Want a World Series for your Kids?

you're kidding right

Ok, i've got to weigh in on this one. Guru and i spent much of the weekend with our heads together(which i might add means we probably had the sustained brain power total of one of these 6 year olds lol) figuring a way to make everything all right with the softball world. Well it all needs to start here. While being competitive is an essential part of the game, some folks out there take it a little too far. IMO 6 and 8 year olds should never step foot on a travel ball field. We have all heard the stories of Tiger Woods being born with a golf club in his hand and that his father drove him unmercifully from the time he was 4, and now everybody with a kid in a sport thinks that is the way to go to get your kids to succeed. 4 year olds running around with poop in their diapers and pads on beating on each other at Pop Warner games, and 6 year olds with a bat in there hands while there parents who paid $150 dollars for their kids to play in a 3 game guarantee are berating coaches, umps, players on their team and others is gonna do nothing but get kids hurt and burn them out at an early age. For the 1 Tiger there is probably 100,000 kids who not only hate the game they play but also hate their parents too for putting them thru the ordeal. Both of my kids play this great game of softball, one pitches and one catches. when they want to work i'll work with them. when they don't want to then i sit down and watch tv or play cards with them. You have to let a kid be a kid or they may grow up to be a bitter, mean adult who hates the game that they started out loving. I like everyone else here want what's best for my kids but there are times when i need to let them make those decisions on their own so they will grow up to be better people not players. With a 6 year old, pay your 100 bucks, let them play 16 games of rec ball and let them have fun and teach them the basics of the game. then let them decide if this is the game they like or maybe another sport is what they like. let them think about dolls and trucks, not whether their error cost their team the game or even their base hit won their team the game. But most of all be supportive of them and quit trying to live your life vicariously thru them. and for those of you still playing good luck and stay healthy.

 

Agreed!!

No need for travel ball before 12U. You can do all the skill building you need in the back yard and rec ball. If there's no softball put her in baseball. My DD "dominated" her male tee ball buddies to the consternation of the little boy's dads! Moved from rec baseball to rec softball and finally TB at age 12. Result . . . full ride D1 school. We "only" played TB for 6 years and, while we enjoyed it (good coaches & teams), got sick of the motels and fast food. If we had started earlier I doubt we would have "finished". Life's too short!