10u travel players wanting to play rec ball

[Passion4theGame]

I just want to get some feedback from some coaches here on this subject.
This is my opinion and feelings on this subject and maybe I'm wrong and that's OK.
If a 10u travel player wants to play rec ball she should want to challenge herself and parents should want her challenged at a 12u rec level instead of a 10u rec level. Why I feel a 10u travel player should play up is 1 its rec ball and you are getting the experience for the following season. 2 you get to see better pitching at 12u. 3 if the entire 10u travel team is playing up its only going to help them in the future. We had a few girls play rec ball at 10u off of our '04 team and their timing was off, their batting average went down (because they where looking for the walk), they all (Parents) decided they are pitchers now and its just frustrating. By mid travel season these girls where burnt out. Mind you our travel team played a total of 74 games so these few girls played upwards of 90 games. We have 7 returning girls to our team and one is choosing not to play with us because we said no 10u rec period. They are all playing fall ball 12u together and if the travel league folds in the spring we will play 12u if they want to play rec. I'm just trying to think ahead for these kids. Again maybe I am absolutely wrong for this thought and that's OK. That's why I am asking coaches and or parents for input and feedback.

Thanks,
Jeff
Lancaster KAOS '04

 

[coachtomv]

Coach,
My take is that playing rec is tough. As you noted it can really hurt batting, wide open strike zones, waiting for walks, very slow pitching that screws with timing, etc.

If they are a true pitcher, then yes it can be very beneficial. My DD played rec the past 2 seasons to get more mound time and it helped a ton with being able to pitch without pressure, new pitches, working on spots, etc. That being said I had her work only on left handed bunts, slapping, etc so it did not mess up her swing. However, I was also the coach so there were no conflicting instruction, signs were the same, footwork, etc.

All depends on the league also, playing up is cool, but 10u-12u you also have the mound distance and ball changes to confuse them or mess with timing, whatever, as well. And some leagues are very competetive with alot of travel players and some not so much. Then there are the rec coaches teaching bad habits, etc...

I'd prefer my players to not play rec, especially after 10u, unless they are pitchers, it can do alot of harm. I do understand wanting to be apart of the local community and building a rep for High School, noone gets their name in the local paper for winning in travel, but win a rec tourney and your a super star locally, lol.

Good luck.

 

[Passion4theGame]

Thank you Coach. Very valuable information. I agree if they are working those certain things and the rec 10u is competitive (which ours is not). I will take the info you gave me and think the playing up at 12u worrying about, ball, pitching distance, timing, ect. Thanks again.

 

[wow]

This is the question of the year... Everyone at 10U has an opinion on this. Here is mine. first you need to ask yourself.. What do I want to accomplish with playing rec? If you want playing time and that alone. Its fine. Quantity is not as good as quality. There are many levels of 10u travel ball. Its not created equal. The best 10U pitchers are 50+ and you will generally not find that that type of speed, or movement for that matter, at the rec level. Most everything about rec is slower, and that does not help the travel player. If you are a pitcher and just need innings and striking out rec kids helps with confidence have at it...

I see too many kids who are mediocre at travel BUT are superstars in rec.. VERY hard to be stud in travel without putting in serious time.

Its the age old question: "Would you rather win against a bad team or lose to a good one?" Player better is the only way to get better.

 

[Passion4theGame]

Really good points.
Thanks!

 

[coachtomv]

This is the question of the year... Everyone at 10U has an opinion on this. Here is mine. first you need to ask yourself.. What do I want to accomplish with playing rec? If you want playing time and that alone. Its fine. Quantity is not as good as quality. There are many levels of 10u travel ball. Its not created equal. The best 10U pitchers are 50+ and you will generally not find that that type of speed, or movement for that matter, at the rec level. Most everything about rec is slower, and that does not help the travel player. If you are a pitcher and just need innings and striking out rec kids helps with confidence have at it...

I see too many kids who are mediocre at travel BUT are superstars in rec.. VERY hard to be stud in travel without putting in serious time.

Its the age old question: "Would you rather win against a bad team or lose to a good one?" Player better is the only way to get better.

I do not mean to pick a fight, but have issues with this statement: "If you are a pitcher and just need innings and striking out rec kids helps with confidence have at it... ".

Thats not the point. Not about ego or confidence in striking out rec kids. A pitcher needs mound time against batters, with defense, hitting spots, working on new pitches, hopefully learning how to be a leader, etc. Travel games and coaches are way too worried about each win, even scrimmages, to let young pitchers develop correctly. Being a pitcher is one of the hardest things a young athlete can strive to be. When they can get a possible full 7 innings a game vs being pulled after a couple walks in the first inning of a 0-0 game, the experience for a young pitcher is well worth it.

