New 10U team - talk me off the ledge

[uncdrew]

@uncdrew I I am coaching travel ball. A majority of the team I coached in coach pitch All-Stars in rec ball last summer and kept them through the fall in rec. all four girls are getting instruction from the same pitching instructor now and when the season starts we are going to move into group lessons with them and that instructor so sounds like we are doing the right things. Our 10-year-old with travel experience pitching is going through the challenges of converting from HE to IR. While I know it is the best thing for her long term - I must admit I was tempted to leave her alone since she was a strike thrower previously with HE for the teams benefit.

Sounds like we took very, very similar journeys. I too coached the majority of the team in the previous summer's coach pitch All-Star team.

Best of luck. It's fun. Watching them progress is amazing and it happens so fast.

We were HE and converted to IR. Took about 3 lessons. You'll laugh how easy it is to convert and you won't regret it.

 

[badmonkey]

To give you an idea how fast they improve, DDs first year TB she was one of the last adds. The girl that appeared to be the best player on the team in the early spring practices decided she wanted to focus on gymnastics, and left the team. We play 8 tournaments through the summer, and she wants to play softball again. She was so far behind every single girl on the team that she (or her parents, IDK) decided that she needed to find another team that she was on the same level with. She went from the best player on the team, to the worst, and so far behind she didn't feel like she belonged in 4 months time.

 

[bmakj]

Don't jump. You will not be the only team in this situation. You will be surprised how fast they will improve. Nothing motivates like game play. Practice is great, but games will do more.



Sorry, don't want to hijack your thread, but I have seen this and similar comments on here many times. I'm not sure that it is a completely a fair statement. Where is the accountability to the sorry run Rec Leagues? My DD originally tried out for 10U travel because the league was so horrible. She would have rather stayed with her friends, but she would never have been pushed to improve (ultimately her decision). I put it on the EGOS of the people running it.

I had an opportunity to join that board of our local league, but after going to 1 open meeting and listening to them shoot down every idea that might improve the league from every parent in the room, I knew these people didn't care about the league or the girls, just their position that made them feel important. Those 5 "Officers" of the board didn't want to hear anything. They were the big fish in that pond and made sure everyone knew it. The politics of league has to own at least a small part of this problem.

it is a fair statement that a lot of local rec leagues are run poorly, especially in relationship to softball. around here, most rec SB is simply bolted onto the local rec BB. since the latter has much higher participation rates (including a lot of girls), the boards are dominated by people concerned with BB only, and SB is an afterthought. in our local league, league pres (BB guy), basically agreed to anything this one long time board member wanted re softball (forcing girls to play up or down so he could create number of teams he needed to appease coach/parents in a division, so he could make certain his preseason pre-selected AS team played a lot together, etc.)

however, at least in this area, it is also true there are a lot of "travel teams" that only play in this watered down travel league. at least half of them were started by parents of girls who did not make an existing travel team, so parents started a new one. and again, because of the talent disparity (some of the teams are legit, and also regularly play USA and USSSA tournaments), they have to run it like a rec league (run limits, 4 OF, etc.). otherwise, there probably would have been games where one team got one or no at bats because of complete inability to get anyone out (would have hit time limit in one inning). basically most of the parents paid extra money (I will say the structure kept costs down, as most teams made deals with local rec leagues to get fields if they had a certain % of their girls play rec as well) to say their kid played "travel".

it is a self perpetuating spiral. talent level A kids leave rec for travel. talent level B kids then don't want to play with only talent level C and below kids, and/or parents decide there kids is A level but not picked up for whatever reason, presto new travel team. rinse and repeat.

 

[Agbracing]

First year 10u is a very boring start but very fast at the rate they learn and grow. If I could go back there are several things I would do different for the couple of teams I coached. You are in for a very roller coaster ride this season. If this is everyone’s first journey with travel ball it will be fun and frustrating. A couple of things I would do different is to get the parents more involved and try to get them to understand they are the ones directly responsible for the daughters development. Lessons and practice are for learning the skills but working at home is what gets the player better. I might would even give each parent/player homework individually so they would know what to be doing at home. You will have several parents that want to do things but not sure what to be doing. So help them learn the process and importance of working outside of practice. Second and this may not be something many agree with but if you don’t have a pitcher ready to throw strikes then bring in a pickup pitcher for a couple of tournaments. Now I’m not saying to ride them all tournament and not pitch your girls. And I’m not saying bring in a 2nd year ace that will just strike everyone out. But just a girl that can throw strikes and the ball put in play. The reason I say this is if you don’t have a pitcher that can throw enough good pitches to be in the game the chance of winning is very low. And the chance of your fielders getting better is greatly reduced because of very few balls put into play. Pitch your best pitchers all you can but have a pitcher that can give you a chance to win a game. Another benefit of this approach is it takes some pressure off your young pitchers to just be a strike thrower instead of a pitcher. It may take them a little longer to be able to consistently throw strikes but will help them in the long run. I know 10u is about development and not just winning but every girl needs to feel the feeling of winning every once in a while. When they taste winning it will create a desire to get better and win more.

