We give them Sept off to get readjusted to their school schedule. October to the holidays is voluntary and on Sunday, but we tell them if they aren't playing a school sport we expect them to be there. After the holidays we hit on Wed for an hour and have the usual 2 hours on Sunday and attendance is mandatory, but we make allowances again for school sports.
First year 14's plus middle school sports
- Thread starter SESwildfire
- Start date
Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch
Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.
- Dec 11, 2010
- 4,721
- 113
That line is like the anvil that hits the coyote in cartoons, lol! It’s the Thor’s hammer of comebacks! If I had walked into that one I would resign my screen name and create a new one, lol
- Jun 8, 2016
- 16,118
- 113
I was serious about the propulsion thing. I got all my degrees in Mechanical Engineering and although my research was originally focused in the Aerospace field, I only took Aerospace courses in graduate school which were related to my research..which had nothing to do with propulsion. Anyway, for some reason I was feeling argumentative last night, mea culpa.
Well, sometimes buttons just get pushed!
Another great thread and read.. Love all the love.. I'm going to chime in because I kinda think I just got through the stage you are in. My DD is the a grade about her travel team but the same age because of her mid August birthday. During the 14u years the travel ball team went every weekend and practiced once a week generally Thursday evenings. No issues when they were all in junior high. My daughter moved to high school as a freshman and the remaining team where still in 8th grade. It became a challenge at that point. High School athletics and School became more demanding than Junior High for sure. Volleyball and Basketball in Fall practice daily in High School. then offseason workout in kick in. My DD made Varsity her freshman year and high school Coaches "highly discouraged" basically forbid my DD from playing Travel Ball till High School season was over. We caught back lash from travel ball team about not coming to their practices even though she had been practicing twice a day (before and after school) with high school. Just a warning to all that more practice time is coming for all and coaches need to be flexible.
- May 29, 2015
- 3,794
- 113
my Uncle wo
This^^^
My girls play on an 18U team that is basically the varsity high school team, but getting hard to get everyone to all of the practices. My daughters play volleyball and cheer in addition to softball. I have a son in middle school that plays football. We have non softball games on Monday, Thursday and Friday. Practice every weekday and softball on Sunday if we don’t have a tournament. This time of year is tough. When VB and FB are over it gets better, but they still cheer at BB games.
It can be too much for the kids and they start to break down physically and mentally.
This^^^
My girls play on an 18U team that is basically the varsity high school team, but getting hard to get everyone to all of the practices. My daughters play volleyball and cheer in addition to softball. I have a son in middle school that plays football. We have non softball games on Monday, Thursday and Friday. Practice every weekday and softball on Sunday if we don’t have a tournament. This time of year is tough. When VB and FB are over it gets better, but they still cheer at BB games.
It can be too much for the kids and they start to break down physically and mentally.
I agree with a lot of what is said here about rotating to sports by season. unfortunately, while most of DDs (12u, middle school) non school coaches have supported her playing mutliple sports, she does still work on most sports year round (Swim, FP, and Soccer).
Swim season is Oct through first weekend in Apr, then mid June to end of July, but she ends up doing clinics in August and September.
FP teams generally go mid Aug -end Nov, then winter workouts in Jan and Feb, then outside (when possible, northeast/mid atlantic here), MAr - end July.
Soccer she is more casual about, will probably only play in fall, no winter indoor, probably no spring as well (unless soccer coach is desperate enough for a GK to accept her as playing every other weekend with no practices basically).
mixed bag that she does not play sports for MS (they have no swim or FP, and she is not interested in playing soccer for school, would sit bench, there is some talk of softball in spring 2020 cause there is a push to add BB, thanks title IX !).
I wish more teams 14u and younger would take a more relaxed approach, and in the off seasons (ie anything but spring summer for softball), workout maybe once a week, encourage individual workouts, and maybe a some friendlies (especially when team moves up), but no teams in our area does this. her team is pretty accommodating, and coach, as long as he is made aware, is OK with them missing for other sports that are in season, but they are still planning 2-3 practices a week, and 4-5 tourneys this fall.