I am speaking from experience with my DD and the pitchers I have coached.

Thx.

 

[wow]

I have walked a similar path. My experience was rec had our pitcher going the entire game with one or two hits and striking out a majority of batters. Then the weekend came and batters teed off on her. The was little to no benefit seeing mound time against batters who are conditioned to be walked. Most rec kids see poor pitching and are looking to walk. Heck we saw coaches at rec where they told kids NOT to swing! My point was the inconsistency of rec is tough to reconcile with the rigor of travel. just my .02....

 

[Passion4theGame]

I agree if they are pitchers using rec for more mound time. In this case I am speaking of fielders who are travel ball starters going and playing 10u rec. Each girl had great batting averages and obp before they started playing 10u rec then we noticed bad habits and a huge decline at the plate. Very discouraging. All of a sudden they are trying to swing heavier bats and dropping the back side and just all out of wack. Us as a coaching staff want to put a no 10u rec ball in our parent player agreements for next season. Is this a bad thing to do?

 

[wow]

No I don't think so. If your are looking at a batting standpoint than certainly no benefit from rec. The pitching is night/day. The timing is way off and the not to mention the type of pitches being thrown in travel vs rec. That is one question I ask the coach each year and if we have kids playing rec and travel, its not for us. I am not saying there is no value in rec, but for me saw bad habits form, lack of intensity, and reduced tempo...

 

[Passion4theGame]

Wow thank you!! We witnessed all of that from the few girls we had playing rec! You couldn't of said it any better. We are now in a situation where one out of all the returning girls the parent just thinks its nonsense we don't want our travel girls to play 10u rec.

 

[the cynic]

IMO the hump on the pitch at 10u rec can help correct some flat swings

 

[CARDS]

What we did at that age was take our whole team to play in a weeknight summer league that had a mix of A/B travel teams and some rec. teams.
This gets an opportunity for players to get more time in game situations without having players playing on three or four different teams.
Our first year of 10U with the HEAT we had mostly 8-9U players so, we did play 10U. After that first year we played up at 12U for a couple years and then went to 16U.

There are not as many parks offering summer leagues like there was when we were 10/12U but if you look you can find one.

Another thing we did was get in tight with a couple Catholic churches when the ladies got older and played in the SOGFSA under their name in the High School division with our team.
The trade off was helping bring in younger players and helping the other coaches with practice routines etc for their rec. teams.
Good way to get extra games in and help out on the recreational side of things as well.

 

[FastBat]

I think 10U girls just like to play with their friends. The majority of 3 or 4th graders play rec (good or bad)!

 

[gindles]

to me the whole point of travel at any age is to get away from rec ball

 

[CARDS]

to me the whole point of travel at any age is to get away from rec ball

True to a certain extent..
Softball has to be fun for the girls and let face it 8 to 10 year old players are playing to have fun… they need to play to get better and if they can play better teams they do get better along with some better instruction...

I was watching some 10u this past weekend in-between our games at Beavercreek. The kids were having a blast but, outside of nice uniforms the play was not a whole lot better than our local recreational teams…
Maybe a little better but; not so much that a solid rec. team could not compete… I would say that is the case more often than not at that level...

 

[Passion4theGame]

Some good point here. I appreciate the input and feedback. I understand at this age they want to play with their friends and have fun. I just don't get a parent wanting to keep their DD down at a 10u rec level when they gain nothing from it. missing travel practices due to a rec game (we had one girl constantly missing due to rec games) and she was a starter in the infield not a pitcher. Of course Dad coached the rec team (I will answer that before you ask) the other 2 girls that played rec made our travel team top priority by never missing a practice or Wednesday night travel league game or a tournament. It wasn't a situation where they wanted more field time or we where losing every tournament game (our team played 9 tournaments won 2 of them placed in 4 of them) combined record with travel league included of 53-21-1 so I just can't figure out why they choose to stay down at 10u rec. Not sure what they gain besides a lower batting average and bad habits that our coaching staff tried to fix every week day in and day out. After our season was over we sat down with all the eligible girls and parents that can come back and play next season at 10u (7 or 8) and made it clear no 10u rec due to these issues and every parent agreed except for one. So maybe losing one over this situation is not so bad?? Thanks for all the solid input. This has helped us out.

Thanks,
Jeff
Lancaster KAOS '04