- Jan 24, 2011
- 1,157
- 0
I dont buy this at all. My DD will be in 8th grade when she turns 14. No reason to "specialize" at that point
I bit my lip and turned away...
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I dont buy this at all. My DD will be in 8th grade when she turns 14. No reason to "specialize" at that point
Why is there a common desire here to pigeonhole girls into one or maybe 2 sports. Why can't they play many sports and be good at them. Maybe they can be great at just one, but what is wrong with being good at 3 or 4 sports. What will they miss out on by not specializing? Is there a high salaried career waiting for them in softball? Is there even a high paying career in a degree they would have time to earn while playing college softball? Medicine, Law, engineering???
Is there going to be some reward for them in their adult years for leaving behind the other sports they love, so they can say they were better at softball because of the sacrifice? I don't understand this need for specializing. I say squeeze as much out of your youth as possible. If for your dd it means only playing softball then good for her. But if for my girl it means playing softball, track, volleyball and basketball all while trying to learn how to golf and playing saxaphone then good for her too. I just don't understand why they can't do it all. On the other hand Jenny Finch does have a good paying career out of softball, and she lettered in 3 sports in HS.
Is there going to be some reward for them in their adult years for leaving behind the other sports they love, so they can say they were better at softball because of the sacrifice? I don't understand this need for specializing. I say squeeze as much out of your youth as possible. If for your dd it means only playing softball then good for her. But if for my girl it means playing softball, track, volleyball and basketball all while trying to learn how to golf and playing saxaphone then good for her too. I just don't understand why they can't do it all. On the other hand Jenny Finch does have a good paying career out of softball, and she lettered in 3 sports in HS.
I would be willing to bet that if you get on a forum for another sport you will find the same thing. People recommending that their kids should specialize in that sport.
There is such an emphasis on training virtually year round for every sport now. I remember when I was a kid, most atheletes played several sports. It just isn't that way any more. With the recognition(money) softball get today(and it's only gonna grow) Major colleges are taking less chances because of the money. Whether the girls choose to or the parents do most will end up specializing in softball and dabbling in other sports and the one's that don't will probably fall behind. But that will be ok because they have other interests any way.
Jenny Finch might have lettered in 3 sports in hs but what about college?
My dd does have other activities she does(basketball, soccer, drama). She has tried gymnastics and dance. We do not discourage her from trying anything and encourage it. But we do focus on softball right now because that is what she likes the most and we know that for her to keep up she has to practice, practice, practice. We do not expect her to ever play D1 softball(but who is to say she won't), but we want her to have the best experience possible. And that goes for anything she choose. If she chose guitar, we would get her lessons, buy her any equipment she wanted, and take her to whatever she wanted, just like softball.
t
- Nov 29, 2009
- 2,975
- 83
You don't buy it because you've never been through it. I'm seeing more and more girls at younger levels who are taking individual hitting, speed training, fielding and many other sport specific workouts on a regular basis. The girls who are committing to softball are getting better earlier.
- Jan 24, 2011
- 1,157
- 0
I dont buy it , because it is total nonsense. I know plenty of girls that take private lessons that still arent good players. Concentrating on one sport doesnt necessarily make a player better than an athlete that does mulitple sports , especially at 14 years old.
No,not every girl that takes private lessons will be great. My dd had a girl that was on her summer team, she took private lessons(from a minor league hitting coach), came to every practice, and gave 100%. She is still not a good player. It's like a good composite bat, in the hands of a below average player it just an expensive piece of equipment, but in the hands of a trained athelete it is a weapon of mass destruction.
It all depends on your dd(and your own) level of commitment. She will play bb this winter(and loves it) but she will tell you that she will not miss a lesson let alone a tournament to play bb. Some activities are hobbies, while some are passions.
to make things clear, DD is 12 and aging up. 1st DD is headed to NYU this fall and sports minded DD is just as smart.
At this point I'm for making her happy even if that means joining the....choke, choke...chess club. She does not need sports to go to college but I have told her regardless of what you play, be the best you can be. I didn't really need to tell her that, she's one of those kids that has to give it all, regardless of the endeavor, even playing 1 on 1 with her old man.
At this point I'm for making her happy even if that means joining the....choke, choke...chess club. She does not need sports to go to college but I have told her regardless of what you play, be the best you can be. I didn't really need to tell her that, she's one of those kids that has to give it all, regardless of the endeavor, even playing 1 on 1 with her old man.
obbay
Banned
I am kind of surprised to hear all of the "specialize in one sport at 14" talk with relatively little rebuttal. (Unless the gist of this is pick one sport to be your priority and then continue with the others more for recreation.)
This has been discussed here before and I thought it was generally agreed that (in all sports) kids who specialize early, burn out early. It's the kids who play multiple sports through HS that tend to continue with strong athletic careers in college.
