New to the Softball world

[Mortiia]

Hi all, little background, my DD is 8, will be 9 in January and has been in cheer/gymnastics her whole life. She has always mentioned she wanted to try softball due to her older cousins playing for many years. Finally signed her up a few weeks ago in a local Rec league for 8U.

I’ve done my fair share of research on the sport as well as leagues, gear, tutorials etc, but I do have a few questions (and yes I know some are a bit premature due to her only being a few weeks into a new sport)

1) I’ve read the many threads on here in regards to rec vs TB and feel I’ve read enough to make a decision if and when the time comes, BUT is it up to the parent to find these tb teams to try out for or do they tend to approach parents are tournaments and such?

2) I want to make sure she starts off on the right foot in regards to mechanics and seeing as how I can already tell that rec ball won’t really help her with a good foundation, I’m open to getting her private lessons. Is an hour lesson every other week good or should I be aiming for an hour a week? I’m sure a lot has to do with my DD retaining the information and practicing on her own.

3) how does the age cut offs work in regards to her being a January child? She will be 9 in January of 23. Seeing as how the spring is the more competitive season, would she be still be in 8U or 9/10U next season?

Thanks In advance, and thank you for all the great reading on these forums.

 

[Mike-Coach-Q]

Welcome
Play catch with her. Some of my best times I've had with the daughter and now GD & DS is playing catch. Everything will unfold from there.

I believe it's what her age is as of January 1st depending if she is playing little league rules then it's in August. She is most likely playing 10U.

 

[Mortiia]

Welcome
Play catch with her. Some of my best times I've had with the daughter and now GD & DS is playing catch. Everything will unfold from there.

Definitely. Been putting in work with her daily, that bond is important to me. The rest is the scary part would have never guessed there was so much that goes into softball, even at This age.

 

[PJR202]

Her little league age will be 8 if she's still 8 on Dec 31st of this year, which would keep her an 8U for the 2023 season. Rec and TB I suppose are up to rec and TB rules.

League Age Determination

Your player’s league age is determined by the Little League Baseball® and Little League Softball® Age Charts, according to their birth year and month.

www.littleleague.org

Don't worry about TB. As someone else said, just play a lot of catch. Toss popups, roll grounders. I taught both of my girls from scratch when they were 11 and it was some of our best memories. They're both in HS now. I was on the field with one of them a couple hours ago. Less than three years ago she couldn't catch a pass from 10 feet away and was scared to death of the ball, and this evening I hit her in the back with a rocket from the outfield as she slid into second base, and she came up laughing and told me I was weak.

If you arent confident in your overall ability to teach her the skills and game, then lessons are great. My younger one has been taking weekly pitching lessons for 20 months now, andbI can tell you the MOST important thing is to work with her between lessons. An instructor gives a lesson and it's your job to reinforce it so she isn't having to learn it again the next week.

Just keep things relaxed and fun. Worry about TB later if she gets into it. Getting on a travel team isn't real difficult so she has plenty of time to do that later.

 

[CoachAndyCollins]

1) I’ve read the many threads on here in regards to rec vs TB and feel I’ve read enough to make a decision if and when the time comes, BUT is it up to the parent to find these tb teams to try out for or do they tend to approach parents are tournaments and such?

Both happen, but normally you need to watch for announcements or approach teams for tryouts

2) I want to make sure she starts off on the right foot in regards to mechanics and seeing as how I can already tell that rec ball won’t really help her with a good foundation, I’m open to getting her private lessons. Is an hour lesson every other week good or should I be aiming for an hour a week? I’m sure a lot has to do with my DD retaining the information and practicing on her own.

If the coach you find can't reduce the lesson to 1/2 hour, I'd question if you have the right coach or if you're just paying for someone to do the things you can do like setting the ball on the tee or playing catch, rolling grounders, etc. Especially for an 8 year old, but even for the older kids, my lessons look like this, 5 minutes to evaluate what we need to work on, go through the training and teach drills she can do during the week, practice them so they are doing them correctly for 20 minutes, then in the final 5 minutes see if the kids can reiterate what they learned and what they need to work on during the week. Where are you located?

3) how does the age cut offs work in regards to her being a January child? She will be 9 in January of 23. Seeing as how the spring is the more competitive season, would she be still be in 8U or 9/10U next season?

Sounds like she'll be playing 10 U.

 

[quincy]

1) DD liked rec ball but played TB when she was older so no good answer for that question.

2) Do not knock rec. There are good coaches out there. DD has had private and group lessons. She liked the group lessons better. Tell her what to do and leave her alone for a little bit. Practice outside the lessons and Team practice is the biggest thing IMO. School ball is a little different, they kept her pretty busy.

 

[tomorrow]

Welcome, you are already ahead of most. You found this website and started asking questions.

1) Facebook is where we found local travel ball teams.

In regards to your second question. I would look up Austin Wasserman's High-level throwing he has some free info on the "water bottle drill" for throwing mechanics. Under the books tab. https://www.highlevelthrowing.com/

 

[warbird]

Buy a motor home....now...10 years from now you will thank yourself.

 

[Rolling Hard]

Gymnastics will be a good foundation. Balance, core strength, agility and over all athleticism will put her well ahead of most others. Play catch. Use tennis balls.

When you can get her to catch the ball across her body(backhand) you will be farther ahead.
She doesn't need lessons. Bownet, bucket of balls and a tee are mandatory.

When you throw batting practice do not throw slow with a big arc.

 

[wheresmycar]

1) I’ve read the many threads on here in regards to rec vs TB and feel I’ve read enough to make a decision if and when the time comes, BUT is it up to the parent to find these tb teams to try out for or do they tend to approach parents are tournaments and such?

I would start with Rec ball, with the goal of making the Summer All Star tournament team. Summer All Star teams are a good introduction to TB. I'd only consider 8U travel ball if you didn't have a good rec league option.