What's more valuable, practices or games?

[PJR202]

we did struggle at 16u to get everyone there, between jobs and the fact that after the 3rd week in june, high school sports can practice (soccer/FH/XC/basketball) - so i get it, but 3 is rough

Yep, and especially with a tournament that weekend...lol. I would let my daughter play travel if she wanted to, but I'm really glad she doesn't have any interest.

 

[claudecw3]

Practice with a Purpose. Mindless drills help with muscle memory. Like a robot. What players lack today is softball IQ. The game within the game. Situational awareness. Some kids just have it and other kids don't.

Station to Station base running vs taking the extra base without the coach telling you do so. Fake throw to get a base runner cheating and tag them out. Kids don't take chances. They wait for the coach for instruction.

I agree with much of what you say. Practice improves skills. Games improve softball IQ. When our daughter started practicing 11-12 months out of the year around age 11 her skills improved dramatically. When we finally agreed to let her start playing tournament ball around age 14 her softball IQ improved exponentially.

BTW- what part of Texas are you in?

 

[D500]

During practice I like to save the last 20-30 minutes for 'practice games'. We almost always end up playing 'workup' with the coach pitching. Batters get to hit and run the bases, players get to play different positions and the coaches get to dissect plays after they happen and explain strategy. I think the game is also called scrub. The kids love it. The main weakness is that pitchers and catchers generally don't get to play their positions.

I'm 100% for this. DD plays catcher and outfield, I want her to be in the different positions (would be great to learn the strategies behind 3rd) for flexibility.

 

[claudecw3]

The game only, win all cost, I don't care about your kid coaching is one thing that really chaps my hide in youth sports. I assume it's original value was just to get in front of recruiters where the purpose is for the player to show off rather than develop. But Patty Gasso isn't showing up for 10-14U to my knowledge.

I'd rather ask a more nuanced question on what the ratio of practice to games should be. My opinion of my DD's career has been too game heavy. Games are not a safe place to fail. But then no time is taken to walk through what proper action should look like.

Oh - and I do think that warmups ARE practice. They SHOULD have a purpose. I feel like I am shouting into the abyss with that one too. lol

I agree with the nuance. It really depends how we define practice. Team practice isn't as necessary as individual practice. Please don't misunderstand what I am saying. There are things that cannot be practiced without the team, but the ratio of reps taken individually are going to increase as competition increases.

 

[tim_s]

Yep, and especially with a tournament that weekend...lol. I would let my daughter play travel if she wanted to, but I'm really glad she doesn't have any interest.

our last year together at 16u, once summer sports started, we tried to have one full team practice a week, and then i would schedule one morning and one evening session, for individual work/hitting/feedback sessions, and asked girls to make (1) sessions at least......it tended to work, but it was tough.....most of mine were multi sport athletes, so they tended to have one sport M/W night and another T/Th night........there is nothing worse than having kids not being able to practice softball in the summer because they had basketball games lol

 

[Orange Socks]

I agree with much of what you say. Practice improves skills. Games improve softball IQ. When our daughter started practicing 11-12 months out of the year around age 11 her skills improved dramatically. When we finally agreed to let her start playing tournament ball around age 14 her softball IQ improved exponentially.

BTW- what part of Texas are you in?

Houston