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How many different sports does your kid play? What is everyone's opinion on playing sports other than softball.

We are entering 7th grade and I can see playing other sports being a problem(time) with her Travel Ball team.

Do most girls by the time they enter high school focus on only softball.

I've talked to some parents who say, "Their daughter doesn't even play high school softball." Focus only on Travel Ball. What's your opinion on this?

Then others say, "Playing other sports make a good athletic foundation and helps with burnout."

 

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My Daughter is going into 8th grade. She played basketball ****** and softball untill she was 11, then she went to Basketball and softball. Now this year she is wanting to dedicate it all to softball. She is a pitcher and goes to her pitching coach all winter long. Maybe if she was not a pitcher she would have more time, but if you want to be good at it you need to practice. This winter we can be involved with softball five days a week easy.

As far as High School, my daughter wants to play, but we both know the importance of travel ball. I made it my "mission" to talk talk to as many girls as I can who received scholarships for softball. They all mentioned it, but I remeber the one telling me when she had asked the college if they wanting to see her High Schools stats, they did not care, they wanted to see her travel ball stats. I have much more to learn about the path to give players an "oppurtunity" to have colleges look at them, but I feel I have learned a lot so far.

What I think would be great for any organization is to have parent/coaches of players who have received scholarshis to college; come have a "seminar" on that path for it. What they learned along the way, what not to do, where to go. I hear that you should go to the softball camps they have to offer. That is how one player I talked to was noticed and is going to that college on a scholarship.

Just my opinion.

 

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My junior to be has played 3 varsity sports since her freshman year. My freshman daughter also plays 3 sports.
This year my junior might cut it back to 2 and play more softball depending on what team we play on for next year.

Allot depends on school size. She has 47 girls in her class and each coach waits for the other one to be done with them.



Straightleg

 

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alotof our players are very good athletes and come from smaller schools where everyone wants a piece of them and honestly my dd likes to play different sports i think it all makes them more athletic.her 2 favorite sports are softball and ****** everyone puts it down but there is no better sport out there to help with speed and endurance.last year was her first year of basketball and i seen good improvements with her hand eye coordination from that.with that said i do believe at some point she will have to make one or two of them a priority.she is going into 7th grade as well,i dont think any kid should have to make a decision like that in jr.high let them play them all maybe in high school you can make a decision like that.i would also be curious to here from college players to see the path they took

 

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My dd played 3-4 sports thru middle school (softball, basketball, ******, volleball) ... it was crazy. She has settled in on softball & basketball for HS, and we also consider academics a sport too. To play at a high level in those three areas, she decided she needed the Fall for herself (and school, and travel basketball & softball outside of school) .... some kids can continue to do very well in multiple sports while some ned to focus, depending on abilities & the ultimate goals. Very individual thing.

Personally, I think multi-sport activity is a good thing mentally & athletically, even for a kid that wants to play a specific sport in college, as long as it is not hindering development in that "special" sport.

 

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My dd is a one sport kid, she will play High School ball also. She keeps busy all year with travel. I don't know how you parents do it with more then one. Travel keep us very busy.

 

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DD is also going into 7th grade. She has played Sokker, Volleyball, Jui Jitsu, along with Softball. Even tried cheer leading. She gave them up one by one as she started playing more competitive softball. Now, going into 7th and being able to play for the Jr. High team, she is playing volleyball again. I think it is important to play other sports as long as grades don?t suffer and parents and DD can handle the amount of time involved. It makes a well balanced athlete, keeps them active in the off-season and keeps them from getting burned out from playing just one sport all the time.

 

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My youngest DD is entering the 8th grade. I say play as many different sports as you can, as long as you can. As long as my DD wants to keep playing, can keep up with all her work (including academics) and as long as her mother and I can handle the time and financial issues (not an easy task, who needs to retire before the age of 90), I want her to play anything and everything that she wants to play. That includes band, choir and drama if she wants to. It is a huge time contraint on the family but we don't consider it a burden. I believe that all of these different activities will only make her a more well rounded and well adjusted young lady and it can only help her in the future. That being said, we have realized that it is has become impossible for us to manage multiple club/travel sports. She will be focusing on one year round sport and will play the others for her school teams. She currently plays softball pretty much year round and this year will agan play BBall and VBall and track in season for her school team. She is also in the band and is a straight A student. Her older sister is also a straight A student and is band, choir, drama and FCA. It is a difficult job to make it all happen, but it is well worth it to us. The benefits the girls receive far out weigh the effort that her mother and I put in. ( I say this knowing that this weekend is grown up weekend at the lake w/ no kids. We all deserve a break at some point)

 

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Daughter is 8th grade and still rolling along with.....................

Travel softball
League softball
8th grade volleyball
JO volleyball
8th grade basketball
Academic Challenge team
Now has discoverd boys BIGTIME!
Texting champ of Huron County - LOL!

 

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DD is also going into 7th grade. She has played Sokker, Volleyball, Jui Jitsu, along with Softball. Even tried cheer leading. She gave them up one by one as she started playing more competitive softball. Now, going into 7th and being able to play for the Jr. High team, she is playing volleyball again. I think it is important to play other sports as long as grades don?t suffer and parents and DD can handle the amount of time involved. It makes a well balanced athlete, keeps them active in the off-season and keeps them from getting burned out from playing just one sport all the time.

