How we got started...

[laker]

DD got cut from a traveling soccer team and decided to try softball because the kids were nicer and the coaches actually wanted her to play. Best thing that ever happened to her so far.

 

[YOCOACH]

We got started when DD was 5. After trying numerous sports and not really liking them, she decided to try softball in our local rec league. She got drafted to a team and the HC asked me to be an AC since I had some previous baseball/softball playing experience. DD instantly fell in love with the game.

That year, HC got the A all-star team and managed to make a complete A$$ of herself during tournament play. She was asked not to come back the following year and I was asked to take over by the BOC. The first thing I did was search the internet for sites to learn more and I stumbled on this one.

At the age of 11, DD had outgrown the rec league and wanted to play year round so we looked for options. That's when we discovered TB and tried out for several teams. The rest as they say is history.

 

[maksoftball]

DD played baseball in 1st grade. She didn't like playing with boys so we tried softball in 2nd grade...had an awesome/inspirational coach. Played rec ball through 5th grade. We tried out for one travel ball team (I had no clue what I was doing or where to go); he saw her potential and asked her to practice with team. After about 5-6 weeks of practices, she improved and showed coachability. Unfortunately team fell apart, and we ended up looking again. Tried out for a well known team, and she made it (she had actually gone to 1-2 practices about 2 months before...they were impressed with how much she improved since they last saw her). Fast forward about 4-5 team later, and she is now 16 years old...still playing.

I think the most impressive thing about DD...is that in spite of all the pitfalls, hardships, etc that politics/drama and what not have dealt her, she has persevered. AND she only started pitching for REAL her 9th grade year (last year)...this year, she took starting pitcher role away from a senior pitcher in at least 5 games (latter part of season when coaches realized...). She has come a LONG way, and I love seeing how much she has grown into her person on and off the field.

 

[Jquick823]

I played slow pitch since I was about 12. In NY you have parks in the summer that you went to based on your address and you played softball there. Well I continued to play on work teams and after having kids they would come and watch me play. My DD picked up a ball one day there and threw it like a man, I think she was 7 or 8 at the time. This wasn't her first time throwing a ball but it was one of those, "oh she might be ok at this moments". Fast forward 7 years and she's a 14yr old smartass like me who hits, throws, catches and runs like a mature athlete. She is better than half the grown men and women that play slow pitch in my league and she loves the game.

I'm still dreaming of the day I get to see it click for her. So far I think all the work she's done is what separates her from most, I'm waiting for the light bulb to go off and it all to just look easy and natural.

 

[chinamigarden]

My dd used to go to all of her brother's LL games and never watched a one, the LL field in our small town has a concession stand and a playground next to the field, she would spend most of her time on the playground. But at around 6 she started to talk about playing softball so she got a glove and we worked on throwing, immediately we noticed that she threw much better then her brother did at the same age. She signed up for machine pitch that would be the next summer when she was 7, we went to winter practices where she was reprimanded by a parent coach for throwing the ball too hard, she was throwing it to the coach. She played the first year and when we went to sign her up for the next year we wanted to move her up to kid pitch, but we were told that because of her birthday she had to do machine pitch again. Our local TB org had just started a 10u team the year prior, the coach came to our last game and invited her to the tryout. She made the team as an 8 year old and its been a major part of our life since. She is a HS senior this year with no intentions of playing softball in college, so this HS season will be her last.

Its been fun, I love the game. But I can't wait to get back to my own life and have some free time to do what I want to do. Who knows that might include helping some 10u coach with his/her team.

 

[teammom2]

We started when DD was 7. She joined a newly formed team as a number so the team could play. She's an athletic kid and really took to TB over rec. She stuck with the team through 3 long yrs at 10U and one at 12U. She switched teams last year for a more competitive experience. She's doing great. Having not been a player this whole world was 100% foreign to me. I've grown to enjoy the crazy. I've learned to not get worked up and to let things play out. DD2 also started at 7 and she's in her first year of 12U. She's more laid back and so is her team.

 

[Rambler34]

When my DD was six she wanted to play softball because she watched me play slow pitch once. She fell in love with it from day one. She is in her first year of 12's and I cant believe it has been this long. She saw a little girl last night in her little uniform from our park and thought she was so cute. She kept asking me if she was that cute back then. It almost made me tear up remembering her first year on the field. Luckily DD #2 starts next spring and I cant wait.

I was a little familiar with the travel ball world because my cousin coached one of the top teams in the country. I think it helped my DD's motivation to pull on her jersey for the first time knowing my cousin's DD (her hero) had worn the same one. At the same time the girls he coached were heading off to college and six of them had gone through our HS. She has wanted to follow in their footsteps ever since. Her next goal is to make her middle school team next year to start her time as a Blue Devil like the others.

 

[dbronstein]

My DD was 9 and we told her she needed to pick a sport for the fall, and if she didn't pick one she'd have to do swimming. A friend of hers played softball and finally she said, "Fine! I'll play softball if I can be on A's team." We were able to get her on the team and extremely fortunate to have coaches who were perfect for beginning players. She fell in love with it and is going strong 3 years later. She has absolutely no desire to play travel ball (and she's not good enough anyway) but she loves playing rec, and I love helping coach.