Please critique my Dd swing!!!!

[FiveFrameSwing]

It isn't the competition that fixes the skills, it is the preparation to deal with the competition that fixes skills ... and key to that is the playing schedule. A strong schedule puts players, parents and coaches all on the same page.

 

[TDS]

To many parents get caught up in what level their kid plays vs building elite skills.... Figuring that if my kid plays at this level they must have elite skills. Elite skills will surpass kids playing elite ball with inferior skills in one season. Send one of each kid to a showcase and the coaches could give a rats what team the kid played on.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

It isn't about an ego of the level of play. It is about getting an entire team on the same page.

On many B-level teams the issue is that goals vary all over the map. You have some families on the team for recreational, some families working to get beyond recreational, and some families that perceive their kid is beyond recreational. What you have are families with vastly different goals, and the result can be unnecessary frustration.

The schedule is the key to this. A tough schedule puts everyone on the same page. Coaches, parents and players all of a sudden are instantly aligned with a common goal.

Now ... the pitching you face will pretty much determine what you can get away with in terms of cheating the pattern. Tewks explains it fairly well in his Ebook ... something to the effect that you don't really become a hitter until you face a steady steam of decent pitching (I'm paraphrasing here, and putting my personal slant on it).

 

[TDS]

I have seen first hand kids playing small town county ball surpass those kids playing on elite tournament youth teams by the time they get to high school. Forget about level and find the coach that can develop your kids individual skills.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

I'm sure you have seen that. I have seen it as well. That said, it still requires getting everyone on the same page .... and a quick way to do that is to put your kid on a team with a solid schedule. No kid wishes to lose poorly in all of their games. Neither does any parent. Neither do the coaches. Instantly, just through a commitment to a schedule, there is a buy-in in terms of goals. Instantly there is a incentive for all your families to support having their kids practice outside of team practices and games. Practices become looked at not merely as the only avenue for skill development, but more of an opportunity for players to show their coaches their growth. Players learn to use practices to collect feedback and work on improving skills specific to them outside of practices.

 

[fpthrives]

At 10U everyone thinks they are a pitcher.

 

[fpthrives]

You are not an elitist westwind. You helped westwind. Now the kid wants to pitch. Let them have fun.

 

[Ken Krause]

As long as I'm here, I'll weigh in. The level you play, in my opinion, depends on the goals of the team and the players. At the younger ages I always tended to play A level. There the goal was to get to the next level, and the best way to do that is to understand what the next level is. You take your lumps, but you find out if that's what you want to do.

When you get to 14s it starts to change a little more, and definitely at 16 and 18. Some teams/players want to be ultra-competitive, win scholarships and all that. They need to play A level. Other kids find they still love the game, but it's not their all-consuming passion. They want/need to work, they're involved in other things, etc. For them, B level ball is more appropriate. They can be competitive in tournaments without having to give up their whole lives, and they might actually get the opportunity to win some hardware.

Then there's the raw athletic ability. The older they get, the more important that becomes due to the narrowing of the field. The best players will tend to find each other and play together. If you're not one of those, you're not going to get on that team. And if your team doesn't have that athleticism, you're going to find it tough to compete with teams filled with girls who are faster, stronger, have better hand-eye coordination, etc.

So my advice is always to start out by knowing what you want out of your season first and then choose appropriately.