Five hour practice Saturday and Sunday at 12u

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Dec 30, 2011
47
18
I think an occasional 5 hour practice with a bunch of fun stuff mixed in is good for team bonding. That age needs to have fun. A challenge for a coach is to find ways to improve skills while having fun plus throw in a few non softball things now and then. Save the intense practice for regular practice times and limit to no more than 3 hours. The most difficult to work in but the thing the kids like most if batting practice. My belief is that batting practice must be done by the player on their own time. A knowledgeable and always learning hitting coach is a major plus but that can be over done as well so be careful. Too many of our very athletically talented athletes leave softball for other sports due to this type of over kill. Keep a little fun in every practice at all costs. They will develop their talents. They do not have to max out in the next few months. Do it all for the kids and to a certain extent for the parents too. Very little should be done for the coach. The coach should make the biggest sacrifice for the love of the kids and families. Maybe throughout the entire softball community too much is put into the importance of playing in college. That can be very important to some families but not to all families. Most players who live through this type of atmosphere week after week all year long never play college ball. Many just don't want to after high school ball now days. a few do and they will do what is necessary to become the best they can be. Many others will just go through the motions while pretending in order to impress their high school coach or their travel ball coach or even worse a parent. These types of teams have their place for players who are in love with the game, have the natural talent and he drive to develop that talent. Those need to play at the Gold level. Teams, coaches and parents need to allow the others to play at a lower level and let the game get back to where it once was. Organizations should be limited to how many teams they can have and how much they can charge per player and stop the money making machine that has gotten so out of hand doing its part ruining the game. After 22 years of coaching at a very high level with numerous players who are playing or have played in college including my daughter, this is my view on the subject.
 
May 7, 2008
8,506
48
Tucson
I haven’t read all of the replies. I am familiar with a program, as described. I choose not to have my granddaughter play there.
But, they have no shortage of players. They have no shortage of teams and are expanding.
One of my former pitching students flew in, from a distant country, to play with them, this past summer.
They are very successful.
 
Jun 15, 2019
8
3
And we wonder why kids start tuning people out? Why do we treat out kids like invincible robots? I don't think schools even allow this much practice for the exact reasons its outlawed.
 

PJR

Oct 3, 2016
27
3
How much practice is too much? Is 5 hours with no break (of course water) too much? Team also practice on 2 weekdays(2 plus hours). THese are not easy practices either. High intensity, max reps, 4 coaches, non stop.
Thoughts?
Not sure what lunatic is running your team but if this is for real run as fast as you can away from this environment. No practice needs to be more than 2 hours. Let them go to their pitching and hitting coaches or maybe to the cages or the park with mom and dad for additional work. A little bit every day is 100 times more beneficial than 5 hours in one day.
 
Jun 4, 2019
134
43
A 5 hour practice is a waste of 3 hours. When I start to get too aggressive with my 12U team when it comes to practicing, etc, my wife always has to remind me - this is just 12U softball - let the girls be girls and have fun off the field. I don't want any of them to wake up one day as a young adult and think about all the things they missed growing up due to 5 hour days at a softball field.
 
Sep 24, 2016
1
3
My 14U team practices 5 hours Saturday & Sunday, but no weekday practices so they can focus on school. Our 12U will sometimes do 5 hours on one weekend day. When we do 5 hour practices, there's a 20-30 minute lunch break for the girls to eat and bond.
Even at 12U, some long practice days are necessary, otherwise, the girls will never be ready for dropping into the losers bracket in a tournament with 4+ games spread throughout one day...
 
May 2, 2018
200
63
Central Virginia
my wife always has to remind me - this is just 12U softball - let the girls be girls and have fun off the field. I don't want any of them to wake up one day as a young adult and think about all the things they missed growing up due to 5 hour days at a softball field.

While I agree 5 hours is far too much for a single practice, I always find it funny when the rationalization for excessive practice is what is quoted above. (Sorry to single you out because many in here have also said something to this effect).

So a 5 hour practice on a weekend is not acceptable but a 3 day tournament playing 3+ games per day where the kids are at the field all day long is? Taking 5 hours away on a Saturday is not acceptable but 1-2 hours 3 days a week plus 2-3 hours on a Sat/Sun is acceptable? I'm just trying to understand the logic here.

Maybe the kid will wake up one day and think they missed their entire childhood because they played TB and spent all their free time doing softball related activities, regardless of how long one single practice was.
 
Jan 21, 2019
8
3
How much practice is too much? Is 5 hours with no break (of course water) too much? Team also practice on 2 weekdays(2 plus hours). THese are not easy practices either. High intensity, max reps, 4 coaches, non stop.
Thoughts?
My youngest daughter team practices 4 hours on Saturday and 4 hours on Sunday. We have an occasional 2 hr practice thrown in during the week usually that begins after we start the tournament season, but for the most part week days are for lessons gym time an individual workouts. This formula seems to work very very well as we are definitely one of the top 07 teams in the state and nationally ranked in the top 10. All the kids are very good. No weak spots at all. More importantly the parents ' get it' as ALL of us were former athletes. Seems to be the perfect storm....

Lots of good players / competition in FL. To stand out takes hard work and dedication on the part of player parents and coaches.
 
May 23, 2018
93
18
That’s
Oh forgot to mention, players are expected(required to) have private hitting lesson and/or catching lesson midweek by an approved instructor. (one of the coaches)

Also no weekends off. Play or practice every weekend.

Also a added caveat, my DD is pre puberty. Don't want be graphic but I think that makes a little difference too.
absolutely insane! What can really be achieved by that length of practice. This is just a case of an insecure coach trying to cover for his insecurities. More disturbing is the fact that parents allow this to go on.
 

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