Winter practice attendance

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There have been a lot of studies about overuse injuries due to sport specialization, especially at younger ages. I suggest you do a google search and educate yourself. I'll paste one article but I know that there are many. Year round softball at 10U is not a good idea.

Overuse Injuries

Volleyball or basketball is big difference from throwing pitching and working on your swing 2 hrs a week year round. You guys act like we play 52 tournaments a year week after week. I guess all the kids that shoot free throws every day and become amazing shooters are all over worked and have wrist injuries. All the parents that have their DD in pitching lessons 1-2 week year round all have injuries around the corner? The article you provided is far from the scope of our practice Bustos said you have to put in 10,000 hrs to master a swing. little hard to achieve when your starting when your kids is 16 yrs old.
So when yout DD says hey dad after dinner can we play catch, take out your log of how many throws shes had that week and say " sorry dear your over your limit for the week".

As long as my DD has the drive and passion to work hard i'll be here to support her efforts. I wont pawn off my views of hard work on your DD's because its obvious in this country some people are just soft in nature. No one can judge when a kid is too young or slow or short to do something except them. Ive taught my DD don't ever let someone tell you that you cant achieve what you have you mind set on NOBODY. If you want to be great you have to put in the work.

My mistake and thank you all for pointing it out, is to demand the same work ethic and dedication of all my players at such a young age. I took for granted what I have at home. My DD brushes her teeth, says her prayers and does 25 push ups and sit ups on her own every night. In gym she could'nt do 1 so she started at night each night. Once she hit 10 she was hooked on it and it has continued since last winter.

Spoiled but more of it is how proud I am that she has the drive she does and is a straight A student, and I guess I was out of line expecting that from others on my team.

Did I mention I make my players bring me a copy of their report cards too? I can just imagine the comments now

 

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Did I mention I make my players bring me a copy of their report cards too? I can just imagine the comments now

Think it is a great thing for them to get used to!!!!! We do this as well and have for all 3yrs!!

 

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Volleyball or basketball is big difference from throwing pitching and working on your swing 2 hrs a week year round.

Maybe you didn't read this part of the article:

In the past 10 years, there has been a fivefold increase in the number of severe elbow and shoulder injuries in youth baseball and softball players alone.[SUP]10[/SUP] This is a growing epidemic that cannot be ignored.

But you know best.

 

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Dang, I guess that my DD broke her wrist a couple of years ago from skating was because she is a one sport athlete. KNEW IT!

 

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Dang, I guess that my DD broke her wrist a couple of years ago from skating was because she is a one sport athlete. KNEW IT!

LOL, I just amazes me. Maybe kids that study to hard will get brain damage? Better put them I a dark room with no stimulation to rest. BAHAHAHAHA

 

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Bunch of hypocrites if you ask me. The same people saying oh they are 10 they don't need to practice, are the same people that their DD's seen the little league world series on TV and said "Daddy could I play on TV one day?" And what did you say, "baby if you work hard and put your mind to it you can do anything".

Yeah thought so.

 

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Nobody is saying being a single-sport athlete is necessarily bad. What's bad is to force a kid to be a single-sport athlete.

 

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Nobody is saying being a single-sport athlete is necessarily bad. What's bad is to force a kid to be a single-sport athlete.

I agree, an you guys have opened my eyes to it.

 

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Glad your DD has the drive - but cannot assume other kids at her age will have it right away - may take a year, or two or may never want it bad enough. Took my DD to have a down season on a very poor team to want to work harder and harder to turn things around and undo some things from her last season...... Coaches can do wonders for a player and they can tear apart a player so be careful in your approach.

 

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Coach, I understand your angst but if we can please go back to the very first post in this thread. You said that you told these families at tryouts that there would be "winter workouts" and that "winter workouts" was in the contract that the family signed. Did the contract spell-out just what the winter workouts would entail? At the tryout, how was "winter workouts" addressed? Did you go into just how much time that you were looking at?

To a first year travel parent, how would they interpret "winter workout"?

Just wondering. I'm trying to look at it from both sides of the fence.

 

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Coach, I understand your angst but if we can please go back to the very first post in this thread. You said that you told these families at tryouts that there would be "winter workouts" and that "winter workouts" was in the contract that the family signed. Did the contract spell-out just what the winter workouts would entail? At the tryout, how was "winter workouts" addressed? Did you go into just how much time that you were looking at?

To a first year travel parent, how would they interpret "winter workout"?


Just wondering. I'm trying to look at it from both sides of the fence.

