8u/10u Player evaluations

[Momo's Dad]

8u:

-field 3 balls each and make 3 throws to 1st
-attempt to catch 3 tosses
-3 swings at the plate (more, if she's struggling), run to 1st on 4th pitch, whether hit or not

10u:

-fly balls added

Pitchers evaluated separately.

We expect to have 60-70 8u and about 40 10u players. Each group has a 60-75 minute window to work with.

Currently, each girl tests individually with all her age group coaches' eyes on her. My thought is that we should consider bringing out 3-4 tees for the 8u group and letting them hit from the tee in small groups. The girls would still do the individual batting, but I think running them in small groups at the tee and also in throwing/catching wouldn't be too time-consuming and would give the coaches more information to work with when drafting.

Even though it's only an hour or so long, there's a lot of standing around time for the girls and I'd like to reduce that, if possible. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I have a good game for groups like this. You can adapt it to your area. I hang a hula hoop on the fence and they have to hit inside it, from about 30 feet or whatever. Then, the next station has a crummy, large stuffed animal hanging some inside a pop up net. They attempt to hit the animal with the softball. Then, the 3rd one is a large something or other sitting on an upside down trashcan. They try to knock it off.

You don't have to use softballs. Tennis balls are fine.

They also like shuttle races.

 

[KevinC]

Our rec league does the evaluations inside (the weather is still too cold here at the end of Feb) and does include hitting from a tee into nets. As a coach I like to be able to see if a girl knows how to swing a bat.

 

[Momo's Dad]

I have a good game for groups like this. You can adapt it to your area. I hang a hula hoop on the fence and they have to hit inside it, from about 30 feet or whatever. Then, the next station has a crummy, large stuffed animal hanging some inside a pop up net. They attempt to hit the animal with the softball. Then, the 3rd one is a large something or other sitting on an upside down trashcan. They try to knock it off.

You don't have to use softballs. Tennis balls are fine.

They also like shuttle races.

Thanks for that, Amy and Kevin.

I'm going to suggest that, at a minimum, we encourage group warm-ups, which would include throwing and catching. In a medium-small league like ours, it's common to wind up with teams of haves and have-nots, but my hope is that we can mitigate that a bit and get a little more competitive balance by giving the coaches a more complete look at the girls on eval day. It's still up to them to draft wisely, but the league can do a bit more to help them.

The current system where the girls only swing at 3 coach-pitched balls just doesn't tell me a whole lot. As of right now, it looks like we don't have a very high percentage of our 2010 1st-year 8u girls returning, but hopefully they and their parents will give the league another shot and we'll be able to provide a better overall experience for them this time around, starting Day One - evals.