I feel HS is the time to shift to focus on one sport primarily, but still possibly playing other sports seasonaly on rec or HS level. they will never get these years back, they should be having fun, not have a sport as a FT job on top of school and any other extra curricular activities. I know DD is going to want to be involved in things in HS like school musicals and such. not gonna tell her no, you cannot do this, you must do X. and at least in our area, HS really does not interfere with other sports, as practice/games (with a few exceptions) are immediately after school generally, but it does place a premium on time management (since athletes will possibly go from HS practice/game to travel/club practice, and have to squeeze in meal, shower, and homework). I think various governing bodies need to come together and put together some sort of guidelines on practical limits for youth sports.
Swim season is Oct through first weekend in Apr, then mid June to end of July, but she ends up doing clinics in August and September.
FP teams generally go mid Aug -end Nov, then winter workouts in Jan and Feb, then outside (when possible, northeast/mid atlantic here), MAr - end July.
Soccer she is more casual about, will probably only play in fall, no winter indoor, probably no spring as well (unless soccer coach is desperate enough for a GK to accept her as playing every other weekend with no practices basically).
mixed bag that she does not play sports for MS (they have no swim or FP, and she is not interested in playing soccer for school, would sit bench, there is some talk of softball in spring 2020 cause there is a push to add BB, thanks title IX !).
I wish more teams 14u and younger would take a more relaxed approach, and in the off seasons (ie anything but spring summer for softball), workout maybe once a week, encourage individual workouts, and maybe a some friendlies (especially when team moves up), but no teams in our area does this. her team is pretty accommodating, and coach, as long as he is made aware, is OK with them missing for other sports that are in season, but they are still planning 2-3 practices a week, and 4-5 tourneys this fall.
I feel HS is the time to shift to focus on one sport primarily, but still possibly playing other sports seasonaly on rec or HS level. they will never get these years back, they should be having fun, not have a sport as a FT job on top of school and any other extra curricular activities. I know DD is going to want to be involved in things in HS like school musicals and such. not gonna tell her no, you cannot do this, you must do X. and at least in our area, HS really does not interfere with other sports, as practice/games (with a few exceptions) are immediately after school generally, but it does place a premium on time management (since athletes will possibly go from HS practice/game to travel/club practice, and have to squeeze in meal, shower, and homework). I think various governing bodies need to come together and put together some sort of guidelines on practical limits for youth sports.
- Dec 30, 2011
- 47
- 18
The better players or the more softball committed players may very well seek another team. Many kids today and parents as well are all about school ball. They play "travel ball" mostly to keep their high school coach happy. They want the attention that high school ball gets them along with their name in the paper. A similar thing happens with these types when they are searching for a college program. They insist on a division IA because they want all the glory they receive from their high school "friends" for the few weeks they have left before graduating and going off to college when they will rarely if ever see those "friends" again. Parents are just as bad about this. The they go to the D-I to try to play softball and end up quitting after the first fall if they last that long. they need to go where they can actually play softball and not sit on the bench watching their few years of eligibility go by. When this happens it makes me most unhappy. it is really sad to see. Sadly, high school ball is now too important. Problem is I don't have an answer or see one coming in the future. For small organizations or even one of the left over independent teams this can be devastating. Especially for the coach who year after year does just about everything himself with little help. Its a full time job for these coaches, year around. These coaches are very special to do all that work and everything that goes with the job only to finally realize that so many of his players are school ball pretenders. Even sadder is that these players and parents do not learn the lesson until it is too late and the players softball years are over. Usually with a not so happy ending.
- Jul 14, 2018
- 982
- 93
DD's 12U team played through the spring last year, concurrently with her middle school team. It was a lot of softball -- she played Rec too. Very few conflicts, however. MS practiced for two hours right after school, TB practice wasn't until six. Rec games got shoe-horned in where there were no conflicts.
This year, as the girls move to 14U, the coach has told the parents that there will be very little going on during the middle school season. Mostly an optional Sunday practice from April through May. That schedule, combined with the end of Rec ball, feels like it's going to be awfully quiet on the softball front.
This year, as the girls move to 14U, the coach has told the parents that there will be very little going on during the middle school season. Mostly an optional Sunday practice from April through May. That schedule, combined with the end of Rec ball, feels like it's going to be awfully quiet on the softball front.