2-3 practices a month is what was discussed, and the players in question are not 1st year. Actually non of my players are under the 3 year mark for travel ball. They all know what it is about and left other places to become Hawks for the amount of resources we give the players. Now that its the time to train now its too much. After all of your help, I called all my parents advising them that ME and MY DD will be at practice every week. If you show up great your DD will be a better player for it if they have other commitments then so bit but I will not force the training. We have private instructors come in during the winter and the only manditory prac will be the days that the instructors are there because it was budgeted into their fees.

 

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Thats the best approach to make IMO. Ive made this same approach for the past 7 years and it seems to work. At seasons end you will know who to keep & cut. As far as a single sport athlete goes, my DD made the choice at 9. She has played ball since she was 6 and it is her love and passion. She wears me out, not the other way around. She played sokker, hated it, liked b-ball, but she is a little shorty and you know that height helps in that sport. I asked her about v-ball and she said, why, I would rather work on pitching and hitting. Dad, you know I want to play in college and it takes alot of work. Now, my oldest DD gave up the game when she was 13. As soon as she started playing music, nothing else mattered. I preach to my girls to love what they do and to do what they love, I just can't help it that my youngest is a fastpitch addict. I guess I'm blessed!

 

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Thats the best approach to make IMO. Ive made this same approach for the past 7 years and it seems to work. At seasons end you will know who to keep & cut. As far as a single sport athlete goes, my DD made the choice at 9. She has played ball since she was 6 and it is her love and passion. She wears me out, not the other way around. She played sokker, hated it, liked b-ball, but she is a little shorty and you know that height helps in that sport. I asked her about v-ball and she said, why, I would rather work on pitching and hitting. Dad, you know I want to play in college and it takes alot of work. Now, my oldest DD gave up the game when she was 13. As soon as she started playing music, nothing else mattered. I preach to my girls to love what they do and to do what they love, I just can't help it that my youngest is a fastpitch addict. I guess I'm blessed!

You and me both

 

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Picking up on what wvanalmsick said above, it seems to me there are two issues in this thread. One, whether it's a good idea for 10-U players to make softball a priority year-round. Almost everyone has said it's a bad idea. Two, whether parents should be expected to live up to the expectations spelled out in the literature when they agreed to have their daughter join a team. This assumes the expectations were clear and specific. A general statement of "there will be winter practices" is not clear on what the expectations will be in terms of attendance.

I don't know what the contract indicated, but if it was clear and specific as to practice expectations, I'm wondering why people would agree to it if they had no expectation of upholding their end? No matter what anyone thinks of mandatory winter practice for 10-year-olds, if Coach Ferrigno was clear and specific in the contract, then I think that he - and more important the other families on the team who have abided by the terms - has every right to be upset if other families aren't following the terms of the deal.

If Coach Ferrigno was vague in the contract and someone reading it wouldn't know for sure what was expected with regard to winter practice attendance, then there is no point in even beginning to complain about girls missing practice. The fault lies with the lack of specificity for the requirements of being on the team.

One thing I have learned in many years of coaching and running an organization is that you have to tell people - including many adults - exactly what you want and expect. Otherwise, what you want is almost guaranteed to not happen. If you want a Single with Cheese, Tomato and Mustard from Wendy's, you had better slowly say - as I do - "I would like a Single with Cheeeese, Toe-May-Toe (with emphasis on the Ts) and Mustard," or else you're getting a Single with or without cheese, gobs of mayo and maybe mustard as the order taker will have fallen behind by the time you say mustard. Cynical, perhaps, but still true.

 

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Having it in writing is especially important. Then you can simply say: "Please refer to the Team Agreement, paragraph 3 section 1". But I have known coaches who didn't want to make it so formal. But honestly, I though having that document showed a commitment from both parties.

And about Wendy's - I don't care how clearly I speak - they always see me coming. I honestly think English has become the secondary language at our local Wendy's.

 

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36-6??? They hardly even played a season. We played over 60 games last year at 10. Other 16u teams I know play over 100 games. Why did they play so little amount of softball? Just curious.

This record is for summer tournaments in June/July......and at 16u they also have in a full high school season.

Looks like they average about 5 games a week for 4-5 months out of a year....doesnt seem like "so little" to me.

 

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This record is for summer tournaments in June/July......and at 16u they also have in a full high school season.

Looks like they average about 5 games a week for 4-5 months out of a year....doesnt seem like "so little" to me.

I stand corrected

 

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When all else fails can't you just turn green, bust outta your shirt and pants and go all Hulk on those parents and kids??!!

(Hold the boos!)

 

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When all else fails can't you just turn green, bust outta your shirt and pants and go all Hulk on those parents and kids??!!

(Hold the boos!)

Lmao