Off-season management of a young player?

[SoftSocDad]

Since our daughter has been playing/practicing pretty much non-stop since January (she did have a slow period in July), my plan is to not let her pitch for a couple of months. Her arm isn't overworked, I just feel she needs time to focus on other skills - like taking the same aggressiveness to the plate that she does to the circle - as well as other hobbies outside of softball. I don't want her pitching year-round at this age. In January, I believe she'll start seeing lots of grounders and fly balls and can begin getting her arm ready for the February player evaluations.

That's my plan, but I know jack about softball. I have a couple of softball friends who talk about having their kids out for a couple of hours each a few times per week and suggest I do the same. These are people who've played ball much of their lives, though, so they have more knowledge to share, whereas my kid is just a natural athlete who picks up things quickly.

I know we're all going to handle the winter differently, but what advice would you have for me as the parent of a little (former) rock star who's about to get her first taste of the real world playing up in 10u rec next spring?

 

[Coach JV]

At that age, let her be a kid.

 

[Ivy's Dad]

I suggested to my DD that she take November and December off. She said she'll think about it. Let your DD make the decision. Either way won't make that much of a difference in the grand scheme of things.

 

[joemcq51]

I'm shutting my DD down in December for the month. She won't like it, but I think they need time to let their bodies recover. She has been going at it hard since last January.

 

[sluggers]

A couple of months off will do you both some good.

 

[EP Dad]

My DD took off the month (this month) of October from hitting and fielding. She still throws though but only a couple of times a week and for short periods (20-40 minutes or so). She's taking pitching lessons from an instructor every week for the first time and we just do the 1/2 hour lesson so she needs to at least work on what she learns every week. That's something new so it kept it exciting and fresh for her. Hopefully we can add something exciting and fresh every year to take the edge off of burning out. Another way we accomplish that is by not forcing a set (home, she obviously always goes to team practice when she's in season) practice schedule on her all the time. If something fun comes up then we let her slack off of offseason stuff.

November comes she'll start hitting again and the pitching schedule will increase. It's a short timeframe till late Feb. and tryouts.

 

[chinamigarden]

At the end of the season, I tell my daughter to let me know when she is ready to pitch to me. A couple of months go by (volleyball season at school) and she says. Can we throw tonight. That was 2 weeks ago, we have thrown 3 nights in those 2 weeks. I let her decide when she wants to workout, the game is for her so I let her set the schedule.

 

[SoftSocDad]

At the end of the season, I tell my daughter to let me know when she is ready to pitch to me. A couple of months go by (volleyball season at school) and she says. Can we throw tonight. That was 2 weeks ago, we have thrown 3 nights in those 2 weeks. I let her decide when she wants to workout, the game is for her so I let her set the schedule.

Very nice. After her spring season, my daughter wanted to practice all the time, because she'd just figured out how to pitch. She would let me know what she wanted to work on and I just made sure she wasn't working too much. Almost every daddy practice ended before she was ready. Later in the summer, though, I found that I was asking her to practice, so I just stopped (including lessons) and let her pick it back up when she was ready to prep for fall. She practiced regularly in fall, but other activities limited the time available. She wants to start lessons again in January or February, which is fine with me.

So far, she and I make a pretty good team, and I think I'll use your method as she gets older.

 

[Big Momma]

My girls are not fielding and throwing at full strength but they are always working on core strength and hitting. Those they can do in the basement every day to make sure their muscle memory stays intact. My girls stopped pitching years ago (thank goodness) but I used to shut them down for at least 1 month after fall season was done.

 

[MsDinosaur]

My DD has basically taken this month off. She did go to one hitting clinic and I try to have her pass around a medicine ball with me and do some situps and pushups, etc. in the evenings. Lately, she really wants me to show her TaeKwonDo moves and spar with her every night. She's got tons of energy that is not getting released on the field. It's hard on poor old Mom!

I think it's time for her to do some tee work in the garage and perhaps take some catching/hitting lessons in December before her practices start back up in January.