Are softball players good athletes?

[CoogansBluff]

A friend of mine has a daughter who is a gymnast. She is at the gym for 6-8 hours every Saturday and Sunday in addition to several hours each weekday. When I asked about the skill level of today's gymnast, my friend told to me to watch any recent youtube videos of gold medal floor exercises at the olympic level. Then to watch Nadia Comaneci's perfect 10 floor exercise from the 1976 olympics. The difference is astounding. I believe softball has followed a similar growth model.
Our expectations have been raised, but the reality is that very few athletes will reach the new gold standard. Perhaps this is where a fear of failure comes in. To reach the gold standard today, an athlete must be willing to commit year round to incredibly intense training and have talent coming out of their eyeballs. But there are lots of ways that kids can find a passion and be the best that they can be, at any level.

Good points, although I don't think you need more talent than before. Just more training and effort.

This is what I've experienced with my daughter, and it might be worth it's own thread because I'm curious if others would agree with this, and I don't mean to hijak. When DD began rec ball and early travel, she was average in athleticism, maybe a little above in rec, but certainly average at entry-level travel. My expectation was that as she worked harder and reached higher levels of the sport that she then would become below average athletically compared to those really good players.

But what I've found is that she's still average athletically (maybe a little above average now because she grew into a tall body) even while playing a much higher level.

Why is that?

1. Some of those early great athletes didn't like the game enough to play year-round.
2. Some of those early great athletes didn't have the parental or even financial support to play year-round.
3. Some of those early great athletes began to specialize and left softball.

As a result, I don't see the athleticism at the better levels of 18U/16U that I expected when I was at 10U/12U.

Not saying there isn't athleticism, so please don't mistake that. Just saying i'm not overwhelmed by it. Short of those girls that can play in the SEC, Pac 10, Big 12, etc., the game is largely dominated by average to better-than-average players who enjoy the game enough to out-work and out-play everybody.

 

[sluggers]

I disagree wtih you.

You are overlooking eye-hand coordination.

Softball/baseball require exceptional eye-hand coordination. Everyone who *plays* on a college team has abover average eye-hand coordination. I can't think of any *team* sport (perhaps doubles ping pong?) where every single player has to have great eye hand coordination.

A lot of kids simply can't play baseball/softball at a high level. They just don't have the eye-hand coordination to be able to hit a 65 MPH ball thrown 40 feet away.

I've seen lots of kids who were great athletes but didn't have the eye-hand coordination necessary to play softball/baseball.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

I disagree wtih you.

You are overlooking eye-hand coordination.

Softball/baseball require exceptional eye-hand coordination. Everyone who *plays* on a college team has abover average eye-hand coordination. I can't think of any *team* sport (perhaps doubles ping pong?) where every single player has to have great eye hand coordination.

A lot of kids simply can't play baseball/softball at a high level. They just don't have the eye-hand coordination to be able to hit a 65 MPH ball thrown 40 feet away.

I've seen lots of kids who were great athletes but didn't have the eye-hand coordination necessary to play softball/baseball.

Absolutely - then they go play soccer.....

 

[WARRIORMIKE]

Absolutely - then they go play soccer.....

Swimming? I mean doesn't take much coordination

 

[CoogansBluff]

I disagree wtih you.

You are overlooking eye-hand coordination.

Softball/baseball require exceptional eye-hand coordination. Everyone who *plays* on a college team has abover average eye-hand coordination. I can't think of any *team* sport (perhaps doubles ping pong?) where every single player has to have great eye hand coordination.

A lot of kids simply can't play baseball/softball at a high level. They just don't have the eye-hand coordination to be able to hit a 65 MPH ball thrown 40 feet away.

I've seen lots of kids who were great athletes but didn't have the eye-hand coordination necessary to play softball/baseball.

I'll have to think about that. ...

Not sure what specifically that you are disagreeing with. I guess what you're saying is that what I'm calling average athletes playing at higher levels are more gifted than I think because I am overlooking the hand-eye component.

Will have to ponder some more. I guess it's a question of how highly to rate hand-eye vs. hard work, repetition, mechanics, etc. Not convinced that one needs above-average hand-eye to play in college as long as we're not talking a big-name program. I think it can be overcome. (Remember I said average, not poor.)

But I'm open-minded to that one. Would enjoy hearing more opinions.

 

[#10]

When the kids are playing football in my 8th grade daughter's gym class, the boys insist that she plays quarterback because she's a better passer than anyone else in the school. She's a softball player, and her peers would say she's a good athlete.

 

[riseball]

Are they good athletes compared to what? Athleticism comes in different forms. What is an athletic necessity in one sport may be of little consequence in another. I would consider most college players athletes but there are some players who are anything but athletes.

 

[CoogansBluff]

Also, the headline of this thread is not mine.

I think Sluggers pulled out a post I made in another thread and started a new thread. Which I appreciate. Good topic. Thanks!

However, I wasn't really saying that softball players were not good athletes. I was saying that athleticism didn't play as large a role in long-term success as I thought it would when my daughter started playing at age 7-8. Not just for my DD, but players in general.

And while I didn't say this, it probably is true that softball requires less athleticism than other sports. That is, it's a sport where skill development is very important, which gives those that work hard a bigger edge than in some other sports.

So I might say that softball players are a little more skilled, but a little less athletic, than those participating in other sports.

 

[CoogansBluff]

When the kids are playing football in my 8th grade daughter's gym class, the boys insist that she plays quarterback because she's a better passer than anyone else in the school. She's a softball player, and her peers would say she's a good athlete.

Yes, but is that athleticism, or a skill learned from the time put in? It could be some of both, but while my daughter throws a football better than 97 percent of girls in her grade, she is not a better athlete than 97 percent of them. She's just spent a lot more time throwing balls than 97 percent of them.

 

[riseball]

Also, the headline of this thread is not mine.

I think Sluggers pulled out a post I made in another thread and started a new thread. Which I appreciate. Good topic. Thanks!

However, I wasn't really saying that softball players were not good athletes. I was saying that athleticism didn't play as large a role in long-term success as I thought it would when my daughter started playing at age 7-8. Not just for my DD, but players in general.

And while I didn't say this, it probably is true that softball requires less athleticism than other sports. That is, it's a sport where skill development is very important, which gives those that work hard a bigger edge than in some other sports.

So I might say that softball players are a little more skilled, but a little less athletic, than those participating in other sports.

No doubt about it.