Watching womens college basketball last year, we saw that the best players were multi-sport (at least Track) athletes in HS.
Any kid can pay for lessons. IMHO, the lack of playing other sports and the limitation of only playing organized ball is imparing kids ability to grow moreso than lack of concentration on that sport.
This has been discussed here before and I thought it was generally agreed that (in all sports) kids who specialize early, burn out early. It's the kids who play multiple sports through HS that tend to continue with strong athletic careers in college.
Watching womens college basketball last year, we saw that the best players were multi-sport (at least Track) athletes in HS.
Any kid can pay for lessons. IMHO, the lack of playing other sports and the limitation of only playing organized ball is imparing kids ability to grow moreso than lack of concentration on that sport.
That's the point - College is the time to specialize in one sport, but then only if you can balance that with your studies.
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Which is exactly what my post says...My DD#3 lettered in 4 sports (basketball, softball, track and tennis). So, I'm all for kids playing different sports.
Wrong. It is way to late to try to specialize in a sport by college.
If a kid isn't the #1 or #2 player in HS at her chosen sport, then she isn't going to play in college. (Play means *PLAYING* during the big games, not sitting the bench and watching the games.) Every kid that my DDs *played* with in college were the #1 or #2 player on their HS teams. At the D1 level, every girl on the team was the #3 or #4 batter on the HS team. At the D3 basketball team (admittedly, the D3 program was highly competitive), the player were either the starting point guard for the HS team or scored more than a 1000 points in HS.
It really depends on the goals of each player. It also depends on where you live.
If the goal is to be a multisport athlete in High School and that’s it, playing multiple sports during the “off” season may be for you. If getting a Div. 1 scholarship is the goal, specializing a one sport at a fairly early age is becoming more common. Except for the elite, it’s becoming a requirement. I personally don’t really understand the obsession with getting a Div. 1 athletic scholarship, but regardless, many families are chasing that.
If you’re in small town Illinois, and a good athlete, your DD could play multiple sports and do very well. If you’re in very competitive suburban area of say Chicago, Dallas, SoCal, etc….unless you’re a freakish athlete, specializing in one sports is very likely. It doesn’t mean that other sports are completely off the table, but in the vast majority of cases, most kids will pick one sport as their main sport. It’s also happening at an earlier age, for better or worse.
When kids specialize in one sport, they supplement that sport with speed/acceleration training, weight training, in softball - hitting/fielding coaches, etc….That’s where they get the cross training.
If coaches tell you they prefer multisport athletes, what they don’t include is the qualifier, “all things being equal.” If Suzie is a pitcher and has a 0.50 ERA vs. the top competition in the US and that’s all she does and Sally has a 2.00 ERA vs. regional competition but plays basketball and volleyball, Sally is out of luck for a softball scholarship regardless if she plays multiple sports.
I can’t find the article now but there was a good article on the Corona Angels team out of California. It essentially said that once you commit to their softball team, you’re making a lifestyle choice. Your priorities become #1 softball, #2 softball and #3 softball. Everything else takes a back seat. It works very well for that program ONLY IF your goal is to become the best softball player you can be.
If the goal is to be a multisport athlete in High School and that’s it, playing multiple sports during the “off” season may be for you. If getting a Div. 1 scholarship is the goal, specializing a one sport at a fairly early age is becoming more common. Except for the elite, it’s becoming a requirement. I personally don’t really understand the obsession with getting a Div. 1 athletic scholarship, but regardless, many families are chasing that.
If you’re in small town Illinois, and a good athlete, your DD could play multiple sports and do very well. If you’re in very competitive suburban area of say Chicago, Dallas, SoCal, etc….unless you’re a freakish athlete, specializing in one sports is very likely. It doesn’t mean that other sports are completely off the table, but in the vast majority of cases, most kids will pick one sport as their main sport. It’s also happening at an earlier age, for better or worse.
When kids specialize in one sport, they supplement that sport with speed/acceleration training, weight training, in softball - hitting/fielding coaches, etc….That’s where they get the cross training.
If coaches tell you they prefer multisport athletes, what they don’t include is the qualifier, “all things being equal.” If Suzie is a pitcher and has a 0.50 ERA vs. the top competition in the US and that’s all she does and Sally has a 2.00 ERA vs. regional competition but plays basketball and volleyball, Sally is out of luck for a softball scholarship regardless if she plays multiple sports.
I can’t find the article now but there was a good article on the Corona Angels team out of California. It essentially said that once you commit to their softball team, you’re making a lifestyle choice. Your priorities become #1 softball, #2 softball and #3 softball. Everything else takes a back seat. It works very well for that program ONLY IF your goal is to become the best softball player you can be.