 

[PJR]

I am coaching a newly formed 10U team this spring (11 girls and all but 2 are 9). We have 5 girls that are “pitchers”. One is 10 and has a year of travel experience, but she is making the switch from HE to IR and that has come with some challenges. Three of the other girls are 9 and are receiving instruction from a Tincher coach. I have have learned a lot on this forum to also help instruct some minor things. In short, I feel like we are doing everything we can do as a team to be successful in the circle.

So here’s my issue. We aren’t throwing a lot (understatement) of strikes in practices this preseason and I’m getting worried we might never get it across the plate...which would be a shame because we are actually pretty good defensively for the age group. Someone please talk me off the ledge and tell me it’s going to be ok...

I had the exact situation 5 years ago. 2 10's the rest 9's. The world does not end and their performance on the softball field does not define who they are or who you are. I do however understand the sleepless nights.

Our group wound up being a very solid B+,A- team compiling a 174-76 record over 4 years. 0-6 in the fall the first year and 19-18-2 the first spring and summer. The girls are all now 14U with the 2 older 16U. Most are still playing/will play in high school. I think 1 from the original group is no longer playing. Have fun with it, enjoy the journey and while we feel like wins/losses define us don't let them determine your choices. Everything will be alright.
​

It sounds like the girls are getting good instruction. IR and Tincher leads me to believe they are in good hands.

Below is the formula we used to help our pitchers and build our team. Good luck.

• Encourage them to pitch 4 days a week with at least one day devoted entirely to speed and not caring about command.
• Provide an extra day for them throw just pitchers. We called it Friday night pitchers. It was a group thing. Those available would show up and pitch. It morphed into an optional practice day for day for everyone 3 to 4 years later.
• Provide a time before or after practice for pitchers to pitch. Usually 45 minutes is good amount of time of 1/2 works if you let it bleed into practice a little. (Again no catchers just into a pitching matt with a strike zone. )
• If you provide the above, you will see who is dedicated plus if they see their pitching coach once a week than they only need to find one more day on their own. We did required training once a week(hitting and throwing only) and team practice once a week with the Friday added for pitchers.
• November thru about end of March pitch only into a pitching pad. You need a portable pitching pads or multiple with a strike zone. No catchers. No hitters. Talk about command and making adjustments and not strikes or mechanics. Again make sure they dedicated one day to speed without regard to were the ball is thrown. Hits the ceiling who cares. Laugh it off.
• Do not, I repeat do not have them throw live to hitters in this time period. Windmill pitching takes a long time to master, 9 months minimum and most take 18 months to get to the 60 to 65% strike range. Putting a hitter in the box will mess with their confidence.
• March/April add catchers once a week to the above.(Note catchers should have been working on receiving from a pitching machine or coach along with blocking and framing and hopefully are ready to catch a pitcher.) If you can get them to 50% strikes you have a fighting change. 50% strikes will translate into giving up about 8 runs a game(against an average team if you play alright defense.)
• Put your 2 best athletes behind the plate catching. At 9U/10U 90% of the game is pitching and catching.
• If you insist on adding hitters/doing live BP do it as a bunting drill. We never took live BP in 4 years and we did fine. Despite being the growing trend I would not do it until 14U. You can find ways to challenge your hitters without the live BP. Invest in a pithing machine that throws 60+ and change angles on it. Do a lot of front toss and change angels and speeds.
• Don't be in a hurry to play games come spring. We started outside practice April 15th and did not play a game until May 15th with our first tournament Memorial Day weekend the first year.
• Play against appropriate competition but schedule a few games against better teams to challenge them and for them to see what a good team looks like. Don't be in a hurry to play A ball.
• Some of this goes against conventional wisdom but it works.

Two other things. One keep a hard copy scorebook and keep them. Two use Game Changer. In using these make sure you get last names from the other teams or a minimum of first names and last initials and use them in the book and on Game Changer. We don't think about it at the time but it is fun to look back years later and see someone you played against or realize you are now on the same team or organization.

 

[BigSkyHi]

1st year instructing beginning 8-10 yr pitchers indoors once a week using IR. Have had best luck with them practicing at 3/4 distance and the making their target smaller than the ball. The 1st time they went to full distance just had them try to knock a ball off the tee (3 oitches each). All of them threw over and near the plate and a couple of them actually hit the ball. That was an impressive performance by the little ones.

