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Keep encouraging her because in the end she will value your opinion over anyone else's. Speed,power are nothing without heart!
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My daughter was really small at 12U and while she's still the shortest on her 16U team she's caught up more with her peers. Size really doesn't matter in fastpitch. Encourage your daughter to keep working hard because that does matter.
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This thread did not turn out to be what I thought it might be about. ;&
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I'am a big Redsoxs fan look at thier second baseman Dustin Pedroa,he is like only 5'6" and he is play MLB.Let's see rookie of the year,MVP and made the all-stars.He puts on the laser show.My dd is 12yro and 5'2" she loves Dustin has the same #15 on her TB team and she puts on her own laser show,size does not matter it is what is inside.
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Size doesn't matter its heart, determination, and skills. From what u said she has all that.
A fav quote of mine is from Lou Holtz:
"speed kills, if you aren't recruiting it your chasing it.":lmao: its very true!
A fav quote of mine is from Lou Holtz:
"speed kills, if you aren't recruiting it your chasing it.":lmao: its very true!
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There is no height barrier in softball. I've seen several DI college teams and was underwhelmed by the average team height (always figured they would be giants).
Real problem is probably strength right now. Doesn't hurt her offensively now, if she is fast at that age team defense is terrible and even most slow kids could bunt there way on. There will come a time where she will need to either be a triple threat at the plate (bunt, slap, hit away) or have to be really, really fast to be effective as a small ball only player, but that's several years out. The real problem is on defense. When you tell me she can play 2B and can range in CF well my BS meter says what your really saying is that she can field but she can't throw very hard and there really is no position that a coach wants to have a kid that can't throw hard, there are jsut some places where it hurts you the least (like 2B and CF). Even those spots lack of arm can really hurt your team defense and if she gives up more runs defensively than she scores offensively that's a problem. Good news is that you don't need to add 20 lbs of muscle to throw harder. You do need to build up arm strength and improve technique, but that's acheivable.
"IF" you get her arm strength up to the point where you can tell me that she does as good a job at SS and 3B as she does at 2B then I doubt anyone will maintain that she needs to get bigger to get better.
Real problem is probably strength right now. Doesn't hurt her offensively now, if she is fast at that age team defense is terrible and even most slow kids could bunt there way on. There will come a time where she will need to either be a triple threat at the plate (bunt, slap, hit away) or have to be really, really fast to be effective as a small ball only player, but that's several years out. The real problem is on defense. When you tell me she can play 2B and can range in CF well my BS meter says what your really saying is that she can field but she can't throw very hard and there really is no position that a coach wants to have a kid that can't throw hard, there are jsut some places where it hurts you the least (like 2B and CF). Even those spots lack of arm can really hurt your team defense and if she gives up more runs defensively than she scores offensively that's a problem. Good news is that you don't need to add 20 lbs of muscle to throw harder. You do need to build up arm strength and improve technique, but that's acheivable.
"IF" you get her arm strength up to the point where you can tell me that she does as good a job at SS and 3B as she does at 2B then I doubt anyone will maintain that she needs to get bigger to get better.
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I tought my dd was little,seems like every team we play are all tall;&5-2 @ 12? A giant compared to my 4-7 12year old.
Maybe size does matter.
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My daughter was very small when she was 11 and 12 (maybe 4' 7"). She recognized that she was overlooked a bit because of her size. She had coaches that told her to work only on slapping because she wouldn't be able to hit for power. She had pitching instructors who said she couldn't pitch at a high level because her hand was to small.
But she loved the game. She worked very hard on every aspect of her game and we encouraged her quite a bit. She also had other coaches (ex. Don Catalfu - Cincinnati Elite) and instructors (Howard Carrier, Doug Gillis) who didn't care about her size and taught her how to use her abilities to the fullest. She did eventually grow some and she ended up 5'4".
She just finished her college career at Ohio U, where she pitched for 3 years and was their # 3 hitter for 4 years. She did quite well for a small player.
