Am I right or wrong here?

[Snotbubbles]

I agree that your DD should get some circle time, but I am 98.2% sure there is no way your DD will get enough circle time to make you happy, so the best thing you can do is find another team (more competitive, older age group) or start your own...

98.2% wrong. I don't view asking for 1-2 innings in a scrimmage as burdensome, especially when you played 8 innings and used a different pitcher every inning. I certainly don't feel like asking to pitch 3 innings in a league where you play 3 games on a Saturday (usually get 15-18 innings in) is asking too much either. I never asked for her to get a majority of the work. I just asked her to get some work as opposed to none.

At the end of the day, it's DD's decision to stay or go. While I have a long-term view of where I would like her to be, it's still her journey. She's only 10, right now she just wants to play with her friends. I don't want to take her away from that even if it means 6-8 months of stagnation (and I don't even know if it does mean stagnation).

 

[smddad]

Don't listen to the 6 games in loser bracket stuff. At a 16U tourney, we had a pitcher go down with injury, my #1
stepped up and threw 5 straight games to make it to the finals thru the loser bracket. I stand by my original advice:
Find a team whose coach has his head extracted from his posterior.

Sounds like the coach of your 16U team needs his head extracted from his posterior for letting a pitcher go 5 straight games. He cares more about a trophy than his pitcher's well-being.

 

[Jr10234]

We'll have to agree to disagree on this point. It's the coaches responsibility to develop ALL the players on his roster, not the majority, ALL.

Firs year 14u coaches told the parents "we are no longer going to hold back until all player catch up to the level of our 5 core (aka their DD's)." All new parents after 4 months and last payment made were individually told if your kid can't hack it, quit. Not all coaches focus on developing all players.

 

[JAD]

Firs year 14u coaches told the parents "we are no longer going to hold back until all player catch up to the level of our 5 core (aka their DD's)." All new parents after 4 months and last payment made were individually told if your kid can't hack it, quit. Not all coaches focus on developing all players.

As the players get older TB becomes more competitive, everything becomes more cut throat. Players with poor fundamentals usually get left behind or quit unless they are superior athletes. Second year 14U is usually when the rubber hits the road, that is when recruiting starts and builds momentum through 16U.

 

[Rocketech1]

A pitcher who is striking out every batter she faces needs to find better competition or move up an age group. Lower level and younger age group TB teams are about player development, they should not be about winning. It took me a few years to finally figure this out, but suddenly the light bulb goes off and coaches no longer care about winning games, they care about developing players so when they get into tournaments they do want to win - qualifiers, nationals - the team is as prepared as possible. You do not get your TEAM ready to play by riding an ACE pitcher to easy victories against inferior competition.

My issue with the OP is that they are giving their #1 pitcher little if any circle time just because she is better than the other pitchers which I think is completely wrong. What's the incentive for the pitcher to work her butt off to get better and then ride the bench? This isn't a rec team, but supposedly a travel ball team??

I will agree with you that she is definitely on the wrong type of team for her skill level which is why she need to go play for a more competitive team.

Maybe my area is different from other regions but kid's pitch at 7yo, have pitching coaches, and play year round. By second year 10u, they are playing a fairly high level and I can guarantee you that no TB teams have 8 pitchers and they are not sitting the #1 to give their infield opportunities to get shelled....

 

[Snotbubbles]

My issue with the OP is that they are giving their #1 pitcher little if any circle time just because she is better than the other pitchers which I think is completely wrong. What's the incentive for the pitcher to work her butt off to get better and then ride the bench? This isn't a rec team, but supposedly a travel ball team??

I will agree with you that she is definitely on the wrong type of team for her skill level which is why she need to go play for a more competitive team.

Maybe my area is different from other regions but kid's pitch at 7yo, have pitching coaches, and play year round. By second year 10u, they are playing a fairly high level and I can guarantee you that no TB teams have 8 pitchers and they are not sitting the #1 to give their infield opportunities to get shelled....

DD has had a PC since she's been 7yo. The problem in my area is that there isn't much participation at the 10u level. Most kids here don't get into TB until 12u. I took DD to tryouts for a team last August and they only got 14 kids to show up and that is for a team that won the "A" States the previous season.

