Houston area 10U teams: Diluted Talent?

[loveofthegame]

Way too many teams in this division. It seems the parents/coaches can't get along with one another. Is this normal???

[GO REBS]

From my 10u experience i would have to answer Y E S ! ! !

GO REBS

[Joe]

Way too many teams in this division

Yes, this is absolutely tragic...that so many 9 and 10 year olds want to play. ASA, USSSA, AFA, USFA should all address this immediately before it too late!

[stuitup]

Yes, it is normal. Most of the coaches in 10u think there DD's are the best thing since sliced bread and don't want to consolidate talent with the fear that there is someone out there better. Then they run the risk of either playing "daddy ball" because they are playing their daughter in front of someone better or ticking some parent off that "thinks" their DD should be playing certain positions.

I am not saying that there are too many teams in the 10 division. If the kids and parents want to play tournament ball, then more power to them. They just have to be realistic when it comes to their DD's talent level.

[soreshins]

My experience has been that it gets worse in 12U than in 10U. An assistant coach or dugout dad, goes through 2 years of 10U and figures "I can do this" and takes his daughter and three or four of her friends and creates a new team. Instead of having one good first year 12U team you have 2 mediocre or bad 12U teams.

Both the original team and the new team are on the anouncement boards every week from November to May needing "2 or 3 players to fill out our roster." A few years ago, you could go on Eteamz every week and find the same 5 or 6 12U teams crying for players. It would seem logical that those teams would try to combine to make a whole team, but it rarely happens.

[HAMMER]

If coaches or parents are trying to prepare there DD for the next level (HS,18gold, College) they need to realize that the coaches at that level could care less if the parents get along or wear DD has played since she was in t-ball. They look at what skills the girl has and wear she fits to help them in the scheme they are trying to play. Most of the true skills developed are from repetition of working on drills from an early age on. Playing on the weekends in good competitive tournaments teach them the game and to think the game. If Parents would teach DD to respect the game and that they have to earn playing time with commitment and hard work, they would enjoy the game and the rewards would be immeasurable. If the parents or players on your team don't want to compete for there position they are probably not the type of girls that you need to play with, if your DD is trying to play at the highest level. By rewarding DD with playing time from hard work and commitment is a strange concept for allot of parents and coaches at the younger ages. The time I have spent with my DD in the back yard and at the softball field with no one around but us, has been the best and I will always remember it, and so will she. I will always expect her to compete for her job on the field (and off) no matter what level she plays. When she has success we both enjoy it, and all the burses and scars on my shins from when she was not as accurate are worth it.

[GO REBS]

If Parents would teach DD to respect the game and that they have to earn playing time with commitment and hard work, they would enjoy the game and the rewards would be immeasurable. I will always expect her to compete for her job on the field (and off) no matter what level she plays.

So you are telling me that my daughter can learn lessons about life through softball!!!!
Thats so CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!

GO REBS

[loveofthegame]

Okay, good point about teaching DDs (what does that stand for? Darling Daughter??) respect for the game, dedication, commitment and hard work but it is very difficult to find that in 10 year old girls. My limited exposure has shown me that it is most often the parents' dream to be the best-not necessarily the kids' dream.

I'm lucky, my daughter does enjoy practice and has become very competitive, but there are many times she would rather not miss a birthday party or a trip to the mall with friends.

I'm guessing this is normal too, right??? How do you keep them engaged in the sport and still happy about doing it. Is there a safe balance for this age? They are not being recruited yet for college, so my thought is too not monopolize every weekend in the spring for softball tourneys.

Thoughts or ideas on how to keep the game fun for this age??

[smmartin]

Here is my take on the whole deal. We just moved up from 10u to 12u so i was just there. From my stand point you kind of are being recruited for college and heres why. If your daughter is really serious about playing college ball at some point very soon being on the feild will become more important than going to birthday parties and things like that. That started for my daughter last year. I never forced her to play she just one day had to make a choice and it was play and she hasnt looked back. Not every kid will decide so soon and some ( no matter how bad mommy and daddy want them to) will never. Now on being recruited there are orginizations that have better track records for getting their kids in college than others so you want to try to get them in those orginizations as soon as possible but understand if your daughter is not ready to trully commit 99% of her free time to practicing or playing this might not be the place for her yet. There are alot of great one team orginizations out there but there are also orginizations that get alot of their players college commitment. My personel opinion is i would rather have a full ride to school than a 10u or 12u national title and have the orginization break up a year later. So there truly is no right answer just whatever you think is best for your dd cause you are her #1 fan and agent.

[SoftballG]

@ being recruited for college @ 12u, it's going to take alot more than an organizations name to get recruited buddy, your DD has to have talent first of all, play in all the right exposure tournaments and YOU as a parent have to actively recruit for her..