I plan on taking a 10u rec all star team and playing some 10u tournaments in the fall but have the same team play 12u rec in fall. I don't think they are ready to play 12u tournaments. a lot of the players are 1st or 2nd year players and only a cpl have tb experience. Does anyone have any advice or experience doing this ? I understand the different ball sizes and pitching distances.
need some advice
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Read this carefully: Softball is all about perfect execution. So, you have to learn the best way to field, bunt and base run and then teach that to the kids. You will have little time to do anything but defense. The parents and the kids have to get used to working with their kids on batting and pitching on their own time, not during team practice.
You need to be spending 60 minutes a practice hitting ground balls and popups to them.
a) I suspect you do not know how to properly field a ground ball or fly ball. (Few newbie coaches do.) Get Mike Candrea's video and learn. Then, teach it to your kids and *INSIST* that every time they field a ball, they do it perfectly.
b) You need to do the drills in this video about 45 to 60 minutes a practice for a couple of weeks, and then do them 15 to 30 minutes at each practice thereafter. You cannot work too much on fielding easy grounders and popups.
You need to be spending 60 minutes a practice hitting ground balls and popups to them.
a) I suspect you do not know how to properly field a ground ball or fly ball. (Few newbie coaches do.) Get Mike Candrea's video and learn. Then, teach it to your kids and *INSIST* that every time they field a ball, they do it perfectly.
b) You need to do the drills in this video about 45 to 60 minutes a practice for a couple of weeks, and then do them 15 to 30 minutes at each practice thereafter. You cannot work too much on fielding easy grounders and popups.
In GA there is everything from 'C-level' (TB for rec all star teams), to low-B, high-B, low-A, and high-A. If your girls experience any level of success in TB most will not want to go back to rec ball. TB is about putting in the extra work to get better and taking softball a little more seriously than a rec ball player who is more worried about what flavor snow cone she should get after the game.
I think Kobata is good. You have to practice, practice and practice some more.
IMHO, if you are serious about this, I would move away from rec ball as quickly as possible. I would schedule a "B" tournament and see how you do. Check out the best teams in the tournament and see how you stack up.
Pitching is the issue. You need a couple of good pitchers.
IMHO, if you are serious about this, I would move away from rec ball as quickly as possible. I would schedule a "B" tournament and see how you do. Check out the best teams in the tournament and see how you stack up.
Pitching is the issue. You need a couple of good pitchers.
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If you have pitchers who can throw strikes, then I'd say it's not a question of your experience or talent. You've already said it's an all-star team, so I'm going to assume you have at least a little bit of talent.
The question is whether you've got the commitment from enough parents and their children to play tournaments.
The difference in talent between an all-star team and mid- to low travel teams is minimal. The biggest difference is experience and commitment. The only way to find out what you've got is to jump in and see which families swim and which ones paddle back to the shore.
I would sign up for the lowest level TB tournament you can find to 'get your feet wet'. There are several sanctions in GA and GSA specializes in catering to lower level teams. The TD does a good job of policing who he allows into the tournaments to prevent trophy hunting and will 'redline' pitchers that would give teams an unfair advantage.