 

[RichK]

OK coach, here's the reality I found. Not having pitchers at 10U (and if that's what it looks like preseason, it's likely not going to change this summer IMO) *is* going to make your 10U season(s) hell.

BUT....it won't mean anything for the long run. Some of those pitchers WILL develop. And if you are worried about keeping your team together in the future, there's nothing to stop a losing 10U team with wild pitchers from growing into a nice older team -- just be patient and help them work.

That said, it sure is nice to have some 10U pitchers. Makes everything look a lot better at that age

 

[Rick M]

Some more good stuff here, I'll just add one more story that hopefully keeps you off the ledge.

Going into her second year of 10U, DD was a full-time catcher. The Rec coordinator at the time was kind of a jerk, and put the two legit 10U pitchers in the league on the same team with his daughter. Faced with a team with no pitchers (I was the coach), I asked DD to give pitching a try.

She took to it right away, and had a great season. At 10U, all she needed to do was throw strikes to win. The coordinator's team beat us every time, but when All-Star season rolled around DD was the #1 pitcher. She pitched them to the state semifinals that summer.

The point is, you never know who is going to break out and find success in the circle. Give everyone a shot and know that finding that diamond in the rough will be the most rewarding thing you get out of this season.

 

[cvsoftball]

I had the exact situation 5 years ago. 2 10's the rest 9's. The world does not end and their performance on the softball field does not define who they are or who you are. I do however understand the sleepless nights.
Our group wound up being a very solid B+,A- team compiling a 174-76 record over 4 years. 0-6 in the fall the first year and 19-18-2 the first spring and summer. The girls are all now 14U with the 2 older 16U. Most are still playing/will play in high school. I think 1 from the original group is no longer playing. Have fun with it, enjoy the journey and while we feel like wins/losses define us don't let them determine your choices. Everything will be alright.

It sounds like the girls are getting good instruction. IR and Tincher leads me to believe they are in good hands.

Below is the formula we used to help our pitchers and build our team. Good luck.

• Encourage them to pitch 4 days a week with at least one day devoted entirely to speed and not caring about command.
• Provide an extra day for them throw just pitchers. We called it Friday night pitchers. It was a group thing. Those available would show up and pitch. It morphed into an optional practice day for day for everyone 3 to 4 years later.
• Provide a time before or after practice for pitchers to pitch. Usually 45 minutes is good amount of time of 1/2 works if you let it bleed into practice a little. (Again no catchers just into a pitching matt with a strike zone. )
• If you provide the above, you will see who is dedicated plus if they see their pitching coach once a week than they only need to find one more day on their own. We did required training once a week(hitting and throwing only) and team practice once a week with the Friday added for pitchers.
• November thru about end of March pitch only into a pitching pad. You need a portable pitching pads or multiple with a strike zone. No catchers. No hitters. Talk about command and making adjustments and not strikes or mechanics. Again make sure they dedicated one day to speed without regard to were the ball is thrown. Hits the ceiling who cares. Laugh it off.
• Do not, I repeat do not have them throw live to hitters in this time period. Windmill pitching takes a long time to master, 9 months minimum and most take 18 months to get to the 60 to 65% strike range. Putting a hitter in the box will mess with their confidence.
• March/April add catchers once a week to the above.(Note catchers should have been working on receiving from a pitching machine or coach along with blocking and framing and hopefully are ready to catch a pitcher.) If you can get them to 50% strikes you have a fighting change. 50% strikes will translate into giving up about 8 runs a game(against an average team if you play alright defense.)
• Put your 2 best athletes behind the plate catching. At 9U/10U 90% of the game is pitching and catching.
• If you insist on adding hitters/doing live BP do it as a bunting drill. We never took live BP in 4 years and we did fine. Despite being the growing trend I would not do it until 14U. You can find ways to challenge your hitters without the live BP. Invest in a pithing machine that throws 60+ and change angles on it. Do a lot of front toss and change angels and speeds.
• Don't be in a hurry to play games come spring. We started outside practice April 15th and did not play a game until May 15th with our first tournament Memorial Day weekend the first year.
• Play against appropriate competition but schedule a few games against better teams to challenge them and for them to see what a good team looks like. Don't be in a hurry to play A ball.
• Some of this goes against conventional wisdom but it works.

Two other things. One keep a hard copy scorebook and keep them. Two use Game Changer. In using these make sure you get last names from the other teams or a minimum of first names and last initials and use them in the book and on Game Changer. We don't think about it at the time but it is fun to look back years later and see someone you played against or realize you are now on the same team or organization.

your 10Us play 60 games a year?

 

[badmonkey]

your 10Us play 60 games a year?

My daughter's first year of travel ball was last year. Spring/Summer 10U they played 57 games. In the fall she moved to 12U and played 24, for a total of 81 games in the calendar year.