Question about playing up

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Sep 28, 2015
150
18
There is a common statement said about 10u parents being crazy and it has its truth but would be more accurately stated to say “I wish I knew then what I know now”.

I am guessing this is your oldest or only DD so there is a learning curve and also a networking aspect that needs to take place.
I swore that I was going to write a guide book on this stuff after 2 yrs of learning the hard way!!

So don’t get caught up making decisions based on THIS coach. Your DD isn’t even remotely close to this age group (both real age and playing age) and it says a lot if this coach would even fathom asking you or not talk you out of it.

Going a step further you want to find a group her age with parents and kids with similar mindsets (it might take a few “groups”) by 9 yrs old. Right now you might only find 1 or 2 kids that want to play more serious. That is fine, start grouping yourselves and it will all work out in 3 yrs and then play 10u.

Lastly, every year we move up an age group in the fall and we are amazed to look back at the “new” kids at the previous age and comment how “tiny” they look. That is just 1 yr difference.....

Focus on skills and fun at home to get her softball fix and don’t worry about the games.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
There is a common statement said about 10u parents being crazy and it has its truth but would be more accurately stated to say “I wish I knew then what I know now”.

I am guessing this is your oldest or only DD so there is a learning curve and also a networking aspect that needs to take place.
I swore that I was going to write a guide book on this stuff after 2 yrs of learning the hard way!!

So don’t get caught up making decisions based on THIS coach. Your DD isn’t even remotely close to this age group (both real age and playing age) and it says a lot if this coach would even fathom asking you or not talk you out of it.

Going a step further you want to find a group her age with parents and kids with similar mindsets (it might take a few “groups”) by 9 yrs old. Right now you might only find 1 or 2 kids that want to play more serious. That is fine, start grouping yourselves and it will all work out in 3 yrs and then play 10u.

Lastly, every year we move up an age group in the fall and we are amazed to look back at the “new” kids at the previous age and comment how “tiny” they look. That is just 1 yr difference.....

Focus on skills and fun at home to get her softball fix and don’t worry about the games.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Hah!

We did this last night. We had the field and had machines set up at 45 mph for our 9 year old girls. All the girls smacking the ball hard. It was a good practice.

As we were wrapping up, the 8 year old All Star girls showed up. They could barely throw or catch. The HC and I looked at each other with our jaws on the ground. "Was this us 12 months ago?"

We coached our current 10U Travel girls just last summer when they were the 8U All Star team.

Wow.
 
Dec 15, 2018
809
93
CT
Hah!

We did this last night. We had the field and had machines set up at 45 mph for our 9 year old girls. All the girls smacking the ball hard. It was a good practice.

As we were wrapping up, the 8 year old All Star girls showed up. They could barely throw or catch. The HC and I looked at each other with our jaws on the ground. "Was this us 12 months ago?"

We coached our current 10U Travel girls just last summer when they were the 8U All Star team.

Wow.

Ayup...I was watching our 8U's this weekend, didn't even look like softball. Mentioned to the President "oh man, Pat, these girls are waaaay behind". He laughed, and said "Uh, hate to tell you, but they're a lot better than your group was two years ago."
 
May 23, 2019
61
18
I'm not really chasing better competition for my daughter at all I mean she's 5 lol I guess it's just it's just a weird situation where she's playing up on a team already and then that team wants to play up a division as well.

Anyways a 10u team was practicing at the park where we were playing catch and I asked if my dd could stand in and see some balls from a live pitcher and of course she squares up the first pitch but it's looking like most of the parents aren't really high on the idea of going to 10u so I think we're safe.
 
Jul 19, 2014
2,390
48
Madison, WI
As was previously said - so much to unpack on this one.

Congrats on having a very talented softball player in the family.

But please consider the safety aspect of this. If she plays 10U this Fall, she'll be 6, and most girls will be 9 or 10. I'm assuming she's in Kindergarten? She could be playing against 4th and 5th graders. Has she ever faced kid-pitch before? Has she ever faced kid-pitch using a real softball? (my league uses the softer "incrediballs" through 3rd grade).

According to a hand-held Jugs radar, my 10YO seems to be consistently in the 35-38 mph range. I know that sounds slow compared to what other 10U dads post, but when you see it, most would say she throws hard. You're really not getting out of the way of it when it's thrown from ~32 feet away. I'm just trying to say - 10U pitchers are wild, and softballs hurt at almost any speed, probably more so when you're on the skinny side. In short - if the Jugs is accurate, I don't know how safe I'd feel stepping in against someone throwing mid-40's.

If you have a few weeks to decide yet, that means you also have a few weeks to let other team members know you're on the fence about playing that far up. There may be other parents with similar hesitations that are waiting for someone to be the first to step-up and say "can we all really think about what we're about to do?".

I haven't experienced it myself, but this forum is full of new-team scenarios such as: weak rec league, good All-Star team, coach wants to "keep kids together", and thinks the only way to do that is to form their own team and find better competition, and the first season or so is great (sometimes - lots more behind the scenes work than anyone realizes!), but then parents realize that travel / select is much more of a commitment than rec or All-Stars, and one or two drop out, and the the coaches realize they need to hold tryouts, and being a new team, they're not well known, so turnout's limited, and the team has to constantly search for guest players, and that new back-up catcher we desperately needed has a great attitude, even if she's a little lacking skill-wise, but WOW, did you see how intense her Dad got during that last scrimmage...

I truly hope your story ends differently - thanks for letting us offer our opinions - and as others always say - enjoy the ride - it ends much too soon!

Lots of truth to this.
I saw part of a 10u game yesterday while my kid was warming up for a 16u game.

The 10u pitcher had a lot of trouble finding the plate. Really wild.

My DD was a second year 10u the first time she played in a tournament. Hardest thrower in the 10u bracket, had trouble finding the plate. She hit a few girls with pitches that tournament. The batters were justifiably scared of her.

Getting hit by a pitch is extremely common when young pitchers are involved. Players have to be big and strong enough to take it.
 
May 29, 2015
3,731
113
There is a common statement said about 10u parents being crazy and it has its truth but would be more accurately stated to say “I wish I knew then what I know now”.

I am guessing this is your oldest or only DD so there is a learning curve and also a networking aspect that needs to take place.

Your second paragraph illustrates why I believe in the truth of crazy 10u parents. I’m not saying they are all crazy, but the crazy ones are enough for everybody.

As you said, it comes down to experience. Many 10u parents (and coaches) simply have not been around the game to learn the proper etiquette and culture. Parents who are on their second or third child playing have started to sink back into reality. Generally.
 
May 1, 2019
27
3
Last year at 4 my daughter made the 6u all star team. This year at 5 she made the 8u all Star team. The thing is our rec league is not very good. So our coach the last two years plane to leave our league and partner up with another coach take it best 11 or 12 girls and play select. Now the problem is there aren't a lot of 8u games available locally so he is pretty sure we would have to play 10u to avoid big travel.

The thing about it is my daughter is not big and strong, she is by far the smallest player in our all star tournaments so far so I can hardly imagine moving up again to 10u. She's solid at hitting and Fielding but her speed is a little behind just because she is so young. Arm is about average from what I've seen in 8u.

My biggest concern is her getting pigeonholed at 2b and RF because the other girls having stronger arms

Would you have let your dd play 10u at age 6?

Imo.. imagine playing varsity ball as a 7th grader.... 6yo too young for 10u regardless of talent. Stick to 8u and dominate the league
 

Forum statistics

Threads
42,830
Messages
679,482
Members
21,445
Latest member
Bmac81802
Top