Size does matter but it is by far not the only factor. Your daughter can succeed as much as her ability and determination will take her. Even if she doesn't end up playing high level ball or college ball someday, the lessons she will learn as a 12 year old, overcoming the perceptions of some that she is just a small player, perservering and becoming a better player because she wants to and because she loves the game, will be very important toward her development as a good person.
Encourage her and enjoy the ride.
But she loved the game. She worked very hard on every aspect of her game and we encouraged her quite a bit. She also had other coaches (ex. Don Catalfu - Cincinnati Elite) and instructors (Howard Carrier, Doug Gillis) who didn't care about her size and taught her how to use her abilities to the fullest. She did eventually grow some and she ended up 5'4".
She just finished her college career at Ohio U, where she pitched for 3 years and was their # 3 hitter for 4 years. She did quite well for a small player.
Size does matter but it is by far not the only factor. Your daughter can succeed as much as her ability and determination will take her. Even if she doesn't end up playing high level ball or college ball someday, the lessons she will learn as a 12 year old, overcoming the perceptions of some that she is just a small player, perservering and becoming a better player because she wants to and because she loves the game, will be very important toward her development as a good person.
Encourage her and enjoy the ride.
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Your good... I will be the first to admit that her arm can always use some improvement. But she can make those throws. It's just that she uses her entire body as opposed to the big girls. More than anything, I wouldn't put her at SS because I think a SS needs to be taller to snag fly balls that are hit right over the SS head. Honestly, it's not her arm that keeps her from SS or 3rd, it's her jump. We are working on agility to give her some vertical. Could she get there? Absolutely! But it's going to take some work. We will be working with a speed and agility trainer this fall. She can make the throw from CF to home plate. Just wish is looked effortless.
As a side note... yes she's good at small ball, but she hits it to the green too. She may not be hitting over the fence, but it's nice to have her line-drives over the 3rd basemans head. It does the job.
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99% of coaches do not pick out a SS or 3B by vertical fielding ability or height. For SS especially it's horizontal range, fielding, and the ability to throw quickly and hard a long way. I really am trying to help you see something here, again when you say she can make the throw but uses her whole body that sounds like she needs to step into a crow hop to throw from the hole to 1B. The premium is on glove to glove time if takes an extra 2 seconds for her to go from fielding to delivery because she has to make an outfield style throw from SS then she has an arm strength issue and agility training and 3 more inches of vertical jump won't make it go away. It may look like a good throw when it's in the air, but if the wind up takes to long she won't throw anyone out. Having a bigger arm probably opens up 6 of the 7 normal positions to her (coaches do like tall 1B and vertical range there is a need) Pitcher or Catcher need other skill development obviously. Right now she's limited to the 2 positions that everyone who can play at all can play and that is why coach is giving you the "I wish she was bigger" I'm telling you that a bigger arm makes that comment go away and I'm guessing coach is already probably happy with her speed and range but just wants to be able to utilize her more freely in other spots.
Personally I'd prefer to put a shorter infielder on the left side all other things being equal because second base ends up covering 1B on bunts and that's one time where being a bigger target and being able to field a higher wild throw is a real advantage.
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on the racers--Kelly Montalvo, Taylor Sclopy-- these ladies dont look all that tall and they ge PAID for playing ball.
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What she doesn't have in physical size she sounds like she makes up in heart, drive, and desire, you can't coach those, those are ingrained early. Good Luck in oyur future.
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I thought I heard somewhere that Kat is a nurse?? And you know what they say about those nurses...
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It's not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog
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I thought I heard somewhere that Kat is a nurse?? And you know what they say about those nurses...
I believe the term is prurient, lol.
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No, I believe the term is dirty mind!!
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No, I believe the term is dirty mind!!
lmao! you know how I do, doll.
Sorry for the hijack...carry on.
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Hornet, Be careful what you wish for. LOL
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