- Jul 2, 2015
- 5
- 1
Needing some advice. My daughter is 12 years old and has been playing softball since age 9. She turns 13 in November. She has been working with a pitching coach since age 9 and plays pitcher and infield. Her pitching coach is and amazing guy and has taken a lot of time with her and taken her under his wing to teach her as much as he could. He also coached my sister 25 years ago all the way through 12u-18u and even in high school. He's a great coach and has send hundreds of softball girls on to college scholorships. He started a team years ago that runs from 12u-18u. Back in the good old days he had a lot to do with the younger teams and coached almost all divisions as much as humanly possible. Currently he is a little older and focuses on the 16u and 18u. His focus is getting these kids out of our home state and flying all over the country to the tournaments where the scouts are. They play the best of the best. Now my daughter started with little league like most and won district then went to state. Next was 12u and then she just won her middle school championship as a 6th grader. We moved her up to the 14u division just this spring. We have had a ton of problems with coaching (no discipline, lack of skills training) lots of problems with kids attitudes (with no consequences) and even problems with parents yelling terrible things to kids playing. We have also had parents upset because their 14/15 year old kids sit while some younger kids play. It's been a mess. I just found out the same coach will be returning to coach for fall ball. Her pitching coach and coach of the 16u and 18u team found out about what happened and just laughed saying they are really going to be pissed when I take her for 16 and 18u. I didn't tell him about the drama mostly because I hate it and don't want to be associated with that behavior. Now he reached out to a mutual friend and said have him talk to be about moving her to the 16u team. I know for a lot of teams 16u isn't a big deal, in fact she played against 3 local 16u teams this past weekend and she did well, but I'm worried about local 16u teams vs national 16u teams. I'm worried about her not being able to compete. I'm worried about her getting hurt and possibly not having friends due to being so much younger than other girls. I do know they have a couple of younger girls 14-15 years old. This 16u team practices with the 18u team and some already have college scholorships in place. They are no joke and these girls are awesome. I'm down to earth enough to know my daughter isn't at that level right now. She could still be playing 12 til the end of the year. I feel like she is very lucky because no 12 year old has ever had this opportunity. If she learns and professes it could be a blessing. I'm wondering if anyone has advice. Do I send her with a coach that's is one of the best in the country and let him make her great or play it safe and let her play where she's at another year to gain some confidence. She works her tail off and wants to play softball at the college level more than anything. She would be the worst kid on the team by far hitting wise but she can pitch and field. She's about 105 lbs 5'2" and is throwing 50 off the mound walk throughs are 55mph. She can hit her spots. I know 50 is slow for 16u but she has been gaining steadily. Can anyone give me some advice? Anything else I should consider before making this decision? Anyone have a child that did the same thing?? Thoughts from experienced coaches?? Help I want to do what's best for her.