T-ball rosters: 6 vs 9

[Momo'sDad]

After a small debate, I was able to convince my league that 12-13 girls on a t-ball roster is just ridiculous. They didn't want to come down to 6-7, but agreed that 9 would be acceptable.

Additionally, having a catcher serves no purpose, but they're fighting me there, too. Am I alone in thinking that t-ball catchers and outfielders are practically useless and therefore unlikely to get anything out of playing the position?

 

[quincy]

I think I disagree with you but I need to know the age of the players and some of the rules in the league. Is the rule station to station?

 

[cwestwjg]

In our league we put 11 or 12 girls on the field and just spread them out in the infield. You would be suprized how may balls end up out there and the fun it is to watch the girls chase the ball around. At that age isn't it more important to get them involved with softball and let them have alot of fun. We work on teaching the positions throughout the season but really focus on this once they get into 8u ball.

 

[Momo'sDad]

T-ballers here are typically 4-1/2 to 6 (or early 7) years old. One base per batter, except for the final batter (of each inning) who clears the bases.

I agree with getting them out and having fun, but for years, so many of these leagues have struggled to retain 6u and then wondered why 8u has been so weak as well. Everything is relative, but the girls who get to field the ball have more fun than the ones who stand there all game long. I've seen 10+ girl infields, too, and it's just a mess. Some girls can stand out there for 12-14 games and might field 2-3 balls all year. The other major issue is the length of each inning, which results in each player getting to bat only twice per game. With the 6-7 girl lineup, though, the girls get 4 innings per game, plus a lot more reps in the field.

The 13-player teams are bad for the parents and grandparents (etc.), who come to watch, too, so they become less likely to encourage their girls to stick with the game.

Larger rosters means fewer teams, which means fewer parents getting involved as coaches. Anyone can coach t-ball and one of the best things in the world is to get more parents out there bringing the game to young kids. Engage the parents early and they're more likely to support their kids and the league if everyone is having a fun and enriching experience.

I was at the NorCal meeting last night and was amazed by the number of people who are stuck doing it the old way.

 

[team mom]

Our rec leaugue has 7 players on a team in T-ball. Each team bats through the lineup each inning. Balls rarely make it to the outfield at this age, so this keeps boredom to a minimum. You still have the girls playing in the dirt in the infield .

 

[chinamigarden]

My thought is that T-ball as a whole is practically useless. The boredom factor is so high for the kids.

I don't see the benefit to putting a 5 year old out there and tell them to completely ignore their 5 year old nature and stand in one place.

 

[Momo'sDad]

I'm a t-ball proponent for many reasons, but I readily admit that it isn't for everyone. Some of the best softball players out there don't even pick up a bat until they're 9 or 10, or maybe even slightly older, in some cases. If one girl starts playing at 5, and another starts playing at 9, then by age 12, they're often on relatively equal footing. They 7-year 'vet' may know more of the rules and nuances of the game, but in terms of the basic skills required to play, it could be hard to tell a difference.

But aside from getting girls learning about team concepts earlier in life, I also like bringing the parents into the sporting life as early as possible. Sure, it's great that parents get to cheer and that kids get to try to make their parents proud, but I want my kiddo to know that there's volunteer work involved in making sure she and her friends have an opportunity to play. The monetary costs are one thing, but I want mine to know how important it is to contribute her time and talents.

The t-ball itself is important to me with respect to strengthening a league, but when you really think about it, there's a lot more that we're gaining than just softball.

 

[Arbie]

Our local athletic association has boys and girls playing t-ball together because our softball league does not have t-ball softball. They try to keep 10-11 players on a team. And sometimes we have 6 teams. It's just that popular in our area. We do not use a catcher. We have a parent standing back up against the fence to scoop any foul balls. We have a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd baseman, shortstop, and someone standing on the pitchers mound. The rest of the players are placed behind the bases, not out in the grass. And midway through the season, our coaches actually start pitching to the players. They give them 3 pitches to hit, then if they don't get a hit, they use the tee and let them hit off of it. This is a good way to get them used to hitting a pitched ball. And for goodness sake, don't take it too seriously. It's a good way to get the kids out of the house on Saturday morning, gives them some exercise AND social interaction with other kids. Plus the parents get to know other parents. My daughter started playing when she was 4 and she will be 13 this year and she still loves ball. Of the kids who played on her t-ball team, half of those kids are still playing either baseball or softball.

 

[starsnuffer]

T-ball is about a group of young kids outside having a blast while playing some softball. The kids are going to be as bored as the coaches let them, and they're also going to have as much fun as the coaches let them.

Trying to "teach softball" to a 5 year old is like teaching long division to a 5 year old. Sure, some kids may "get it" at that age, but just like math, "getting it" at a young age will not make them better at it when they're older.

The human brain develops in such a way that it is simply able to understand a particular concept when it is ready, and not before. It has been proven time and time again that learning something early (like reading or math) will not make a child "smarter" or "better" at the same thing 5 or 10 years down the road. In fact, the only thing that teaching such concepts early does is rob the children of their very childhood. Yay overachieving parents, way to go!

Make it fun, make everything about practice fun. 9 kids have much more fun together then 6 kids, that is why the teams are made that way, not because it makes more sense from a softball point of view. If it's fun, the kids will want to come back, and you know what, they'll learn softball just as a sheer accident, and they'll keep learning just as long as they keep having fun.

-W

 

[Rambler34]

In our 6U league we have three pitches from the coach and then two from the tee. At the midpoint of the season any girl who is moving up to 8U can no longer use the tee and get 5 pitches. All of the girls on the roster hit but only 10 play in the field. Normally teams only have 10-12 girls so this is not hard to manage. A inning ends when a team gets a maximum of ten batters or three outs. As suprising as it was to some on this forum there are all stars all the way up to a state tourney under the NSA sanction.

I made a mistake during my first year coaching of setting my expectations of my 6U team to low. I did not realize how much this age group could learn. Yes it needs to be fun but it can be done in a way that lets them build a foundation for the coming years. As the season went on the you could see it started clicking with the girls. They were beginning to understand the concept. That were as excited to make a out as they were getting a hit. I don't believe it was by accident. It's just like anything else, if we take them time to teach them they can learn. In each of the last two years we have thrown girls out at first from each position in the IF. If they are taught to field a ground ball and taught to throw all it takes in having a girl who can catch at 1B to be successful.

I know a couple of posters have said you do not need outfielders but we played with four. On my team alone the first year I had six girls that could put a ball into the grass including one that bounced one out for a ground rule double on a 125' field off coach pitch. Last season I had four that could hit one to the grass any time they came up to the plate. We had to teach the girls to play balls and throw to bases from out there. Granted I did not even approach the subject of hitting a cut off man but we would throw to 2B or 3B.

If coach pitch is not used at all a catcher would be useless. With coach pitch it is a good opportunity for girls to repeatedly catch and throw and be involved.