends per month in September and October. If we're off sometimes we pick up. She loves tournaments. She loves practices. When we take breaks she spends hours throwing the tennis ball against the house or pitching at a net in the front yard. She may or may not burn out, I guess time will tell. She's enjoying it now, and so are we, so we just go with it.

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

 

[JAD]

Tournaments every weekend for 4+ months is crazy at 10U. Most kids won’t play that much until college.

At 10U we played @ every other weekend March - June so @ 8 tournaments. Most tournaments were two pool, double elimination, so we played at least 4 games/tournament and probably averaged 6. We did not start playing to the end of the July until we reached 14U and qualified for ASA Nationals.

 

[BT3100]

10U is tough. I am nearby in Montco, Snotbubbles. I'll never forget DDs first 10u tournament. We were with a local rec league and we formed a "travel team". We were definitely a "C" team. DD was one of 6-7 pitchers on the team. We pulled up to Twin Valley (Home of the PA Strikers). When the kids were all at the field our Head Coach (a great one!) told the girls to go with the Assistant coach and start warm ups.
He took all 13 sets of parents together and said the following "Parents, today we are going to watch our girls get beat badly. We will try to make this as fun as possible but it's going to be rough. Many of these teams have been together for years and have great pitching. I am going to let any girl who want to an opportunity to pitch today"
We all were a bit surprised until we saw the other teams warming up. They were crisp in their throws.. Sharp in fielding. We were in awe. We saw the girls pitching warm ups and my wife and I looked at each other and said almost in lock step "DD will never be this good"
That season DD was 9 and wanted nothing more than to pitch... we as parents thought she was the best pitcher, but the more we watched the more we realized that she was the worst.
That lit an indistinguishable fire in her soul. She loved to play for that coach but he wouldn't let her pitch. He put her in right field all season. She never stopped pitching and pushing.
Today only 1 other girl from that team pitches and DD, she is #1 or #2 on her team today and it's not a "C" team anymore. She's in the best organization in our area. It sounds like your DD is getting a raw deal, but this experience may be the moment that stokes that fire in her.
DD is now 13 and she was our first kid to go through the travel sports experience. Email me if you ever want to chat. We learned a ton in the last 5 years and are learning more each day.
Good Luck and I too recommend that your DD looks for a different team. Some good 10u programs out there!

 

[BT3100]

To add a bit about the number of games.
I think that 100 games is pretty aggressive for that age. Last season DD played in a total of 68 games and pitched in 41. We played in 12 tournaments, mostly pony.. some U trip and an ASA weekday league.
This season she is on an "A" level team that is planning to play in 13 tournaments and 2 nationals. Keep in mind that at least 2-3 will get rained out but that's 15 weekends from May till the end of July. That's a ton of softball but not 100 games worth (Figure most are 4 game guarantees that gets you to 60). Also I don't remember Pony States being an 8 game guarantee. For the last 3 years I remember it being a 4 game guarantee. Good Luck and try to avoid those Pocono Dome tournaments. They tend to be a money grab and usually aren't well run.

 

[Snotbubbles]

To add a bit about the number of games.
I think that 100 games is pretty aggressive for that age. Last season DD played in a total of 68 games and pitched in 41. We played in 12 tournaments, mostly pony.. some U trip and an ASA weekday league.
This season she is on an "A" level team that is planning to play in 13 tournaments and 2 nationals. Keep in mind that at least 2-3 will get rained out but that's 15 weekends from May till the end of July. That's a ton of softball but not 100 games worth (Figure most are 4 game guarantees that gets you to 60). Also I don't remember Pony States being an 8 game guarantee. For the last 3 years I remember it being a 4 game guarantee. Good Luck and try to avoid those Pocono Dome tournaments. They tend to be a money grab and usually aren't well run.

This looks like the schedule DD is doing. Mostly PONY and ASA with a few USSSA. One indoor tournament in February, then 4 tournaments in April, 3 in May (Memorial Day 8GG tournament), 3 in June, July is PA State tournament (not sure if PONY or ASA) and Pony Nationals in Virginia. So DD is looking at ~65GG, plus whatever additional games they'll play in bracket play. Will probably fall short of the 100 games the coach wants to do.

 

[WARRIORMIKE]

Damn, I can't believe this thread went 10 pages. Slow time for softball.


Lets make it 11 pages!!