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Apr 11, 2023
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I have a 12-year-old who is starting the process of rec to select. We attended a indoor practice for one team and she was automatically asked to join the team due to her hitting alone. Fast forward to the next practice (open practice so the breakdown was 5 core players, 2 new girls who accepted invite to join and 2 new or visiting players), let's just say it was more of punishment than practice being done. The first drill was fielding/throwing from SS to 1st base, as I watched the coach receiving the throws at first did not move the glove from one location and any thro that wasn't to the glove was counted out loud for everyone to hear. The drill was completed with the number being around 12-13and the coaches gathering the girls around 1st base to tell them give us 105 jump squats (this was about 20 minutes into practice) Seemed a bit stern to me but figured they had their reason for the jump squats. they moved on to some fly ball drills and calling ball while in the air (about 10 minutes time). Next drill was situational fielding with runners to get the out at first, this is where we drew the line and eventually pulled daughter off of the field. It literally was hit a ground ball or two and have the whole team do 10 burpees. This continued on for a bit and the total number of burpees was pushing 50-60 range (about 10 minutes into the drill) when we made the decision that this team wasn't an actual fit for us. We pulled her off of the field and left the fields. My wife and I both coach rec ball and stress to make the time the girls are on the field a learning experience to develop them a players and people. We always stress teamwork and want to have the girls always want to come back to the game with a smile on their face.

My question to everyone here is this a common way for a practice in the select world? In my opinion this type of practice will only have the girls get burnt out and hate playing the game in general.
 
Jun 20, 2015
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at 12u, no way in heck is that smart practice. Now, college level... maybe.

not move glove at all on throws from SS?? Get a grip. Try just hitting the mouth on normal BowNet, and move on, How about rolled balls to forehand, back hand, super slow and drop steps. All with throws to that bownet. just the time to type this with ~8 girls each would have had 3-4 reps. And maybe a talk about about accurate throws, what it builds to, etc. Break and move to other throwing drills. WARNING - careful how many throwing reps are done by all players per practice and per week. Last thing you need is hurting anyone to just practice.
 
Oct 4, 2018
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That's awesome.

My DD was once invited to a practice like that. I regret that we didn't walk off halfway through. I suppose I wanted to see her tough it out, and perhaps maybe was letting her tell me it was a bad fit. But in the car ride home we laughed about how we'd never be on a team like that.

I bet you walking out was a huge wake-up call to those coaches, who probably lost all the other hopefuls that were in attendance.
 
Apr 11, 2023
4
3
That's awesome.

My DD was once invited to a practice like that. I regret that we didn't walk off halfway through. I suppose I wanted to see her tough it out, and perhaps maybe was letting her tell me it was a bad fit. But in the car ride home we laughed about how we'd never be on a team like that.

I bet you walking out was a huge wake-up call to those coaches, who probably lost all the other hopefuls that were in attendance.
Sadly, when we walked out the coaches didn't really seem to bothered and the other two girl's parents who were there for open practice were surprised we walked. We actually discussed in the ride home how we are even more shocked that no other parents saw anything wrong with how practice was being run.
 
Jun 8, 2016
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After about 8 "bad" throws on that drill, knowing I was going to have to do my "time" anyway, I would have thrown one which bounced 2 feet in front of the guy and hit him in the shins..but that's just me.
 
Last edited:
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
Sadly, when we walked out the coaches didn't really seem to bothered and the other two girl's parents who were there for open practice were surprised we walked. We actually discussed in the ride home how we are even more shocked that no other parents saw anything wrong with how practice was being run.

Wow. Odd.

Softball needs to be fun. Girls need to enjoy it. I'm not a believer in "this works for boys in baseball so it'll work for girls in softball". And honestly, many girls are tougher than many boys anyway. Between my 2 daughters, we've been on 4-5 travel teams and never had what you experienced. We do conditioning, we do sprints as part of practice, we occasionally do some burpees when they're especially off... but nothing like you described.


Softball is a small world. You'll get on a great team and probably play these clowns one day. It'll be interesting to see what kind of team they have.
 

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