- Aug 12, 2014
- 648
- 43
Most 10U leagues have rules that everybody bats and everybody must play certain innings on defense.
I think the farthest I would go would be to say that players who tend to make all practices will tend to bat higher up in the order and play the "better" positions (ie. infield) more often. You're not "punishing" anybody, but "rewarding" the players who do make most of the practices.
This is what I did. These conflicts with other activities drive me crazy, but it's part of rec ball. I stated very clearly at the parents meeting at the first practice, and continually repeated it to the girls during practices, that the girls who came to practice and worked hard would get more time at their favorite positions and bat higher in the order. The girls seemed to understand and never complained, and I never heard a word from a parent complaining about playing time.
I tracked where everyone played every game including how many innings they were on the bench (I used Excel, but Rick's chart is pretty cool) and how many PAs everyone got. Everyone got some time at their preferred positions, and the PAs on a per-game average were pretty even.