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Ridiculous tryouts

What's on your mind?

by SoftballKing71 » Mon Nov 10, 2014 8:19 pm

APG14 wrote:Pretty soon you will see tryouts for a two or 3 season deal haha


I heard of a team here that made you ink a 2 year commitment. You're behind the curve. Lol!
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by PDad » Fri Dec 19, 2014 9:36 am

The topic here is really overuse and proper rest, so I figured I'd resurrect it with the holiday break.

How much of a break are teams taking? How are you responding with personal workouts - increasing them or cutting back?
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by pitcher97mom » Fri Dec 19, 2014 11:28 am

With our SCA's team, my DD has been off since Surf City and the first practice will be Jan 3 with a friendly on the 4th. Since then she has gone once a week for pitching and batting but for the next 2 weeks she will be off from that also. In HS she was only doing conditioning with her team and will continue to go to the gym on her own to keep up on aerobic exercise and a little weights during the winter break - not sure if she is going to ask to get a catcher from time to time during break to work on pitching. But in the past, it hasn't been a problem with the time off taken. I know and have seen how it can affect players differently...But for her it works out well.
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by ron2691 » Sat Dec 20, 2014 7:43 am

The fact that we have not had much rain in the last few years has played a role in the past few fall seasons. With El Nino setting in these last few weeks, I don`t hear the girls complain about some forced time off. They`ll do what their parents and coaches ask of them however, I see relief in their eyes when the skies open up and fields shutdown. Gives them not just rest but time to be a kid on the weekends. Try to remember, they won`t be kids for much longer :(
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by slapperdad » Fri Dec 26, 2014 7:22 am

I've read thru most of this thread, I say parents are the culprits. Parents control it ALL. As a recovering TB coach and now a HS coach, I have to talk to young parents constantly about giving their kid a break. I usually see it about the end of their 12U year. The conversation usually goes something like:
TBP: I don't know what's going on with her. She hit/pitched great this summer, and this fall she can't hit/pitch her way out of a wet paper sack.
Me: How much time did she have off after nationals?
TBP: We didn't have time to take off, tryouts were the next week. We started going to pitching/hitting twice a week to get ready for the fall.
Me: Are you sure that's productive?
TBP: She's hitting/pitching so bad, we've upped to three trips a week to pitching/hitting instructor.
Me: Why don't you take a break? It's usually at this point I go into my diatribe about giving the kid a break. Some listen with good results, some don't and it continues a downward spiral. With my kid we took August off, then took off November and December with limited hitting starting in January. She's currently a soph in college, coming off a pretty good freshman year and as of December 26, hasn't touched a Softball since the end of September. She will start hitting with me after the first of the year, prior to going back to school and starting in earnest in mid January.
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by rbi » Fri Dec 26, 2014 10:19 am

Tryouts, Time off and Early commits seem to be the hot topic around here. We have parents crying foul about no time off because Spring/Summer teams tryouts now overlap with Fall Ball, and we have TB teams practicing and playing tourneys in January. We have coach's telling the parents to "take time off", but hey we practice 1st week of Jan and Tourney following weekend and if you miss it, it will not look good. Plus god for bid those college coachs will be wandering where the hell you are.

Tryouts at Thanksgiving time for Summer ball is insane BUT, its just like early commits if you dont snag them early they will be scooped up by someone else. ALTHOUGH i do think a few posters are right with the new 4/5 year guarantee's that schools are starting to abide by scholarship wise, it might push back some the 8th grade commits.

So, i guess as parents you need to make SURE you ask what the schedule is before you commit to a TB team now, along with all the other questions. That way you know before hand what you are getting into, as far as time off, so NOBODY can blame anyone.

I am a firm believer in time off to re-energize the mind and the body, this goes for all age groups. I am also a firm believer in the gym, the better shape you are in the less injury's will occur, and no better time to increase gym time than when your off the field. All you coachs take a poll of your HS or TB kids (ages 15 and up),and see which kids train in a gym regularly. I think you will be shocked at how few, and im not talking about once or twice a week on the treadmill, im talking about a legit softball structured training program.

IMO, Fall Ball needs to go away in both HS and TB, and we need to have a State HS Playoff for softball, very similar to how football is structured, except it will be 2 out of 3 in State Final, and regional finals will be 1 and done! Eliminate one of the pre-season or mid season tourneys so all schools abide by the max contacts allowed by section or CIF, and if your good enough to make a regional and/or state final, that will be held weekend prior to Memorial and State Finals Memorial weekend, with double header on Saturday and "IF" game on Sunday. Yes CIF would have to change the no contact rule on Sunday for State Finals, ALL at neutral sites. Following weekend, let the TB madness begin, 10 weeks of non stop TB is enough for everyone, players, parents, coachs, college coachs. AND, yes TB can still practice during HS season, twice a month. Now of course all 10 Sections in the state need to get on the same page, scheduling wise, that is where we need to start!

HS Softball conditioning, is a whole different conversation. For the rare few schools who have a legit program, and/or have EM type facility in your neck of the woods and use them, hats off to you. Your kids are very fortunate!

Bottom line is, in a 12 month span you should play no more than 40-50 games (pre HS age) and 60-70 games HS age, and have a minimum of 6-8 weeks off from games and practice. This helps "burnout", and keeps them "hungry"! Now gym work (including some tee work BUT no throwing*) should be pretty much year round by HS IMO if you want to be the complete ball player and less prone to injury.

*not going to touch pitchers as they are a whole different animal
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