8u team tired of playing same place!

I hear what you are saying...100 games a yr is crazy unless you get a paycheck to throw a ball (and I did that for a few years)

All I meant was no athlete can stay "local" until they are 14 and then expect to consistently go compete with the best on the eastern seabord. If you wait that long, its too late. Most girls are physically mature by that point anyway. Are there some examples? Maybe- but its the exception to the rule. I'm glad my 12 yr old has seen the best players from VA to AL so she knows where she needs to be at this juncture.

bottom line, as a dad and coach you had better be astute at knowing when to step on the accelerator and put the brakes on your kid playing

 

You are in the thinkest part of it right now and have a lot of emotional capital tied up with your opinion. I would like to hear your tempered comments when you daughter is 21 and just finishing up her career in softball.

Life is short... let them live it.

 

No truer words have ever been spoken. A few more words of wisdom, think long and hard and make sure it is your daughter's dream and not yours.

 

Why is it a group of TBR folks always revert to the faulty logic, that if you play a lot of travel ball that its the Dads motive and the player isn't the driving force...

 

Because sometimes it is true. Listen to the players talk to each other when they don't know you are listening. You may be surprised to learn that at 12 years old the water park is a bigger factor in why they are there than you would like to believe.

 

Dad, who played ball in college, what 8 yo knows which is their favorite sport?

 

If the player is indeed the "driving force", why would a dad need to be astute at knowing when to step on the accelerator and put the brakes on a kid playing? You are doing it because the kid wants to, right?

 

Metro is unique in the sense that he has/had a driving commitment to excellence in baseball. Through that commitment he accomplished goals that very few achieve. I have to assume his daughter has inherited that same drive.

But I don't have girls and my wife has taught me they are different than boys (go figure), so I have no idea that the same traits you look for in a promising male talent prospect are the same....or how a dd obtains it. But I do know if you don't challenge a stallion they will end up a clydesdale.

I do believe in burnout, but not because they play too much. They found they don't have the commitment as they get older. It's no different than the boys; they discover other things. But the one's that have that "special" drive don't look at all the practices and games as an inconvenience, but as pure unadulterated joy...and a way to get better, and that's what separates the college player from the HS player.

Having said all that, (when they reach 13+) I know I would want my DD to play 365 games a year...why, might you ask? ....simple....boys!!!!! and to keep them away.

 

I dont really think burnout is so much a result of playing too much but rather a realization that you were playing for the wrong reasons. There is no doubt that you might be able to recognise natural athletism in an 8, 9, or a 10 yo, but there is no way that a child that age has a real understanding about what they want to do with that natural talent.

 

I agree with you 100%