My DD is being asked to pitch some for varsity this year due to low numbers on the team. I was told this was directly from the head coach this week. The school my DD attends plays in the smallest class in IA. So should I be worried about this or just let it be a learning lesson for her? One good thing that I was told from the varsity catcher is that she throws the hardest of the 3 pitchers and can use multiple pitches. DD is also attending pitching lessons from Myndie Berka from Breakthrew Fastpitch.
DD pitching for varsity as an 8th grader? To early?
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- Feb 5, 2010
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Age and maturity are huge factors to overcome at a young age. Personally my dd is playing TB with girls 2 years older than herself and it works fine. We are not allowed to do this unless there are very low numbers as is your case. If it is anything other than low numbers, beware the sense of entitlement of older players. Might want to be sure of eligibility down the road.
Eligibility won't be affected at all; we play summer HS ball here in Iowa, so 8th graders are eligible as soon as school's over. 8th graders moving up is just a fact of life here, especially in the smaller classes. I wouldn't worry; if its due to lack of numbers, her fellow players will probably appreciate having her. All 3 of my DDs worked w/ Myndie over the years; I'm sure she'll have your DD more than prepared. Good luck, and tell her to have fun; sounds like she's earned it
- Nov 29, 2009
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Because it doesn't happen at your DD's HS is great. However, there are schools where that happens as evidenced by some of the other posters giving similar accounts. You have no idea the amount of competition there is for roster spots on a school with 4,000 kids attending it. When my DD was in HS they would routinely have 120 - 150 total kids show up for all three levels. 50% or more would routinely be cut on the first day.
In IA players are allowed to play varsity your 8th grade year and up. So its possible to play 5 years varsity. If I remember correctly its because we play SB and BB in the summer. So far she is getting alot of encouragement from older girls mainly SO and FR. The team only has 4 upperclassmen 3 SR and a JR. The rest of the team will underclassmen. Plus we will only have 22 players total from grades 8-12. Which isn't good. Our catcher is a SO and last year started working with her on the days pitchers and catchers would workout before school. I well say parents of older girls have been great with her and for my wife and I by telling her how well she did last year in JH ball. We went to all of the JV and varsity games last year so she could see what it will be like this year. That is when other parents would come up to us and tell us they couldn't wait until she could move up.
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The first thing I did last year was buy her a mask to wear. I personally think all pitchers should wear a mask.
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