Extra practice outside scheduled team practices

[sluggers]

I was mainly worried about burn out as she will have a very demanding tournament schedule

For someone to be "good" at D1, they have to love the game. "Loving the game" means "loving to practice". At 13YOA, it is time to find out if your DD is willing to put in the time it takes to become really good. If she "burns out", then she shouldn't be playing D1 anyway.

 

[iMlearning]

burn out

For someone to be "good" at D1, they have to love the game. "Loving the game" means "loving to practice". At 13YOA, it is time to find out if your DD is willing to put in the time it takes to become really good. If she "burns out", then she shouldn't be playing D1 anyway.

Point taken...guess we'll find out then!

 

[StacieM]

Another thing to consider is that even more important than how many days or hours she practices per week is HOW she practices during the time she does practice. Someone who is highly focused 3 times a week for a few hours a day can actually end up performing better than those players who practice for hours a day but simply go through the motions.

Practicing with a high level of intensity during the time she is actually executing skills in practice is key to her being able to perform at that level of intensity in the game when the pressure is on. I think many people put too much emphasis on how much instead of HOW.

My daughter is 15. Now that she is in high school (sophomore this year) she plays more sports than she did from age 9-12 when she was basically only playing softball. This means she may actually spend less time on softball than she did back when she was 12-13.

This past fall/winter season, she was running cross country or boxing while playing softball. Softball practice was only twice a week with games on Sunday. She would go to cross country practice/meet 6x a week, then practice softball after cross country two days a week. When cross country ended, she started boxing 3 times a week. There were NO days off from sports during the week at all. Every day she had something going on plus schoolwork.

I did NOT push her to practice MORE softball during this time at all. Yet she performed VERY well during the last tournament of the year which was over Thanksgiving weekend. In fact it was probably the best I've seen her play in a tournament. She hit over .500 and was moved from the 2 slot in the batting lineup to the #1 spot which the head coaches daughter was in. She threw someone out at home plate from the outfield for the first time ever. She made a nice play in CF while moving toward RF, fielded the ball and made a good no-cut throw to 3b. For the first time I saw her read change-ups/dirt balls early as a baserunner and was able to take extra bases each time the opportunity came up. This is something she "knew" about before as I and her coaches had discussed it before, but I'd never seen her actually do it and do it so consistently in games.

However, whenever she does ANY sport or activity, one thing I emphasis with her constantly is that she do her BEST no matter what the situation. "Just" practice, "just" shagging fly balls in the outfield, "just" hitting off a tee into the net, "just" warming up before a game - no matter what the situation is, while she's executing a skill, she is to do it HER BEST EVERY time.

I don't care if everyone on the field is walking or dogging it, she is to be hustling. That's how she is expected to play perform ALL the time. Not only on game day and not only when someone/coach requires it of her. She is to require excellence of herself ALL the time.

Granted if a player's only focus is softball, then she should be willing to do work on her own outside of practice. It doesn't have to be hours and hours a day. It doesn't have to be all aspects of the game every day. But the more they put in, the more they'll get out of it. Simple as that. I'd just watch out for "going through the motions." There's no point in practicing if you're not going to do it well. Practicing for hours and hours just going through the motions can actually create lots of bad habits, mentally and physically, IMHO.

BTW - at age 13, the "extra" work DD was doing off the field was basically intense core training to improve her overall athleticism, functional strength, and agility. She LOVES working out and that was something that I knew would help her softball performance as well, so we allowed her to go crazy with that. She would go workout daily without being told and the results did show on the field.

Good luck to your DD!!!

 

[coachtucc]

There are always 2-4 girls on my 12U team who always ask me to come for extra work on their off-days. Their parents do not push them to do this and neither do I. I always say yes but tell them that they need to tell me what they want to work on.

 

[iMlearning]

Thanks Stacie. My daughter certainly gives it her best when working out and practicing. She wants to go to the personal trainer 3 times a week but it is way too expensive, as well as going to private batting lessons which will start soon. So it looks like team practice Monday 2 1/2hrs, Tuesday a short throwing and drills practice at the house; Wednesday personal trainer, then 2 hours of volleyball, Thursday private batting/fielding lessons; Friday some sort of excercise (core training etc...) Saturday 2 1/2 hour team practice. Sunday off unless she says she wants to do something. I really just wanted to see this in writing for myself

 

[SBdad]

For the 1st time this year I set up a station for DD in the basement. She has a tee and a tarp she can hit into as often or little as she wants. I can join her or not as she wishes. I will work with her as much or little as she wants. The only “rule” we have is if she doesn’t practice, outside of Team practice, we will not pay for lessons.

No boys allowed in the basement.

I agree with quincy.

I always encouraged my 5 kids (4 girls 1 boy) to work out and tried to explain the rewards that come with putting in the extra time out side of team practices. I don't think a kid will get burned out if they love the game and choose for them self to go out and practice everyday. My oldest daughter and son would go out almost everyday and practice, and they went on and earned a scholarship to play college ball. My 3 other daughters weren't as dedicated and didn't put in as much extra time, and they ended up just playing highschool ball and did a good job and had fun doing it. Just don't try and put pressure on your kids to work out if they aren't really into it.....it can only cause problems. Every kid is different and has to be treated different. Some can be pushed harder than others. After going through 5 kids, and gone through 18 years of all of them playing multiple sports....trust me I know!!
Just try and teach your kids to work hard and to be the best they can be. If they want to work out everyday, let them do it. If they don't, then just accept it. Just enjoy the time with them and create fun memories.