Best birth date for softball.

[grcsftbll]

Our cutoff for school is Sep 1. We homeschool but I have followed the state guidelines with my DD, who was born 9/10. So if she went to school she would be one of the oldest in her class. I didn't do it for softball but it works out well for softball anyway. She missed being elegible for metro (middle school feeder team, our county allows rising 5th graders to try out) by 9 days & many of her teammates are playing, but other than that it's been good. She's an 06 but has a 2025 graduation year.

 

[Jquick823]

I agree birthdates play a huge roll in younger ages and their stats. But once you're playing at 16U and are consistently matched against 18U players in large showcases it really isn't going to matter. Won't matter much in college when DD is a freshman and the opposing pitcher is a 5th year senior (rare but possible). So really I haven't seen any advantage to my DD being an April Birthday over those that have December ones.

 

[sluggers]

Any thoughts on what is the best time of year to be born in regards to playing softball?

It is great parents-to-be are planning how to make their DD a great softball player.

 

[Seattlecoach]

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Birthdate does make a difference in the younger age groups (under 16) after that I think everything starts to even out, physically.

The idea from the Gladwell book is that age affected kids when they were younger but the residual effects lasted much longer, to the point that the PROFESSIONAL (adult) hockey players mostly all had the earlier birthdays. When they were kids they were bigger and therefore had a better chance of being better. The ones that were better got pulled onto all-star and travel teams and received better coaching and more practice and this only widened the gap between them and their smaller rec teammates.

This isn't a 1:1 comparison with softball because like someone mentioned before hockey in Canada is very structured to identify talent. If you are good you are pulled out and given special coaching and being pulled out early means you got the most special coaching. Softball in the US is much less structured. You can put your kid on any level team that will take her and change anytime you want. You can seek out ($$) that special training. Some advantages come from being good while you are young in softball, just not nearly as many.

 

[GoCaboNow]

DD has 8/31/05 birth date so she will always be youngest in her class as we are September 1st cutoff for school. Seems like she has a lot of friends that are September kids so she will be going to their parties turning 12 about the same time she has hers turning 11. She has always done great academically and inter-personally in school, so the year difference has never been an issue or even recognizable. Physically she is ahead of the curve, so never any reason for us to lament the year difference. Still, as well as she has always done, the allure has always been there for how much better would it be if she was born a day later and now she is in the younger grade? And then I remember a key point that always makes us smile.

A month or so before she was born, the doctor set her birth date for a week early since he was going out of the country to help the military overseas. We had no concept of school cutoffs at the time so we just went along with it as DW would have had to have a new doctor when having the baby. If I would have been up on these cutoffs I would have tried to persuade DW to go with the new doctor and stick to the original date - lol!! When she was born the nurse asked why she was induced a month early, something to do with the development of certain facial features, finger nails (IIRC??). She said she was a month early.

The funny thing is it had been a stressful birthing. She was induced and every time she tried to come down the channel, so to speak, her vitals would drop. After a couple of these the doctor ordered a C section. It was kind of sudden. The chief nurse gave a little bit of a look like "really?". DW wasn't too happy either and I am like WTH? As it turns out, our little gymnast had been a very active baby in the womb and had wrapped the cord around her throat almost twice. So, if we had the right late September birth date who knows what would have happened as she continued to grow, and twist? Maybe, even an extra week could have been problematic?

Either way, every time it comes up how young she is, or be a year younger competing in high school than she could have - I just smile.

 

[FP26]

DD has a December birthday. When we first started travel ball, DW and I viewed this as a disadvantage because she was moving up as most of her classmates were staying down. Now looking back on it, I am glad it turned out like it did. DD was forced to play against older girls because her birthday dictated it, and DW and myself did not have the opportunity to hold her back. I think being one of the younger players on the field has helped her in the long run.

 

[dystopia]

The idea from the Gladwell book is that age affected kids when they were younger but the residual effects lasted much longer, to the point that the PROFESSIONAL (adult) hockey players mostly all had the earlier birthdays. When they were kids they were bigger and therefore had a better chance of being better. The ones that were better got pulled onto all-star and travel teams and received better coaching and more practice and this only widened the gap between them and their smaller rec teammates.

This isn't a 1:1 comparison with softball because like someone mentioned before hockey in Canada is very structured to identify talent. If you are good you are pulled out and given special coaching and being pulled out early means you got the most special coaching. Softball in the US is much less structured. You can put your kid on any level team that will take her and change anytime you want. You can seek out ($$) that special training. Some advantages come from being good while you are young in softball, just not nearly as many.

I thought it was the best chapter of the book. If anyone hasn't read it, it's a short read and readily available online:

http://www.unco.edu/nhs/science/STEP/OutliersChapter1Text.pdf
http://cs.ecust.edu.cn/snwei/studypc/jsjdl/data/OutliersTheStoryOfSuccess.pdf

(I've seen that chapter online a lot, the publishers probably allow it because it got so much publicity and gives people a taste of the book)

I agree it doesn't apply as well to softball with everyone playing up in age. I definitely noticed it growing up in school though. Being the youngest/smallest in my grade made sports pretty tough until the end of high school.

 

[mudrunner]

DD has a December birthday, and missed the cut off by three weeks or she would be playing 12U for one more year. I'm not saying that because she doesn't have the talent to play with older teams, because she absolutely does. Her size (or lack of) is her only issue. She is a strong kid, but short and only weighs about 85 lbs. In her first year if 14U she will be facing second year teams made up entirely of older 8th graders and freshman at some point. Another year to grow would have been nice in her case. The good thing is she doesn't see herself as small and has never once said she wished she was bigger. We went to a tryout a month or so ago, and when we got to the registration table the lady pointed us in the direction of the 10U team tryouts lol. I could tell she felt bad when I said she was an '03 and there for 14U.

 

[1bucketmom]

Where it gets tricky.... Is when the child is bigger or taller for their age but has not the coordination. Lol.

I agree with the statement regarding specialized coaching and team placement in regards to the structure of softball, or lack thereof. However, birth date differences still are visible until about 16u/18u from my experience. There's no denying the differences between an 11 y.o. And 13y.o. Playing in the same age division; even if the 11 y.o. is taller/bigger.

 

[kjmpa]

DD is Jan 11 and in our case January has not been an advantage. She has been a late bloomer and a date on a calendar cannot be a guaranteed competitive advantage.


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