DDs 10u team does play at a high level. Right now, she just plays at a higher level. For my area, it doesn't matter what 10u team I put her on. It's either stay where she's at or move to 12u. She doesn't want to move.

 

[Coach JV]

Quote Originally Posted by Coach JV View Post
Don't listen to the 6 games in loser bracket stuff. At a 16U tourney, we had a pitcher go down with injury, my #1
stepped up and threw 5 straight games to make it to the finals thru the loser bracket. I stand by my original advice:
Find a team whose coach has his head extracted from his posterior.
Sounds like the coach of your 16U team needs his head extracted from his posterior for letting a pitcher go 5 straight games. He cares more about a trophy than his pitcher's well-being.

lol-Just got some fresh air.
I left it up to her- she was a fierce competitor who didn't want to give up the ball.
When your team travels 400 miles for an ASA tournament- what do you do? Team consensus was-
we don't forfeit at ASA.

On a side note- she is pitching in college averaging 1+K/inning and has a career ERA of around 2.20.
all while compiling a GPA of 3.9.

 

[rdbass]

DD has had a PC since she's been 7yo. The problem in my area is that there isn't much participation at the 10u level. Most kids here don't get into TB until 12u. I took DD to tryouts for a team last August and they only got 14 kids to show up and that is for a team that won the "A" States the previous season.

DDs 10u team does play at a high level. Right now, she just plays at a higher level. For my area, it doesn't matter what 10u team I put her on. It's either stay where she's at or move to 12u. She doesn't want to move.

Not sure what part of Philly you live...northeast or south. I live just outside of Philly in Delaware County. The problem you will have is that there are too many Tourney teams for this small area. So, the teams are 'water' down as far as talent. There is talent but, not talent through out the line ups. You will find that you will have to move around because that's what it seems most players do/did around us. DD was on a different team if not every year but, at least every 2 years. DD still remained friends with her previous tourney ball teammates no player or family seem to take team jumping personally.

 

[FP26]

My issue with the OP is that they are giving their #1 pitcher little if any circle time just because she is better than the other pitchers which I think is completely wrong. What's the incentive for the pitcher to work her butt off to get better and then ride the bench? This isn't a rec team, but supposedly a travel ball team??

I will agree with you that she is definitely on the wrong type of team for her skill level which is why she need to go play for a more competitive team.

Maybe my area is different from other regions but kid's pitch at 7yo, have pitching coaches, and play year round. By second year 10u, they are playing a fairly high level and I can guarantee you that no TB teams have 8 pitchers and they are not sitting the #1 to give their infield opportunities to get shelled....

The regions are definitely different. I live in rural PA, so I can't even compare to Philly or Pittsburgh. I am currently aware of one 10u team within 50 miles of my home. At 10u softball is predominantly rec ball and typically a percentage of that is coach pitch (I am not a fan of that by the way). 12u is really where travel ball starts for most local players. 14u is by far the largest division because rec opportunities are limited and only a small percentage of schools offer junior high softball. So a girl in 7th or 8th grade can either play travel softball or move on to another sport (we lose a ton of good athletes to soccer and field hockey because of this). My DD didn't take her first pitching lesson until she was 11 and didn't do so consistently until she was 12. Her first year of travel ball was 2nd year 12u. It is definitely a different world.

I also agree that the OPs DD would be better off on a different team, but options are limited. I would have thought that more options would be available near a large city like Philly, but I really don't know. At 12u, I am sure there are many more options.

 

[grcsftbll]

I'm outside of Atlanta and my 10U DD could pick between at least 30 10U travel teams in reasonable driving distance (which for someone near Atlanta typically = less than an hour's drive). Maybe more. There are a ton. Even with that many teams, they fill up with girls, too. You'll see a few not make every year but most seem to. It seems like there are twice as many in 12U though I pay less attention to those right now. I think after 10U the rec programs struggle to find players. It seems like most who are any good have switched to travel by then. I remember watching part of a 12U rec game when DD was in 8U and thinking our 8U travel team could probably beat both the 12U rec teams, even playing with 12U rules, and our 8U team was not even very good.