How to transition from 8u rec (Mom coaching) to 8u TB (Mom spectating)

[CoachChristine]

My advice? Stop treating the outfield like it is a penance. It's a huge mistake those coming from rec ball always make.....thinking that playing in the outfield means you are biding your time until she gets back into the infield where the "good" players play.

Great outfielders are hard to come by, and worth their weight in gold. Hopefully, if she ends up in the outfield, it's because she's fast and tracks the ball well and has a cannon for an arm and her coach thinks it would be a good fit for her rather than he thinks she sucks so he puts her out there with he rest of the sucky girls. And, if she hears, "Ugh. The outfield!" at home, she may not have her heart in it and it will effect her playing time because of it.

Oh, she's not going to hear that at home. I've been telling her for months that the older they get, the more action the outfield sees. Also, if she stays in rec ball, come All Stars time, all those infielders have to play somewhere. We played a team this year where she begged me to let her play RF so she could catch one particular player's bombs.

 

[Turtle]

If you are with a knowledgeable coach, see what position he thinks she is suited for. If you agree, practice, practice, practice at home until she develops the necessary skills at that position. In my limited experience, it is clear you can't just rely on team practice to really progress. When we moved from 8U rec to travel ball, our coach, who I trust, told me that my DD should be a catcher. I love catcher, was a catcher, but did not see it myself in DD. However, we worked at it and worked at it, and she is becoming a very good catcher. As this is a valued position, I'm cool with it. I am also an AC in charge of catchers for our team and we have 3 good ones.

I would also say be prepared to initiate most activity for your DD. Mine asks to play some on her own and does some "practice" on her own. She loves softball. However, if I didn't get her out to practice as much as I do, she'd never be as competitive with the other players as she is. I give her breaks and constantly check in with her to make sure she is enjoying it, and luckily she is. This is a major difference in rec and select, but it works for our family.

FWIW, I'm six months into the same scenario as you. My 06DD is just starting 8U/10U tournaments. It's so much fun. In the fall, my 08DD is going to start playing 8U rec.

 

[joeman39]

My best advise would be to let her have fun. Cheer for her when does good and cheer for her when she hustles and cheer for her when she messes up. At that age hate hearing mom and dad scream and yell. On the ride home don't talk about the game, don't talk about mesing up, don't talk about the good plays. Stop and get ice cream or what ever treat she likes. Talk about the great fun with her team and how you love watching her play and have fun. Don't practice and work her 7 days a week and 10 hrs a day. Go out and play catch, Let her hit water balloons off a tee. If she wants to work on something that's fine. I've seen to many young players leave the game because mom and dad pushes them to love the game. (if that makes sense) Don't get me wrong it's ok to want them to be good but at that age it's important for them to learn to love the game as well as to play the game.

 

[Rambler34]

It a big jump talent wise but it was the best thing my DD ever did. As an 03 she picked up with a top organizations 02 team in 8u thanks to a friend. After 1 tourney she stuck. She went from being the number 1 player at our park to number 7 or 8 on her team. She got more out of the first three months of travel than her first three years of rec. Having good players around her pushed her. I imagine your DD will go through the same thing.

The biggest thing I have seen in the best players is the work they put in away from practice. If she wants to get better she will work without you pushing her. She will also enjoy working which is huge at this age. They have to have fun.

My DD had a blast working and competing with the older girls. When the fall rolled around and she stayed in 8u with an 03 team she was ahead of the curve. One other thing is the sisterhood that has developed over three years with this core group. I'm more excited about the friendships and the memories she is creating than anything.

 

[CoachChristine]

Update: We had our first practice yesterday. After watching the other girls, I can say that dd may be the youngest on the team, but she falls in the middle of the pack skill wise. So, I'm not worried about her ability to hang in there with them. Plus, it seems that mine is one of the few who asks to practice at home. Oh, and since we will be playing USFA, the girls have to move up to 10U in August. Dd is super excited about that.

Oh, and I rather enjoyed sitting and watching the practice. I was even quieter than most of the parents, lol. Baby steps...by the time they're playing tournaments, I should be broken from sideline coaching.

 

[Frenchy101010]

Here's our story, my daughter and me went to my parents house one weekend, daughter had never touched a softball or baseball, she was a few months shy of being 7. She picked up a bat, I picked up the ball and we haven't looked back since then.

First thing we did was sign up for a rec league, bought her a glove, bat, and a dozen balls (11" real ones). We always warmed up throwing and catching first. Then we moved on to hitting (no tee work) with me pitching to her, then we finish up with fly balls. No ground balls because we only had a grass field, when we go to a real field we then took ground balls. Within a month and a half she was caught up to the rec team girls. When the team wasn't practicing we were practicing in our field. She lover every minute of it. I switched to 3rd shift so I could see everything, and she enjoyed me being there for her more. By the end of the rec league year she was the best on the team.

She made the rec league all-star team, and we continued with our schedule of practicing when the team didn't, by the end of that stretch she was the best on the all-star team.

So we made the decision to move her to a TB team for this year. We have continued to work, she loves it. Her and me get to spend a lot of time together. Now we have 56 11" softballs taking up two buckets. We continue to throw and catch first, hit next usually 2 buckets sometimes 4. We don't do tee work when we can just hit live pitching I firmly believe in this! Then we take fly balls. Then sometimes if I'm to worn out we run a few races. We make it fun, try not to take it to serious, which sometimes it is hard to do. I played baseball and softball for over 30 years.

For her travel season she is hitting .836, 56 for 67. Our only real complaint is I tend to pitch faster than her coach pitches in practice and games, so the day before a practice or games I will slow down the pitching.

She will end this travel ball season as the best there too. Best bat on the team, best arm on the team, best glove on the team, and out of 12 girls she is tied with two other girls as the fastest. It has been a short year and two months but she has went from nothing to pretty pretty good. A lot of sweat, a few tears, a little blood, a lot of bruises, and a whole lot of fun and we have us a ball player! She is 8 days short of 9.

 

[dschreib]

Update: We had our first practice yesterday. After watching the other girls, I can say that dd may be the youngest on the team, but she falls in the middle of the pack skill wise. So, I'm not worried about her ability to hang in there with them. Plus, it seems that mine is one of the few who asks to practice at home. Oh, and since we will be playing USFA, the girls have to move up to 10U in August. Dd is super excited about that.

Oh, and I rather enjoyed sitting and watching the practice. I was even quieter than most of the parents, lol. Baby steps...by the time they're playing tournaments, I should be broken from sideline coaching.

My advice to transition from coach to spectator--go to Sam's/Costco and buy a bucket of sunflower seeds. At HS games, you'll find me in the RF/LF corner, chomping away. As much as I'd like to sit near the plate, it's tough to take off the coaching hat...especially when the parent-coaching section is an active one.