Playing too much and burn out for 10u ? Any happy medium?

[Gambler Bob]

So I noticed we're scheduled to play out of town (2+hrs away) 6 out of the next 8 weeks. It won't slow down after that either. One of those weekends we could play locally, as they have the same talent as an away tourney were in. My daughter has already made comments about never being home and never having any free time. Shes a great player and really enjoys softball, but isn't obsessed with it yet (she may never be). I really worry about burning her out, as we have lessons one night and two practices a week, followed by tournaments. So now were playing 6 days a week. I feel this is too much for a 10 year old and she will eventually want to quit the sport. The schedule is more demanding that we were told before we joined this team. Any advice on how to deal with this before its too late? Talk to the coaches? Find a team that doesn't play as much? I'd hate for her to be punished playing time wise for bringing this up to coaches.

What level is the team that your daughter is playing on?

2 hours away 6 of out of the next 8 weeks seems pretty extreme to me. If your daughter is playing for one of the top 20 organizations in the country you should have known that this was a possibility. If your daughter is playing for a B level teams that amount of travel seems insane to me.

Also, what did the coach actually tell you the schedule was going to be like?

 

[Yanko70]

This sounds alot like our situation! I will have a 6 year old to coach next year and not sure how to juggle all of that!

The wife and I are going to have to divide and conquer, at times. Fortunately it worked out where no one has practice/games on the same week night. It'll just be me missing some of those Saturday morning tournament games.

Sent from my Moto Z3 Play using Tapatalk

 

[Lemond]

BTW: If you really want an honest answer from your DD as to if she is doing what she wants vs what you think she wants (or what you want), then one week on Wednesday before a tourney, tell her the tourney has been cancelled and coach is giving the team a break, and then ask her what she wants to do instead. Then, when you tell her "just kidding," determine which statement caused a reaction that made her eyes light up more. Was she relieved to get a break and do something different, or was she disappointed that there was no tourney?

Oh, and then be prepared to deal with the fact that you lied to her to purposely induce emotional stress one way or another....

 

[Momof3]

I think you have a couple of options here. I'm going to lay them out for you:

1. Do nothing different meaning go to all tournaments and see how it goes. Maybe some will get rained out. In combination with this see #2.

2. Skip a few tournaments as your schedule allows with advance notice to the coach. This is hard on the kid though if she feels torn like she should be there for her team.

3. Find a new team (could be now or in the summer).

4. Talk to other parents and/or approach the coach and see if they will consider limiting the #. Might be too late for that at this point if they have already paid for the tournaments.

I am a strong believer in doing fewer tournaments, especially at 10u-12u for all the reasons already stated on this thread. I'm also a big believer in advocating for your kid and your family's needs. What you describe is way too much, to me, but well meaning coaches/parents get really caught up in the excitement and I also think in a lot of travel sports people love to BRAG about we went to X this weekend for our Travel Softball/Soccer/Basketball/Etc.

 

[Quigs10]

"My daughter has already made comments about never being home and never having any free time." Your answer is right there...she's already told you what she would like to do. She's 10... I made the same mistake with my older daughter (now 15) when she was 10-12 yrs old. As each week went by and each tournament became more and more stressful and time demands increased..she quickly lost her love of playing. She used to LOVE softball in 8, 9 and 10u...but it faded fast about a year into TB. She played until 13, then wanted to quit completely. She took almost 2 years off before saying she'd like to play again in HS. She's still playing HS but is not playing TB anymore. And she's playing right along side of all the girls that stayed in TB the 2 yrs she didn't. Saved me a lot of $$$$.

Ask yourself..."What's the end goal or purpose or need to play THAT much when she's 10 yrs old?"

Some girls thrive and love it no matter the distance or days or hours...some don't. Talk to her and she'll let you know which one she is...

my .02