A stud catcher that knows Jui Jitsu...................YIKES! LOL!

 

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It seems a lot of people are saying, "Their daughter plays more than one sport." How does your travel ball team deal with multiple sports kid. Most high school team coaches will bench a kid if they miss just one practice. My daughter is starting the 7th grade. She currently is playing volleyball this fall. They practice everyday after school. We are currently luck that the softball team only practices on the weekends during school. Some of our kids travel two hours for the travel ball team. So weekends are the only times possible during school. We still have individual lessons of pitching and hitting during the week.

Again how does most of the softball teams deal with these issues. Will your softball coach bench your kid for missing practice for another sport game or practice?

I would like to hear more from some of the girls and parents with girls in college. What did they do? In hindsight would they done anything differently.

 

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DD only plays softball and thats all she wants.

On another note I had a 16U team last year that started in fall. I had 4 girls that never missed a practice or game. We had two fall torneys and 3 indoor tourneys. I was picking up subs every tourney due to either Basketball, Volleyball and Cheerleadingo) Not fun for a coach to have to rebuild every tourney eventually the team was disbanded by the "powers to be". I agreed because the commitment wasnt there. Only problem was that it punished 4 girls that were dedicated. If (and I say a big if) I hd a travel team this year I would almost ask for softball ONLY players, just makes fo a better team down the road

 

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DD is preparing to enter her senior year as a DI pitcher, and I'd be glad to share (or bore you with ) our complete experience from when she started playing softball! She earned a very generous athletic scholarship, which will allow her to begin her "after softball" career with very little debt. We developed a plan, which is readily available to anyone. Just ask or PM me and I'll be glad to share.

 

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DD is 1998 and plays softball: Travelball and OGSO, $occer (rec level), basketball and volleyball. If she were allowed, she would play football too (She envies her two brothers that play football and quite frankly, has a better arm than both of them - you should see the look on their faces when she thows a tight spiral )....as parents, it keeps us busy, especially since her brothers play multi-sports too, but hey- they are only young once...

 

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It varies from coach to coach, but my dd decided to quit one of her 3 sports in 8th grade so that made it easier. High school coaches generally will not tolerate missing their practices or games (in season) for anything but academics. DD had to talk to her travel softball coach before going out for h.s. volleyball this year because she knew h.s. coach wanted her to commit to volleyball 100% this fall if she played. She actually would have quit volleyball if softball coach would not allow her to miss any fall practices or clinics. Sometimes they will have to choose.

 

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Going into her Freshman year. The dd is down to 2 that she is very good at. Softball and sokker. She would run track , if she could. She is a runner. We have balanced it for years. Fall softball is the only conflict we run into.

 

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Hillbilly:

Make her give up the boys. Boys are bad.

 

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It seems a lot of people are saying, "Their daughter plays more than one sport." How does your travel ball team deal with multiple sports kid. Most high school team coaches will bench a kid if they miss just one practice. My daughter is starting the 7th grade. She currently is playing volleyball this fall. They practice everyday after school. We are currently luck that the softball team only practices on the weekends during school. Some of our kids travel two hours for the travel ball team. So weekends are the only times possible during school. We still have individual lessons of pitching and hitting during the week.

Again how does most of the softball teams deal with these issues. Will your softball coach bench your kid for missing practice for another sport game or practice?

I would like to hear more from some of the girls and parents with girls in college. What did they do? In hindsight would they done anything differently.

We never penalize. Always encourage "the other sports" cause usually they are playing them at a higher level and we get to take advantage of those other coaches, styles, and drills building them up for travel ball. Not all work this well but it's a basic model with exceptions being a rule as long as they are communicated. Fall ball... we are loose. Let them experience those other sports. Winter workouts... again, we adjust to meet all schedules and at times we have some give and take. Spring time... it's all us. Sometimes it causes us to lose talent, other times the decisions work in the teams favor. I haven't experienced this at the older ages but nevertheless... have to communicate. The team has to let all know expectations and be consistent and so far it's worked well!!! Hope that helps.

I would also like to add we require them to do well in school. Our 12u coach has them show report cards!!! I may start that this year too. Grades/school first... ball second!! They can miss anytime for a school assignment or activity. It's not even a question. Most of the girls are in private lessons of some sort so they more than make up for missing a practice.

 

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when my DD was in 7th and 8th, she played softball, travel softball, volleyball and indoor ******...she loves them all...we eventually dropped indoor softball, but volleyball is still going strong now that she is a sophomore...also, the committment level for junior high ball as opposed to second year 14 to first year 16 is big big big. Lots of indoor work, practices and tourneys..it went from, 2/3 of the year to all year in a heartbeat

 

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For serious softball players wanting to play other sports – I suggest the following that will minimize conflict with softball as well as to minimize the injuries that affect softball:

Competitive Tiddly Winks
Full Contact Haiku
Extreme Air Hockey
Interactive Solitaire Competition
Origami Base Martial Arts Competition
Team Thumb Wrestling