Knee saver opinions/recommendation

[Turtle]

The jury is out for us on the benefit of knee savers. My DD is 8. She started using them a few months after she began catching consistently. However, as we have been able to develop a better stance, I have definitely questioned the value of them. She is now using her "up/runners on" stance for every pitch. My DD is not the most agile of catchers. She works hard and is determined, but she's not a fast and flashy athlete. She has to work hard as a result to get similar results to those who might be more gifted in that way. Given this, the knee savers, which are the small youth size, added a lot of bulk to her legs. Her movement with the knee savers on appears much more clumsy and uncoordinated. I'm not sure of the practical effect of the lower movement speed, but just looking at her, she appears much more agile without the bulk on her legs. We've been on a break from them for a couple of months and she has not asked for them back. Ultimately, I will let her decide.

 

[collinspc]

While I have worked with boys that have had their legs sprout faster than the rest of their body, it appears more prevalent with girls. While I don't get too worried, (It's part of growing up) it can affect a young boy or girl's ability to maintain stance. Knee savers can be very helpful for those individuals. Growth spurts aside, most catchers I work with find they don't need knee savers when they understand and utilize their receiving stances properly. Some still choose to wear them. For those that choose to wear them, I would still suggest getting smaller wedges over larger ones. (Sorry, still no brands stick out in my mind) Placed as low as possible on the leg.

thanks for the input, we are going to look at the Mizunos as they are a little on the thinner smaller side.