8U Playing Time

[stox]

Having watched the worst 6U and 8U coaches in our rec league yell "THROW TO FIRST" every play - for multiple years because I've now had 3 kids in those age divisions over time - I disagree.

Your league's coaches tell their kids to throw? Not bad! Some of ours will have the kids play tag with the ball in their hand.

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[CoachCeetar]

Having watched the worst 6U and 8U coaches in our rec league yell "THROW TO FIRST" every play - for multiple years because I've now had 3 kids in those age divisions over time - I disagree.

Yes there are moments to get the out at first, but young girls should be taught that softball is a thinking game and a game of planning ahead. I watched a coach screaming at my daughter, who was a third, to throw a ball to first when she had a runner coming at her from second in a force out situation and my daughter was maybe 3 feet from 3rd! I was about to lose my mind. The coaches in 8U who bring up solid teams of girls to 10U have started drilling situations into their heads and go for the easiest out, not always the out at first. In order to go for the easiest out, you first have to know what the easiest out is. That means situations, situations, situations in practice.

imo, this should be coached incrementally. At 6, 8, their first "games" they probably don't even know TO throw the ball to first. But, there's always an out at first. You're training them to focus on fielding and making that part of the play, _and then_ throw to first for the out.

Then you build on it. "Okay, you're playing SS. If the ball is hit to you here, I want you to get the closest out. Where is that? Second."

Then you introduce the decision. But to do this you have to explain force outs. And the difference between force outs and tag outs. And explain why they can't just throw to second on the first play of the inning. AND you have to explain COVERING second to someone else. If it's not the shortfielder, you have to teach the SS/2B about Ball/Base/Backup and if they're going for it or covering. You're gonna get a lot of kids picking up the ball, and then doing a lot of spinning around, and then throwing it to first anyway.

This is a lot of thinking for a a child who's only been playing games for a couple dozen months at best. If you introduce easiest out you really have to DRILL IT in, and not every 8u team has the time for that. It takes a lot of mental practice and reps, in a game, to think of what you're going to do with the ball before the play, and do it in the moment. Oh, and no matter what you drilled, you'll have two coaches and 7 parents yelling stuff at them during it. Maybe some teams can handle it, but certainly not all teams. Gotta adjust based on the level of familiarity with it all.

I think a lot of this becomes individualized. If one kid is competently understanding the force situation and getting the out, then you take them aside and explain to them the next thing "okay, so runner on second, no force but that runner might try to run, so this is how you tag them. Give them one second and they're not running, throw to first" sort of thing.

But most importantly I think, coaches ON the field at that level. Not just pitching, teaching the whole time.

 

[tim_s]

imo, this should be coached incrementally. At 6, 8, their first "games" they probably don't even know TO throw the ball to first. But, there's always an out at first. You're training them to focus on fielding and making that part of the play, _and then_ throw to first for the out.

Then you build on it. "Okay, you're playing SS. If the ball is hit to you here, I want you to get the closest out. Where is that? Second."

Then you introduce the decision. But to do this you have to explain force outs. And the difference between force outs and tag outs. And explain why they can't just throw to second on the first play of the inning. AND you have to explain COVERING second to someone else. If it's not the shortfielder, you have to teach the SS/2B about Ball/Base/Backup and if they're going for it or covering. You're gonna get a lot of kids picking up the ball, and then doing a lot of spinning around, and then throwing it to first anyway.

This is a lot of thinking for a a child who's only been playing games for a couple dozen months at best. If you introduce easiest out you really have to DRILL IT in, and not every 8u team has the time for that. It takes a lot of mental practice and reps, in a game, to think of what you're going to do with the ball before the play, and do it in the moment. Oh, and no matter what you drilled, you'll have two coaches and 7 parents yelling stuff at them during it. Maybe some teams can handle it, but certainly not all teams. Gotta adjust based on the level of familiarity with it all.

I think a lot of this becomes individualized. If one kid is competently understanding the force situation and getting the out, then you take them aside and explain to them the next thing "okay, so runner on second, no force but that runner might try to run, so this is how you tag them. Give them one second and they're not running, throw to first" sort of thing.

But most importantly I think, coaches ON the field at that level. Not just pitching, teaching the whole time.

this is where i was going with my previous post.......

 

[CoachCeetar]

related to the idea of how little kids know about the basic ins and outs of sport that we've known for decades and forgot how we learned them..

I was talking to a coworker yesterday who coaches middle school football and has some new kids, and we was relaying how some of them asked him "I can hit them with my shoulder?"

 

[ninthgirl]

this is where i was going with my previous post.......

Incremental building is awesome. It's when your kid is in their third season playing, mostly with girls who have played before, still being told "THROW TO FIRST" every batter-runner that it ceases to become awesome. And this is with things like defensive coaches on the field who theoretically are allowed to do as much in-game coaching as they want.

Some of those same girls are now a couple seasons later with a much better coach and the results on the field are night and day. It's more fun for the girls when they know what to execute and can actually do it, instead of barely throwing the ball past pitcher.

Meanwhile I've seen one (admittedly, only one out of 9) seasons where 3 of the 4 8U coaches in our league had done such a skillful job of building up their teams that girls knew tag versus force, could competently think through base-ball-backup, and just generally made every game exciting. I wish we could clone coaches like those across the softball world.

So yes, sure, start with an out at first as long as you have a plan to build the girls up past that. And rec leagues everywhere should make sure coaches know a nice, simple progression for doing so. I finally put my foot down with our league's board this summer and made sure they started explaining some of this to the new volunteers.

 

[Orange Socks]

Back in my Rec ball commissioning days the 8u coaches were usually over the top, most argumentative, focused on winning, etc. We had over 20 teams and I understand there is a lack of experienced coaches. The parents were just as bad. One season we had a grandpa and dad get into a brawl outside the fences. Grandpa was telling a dad to simmer down and the young dad didn't like what he said and a brawl ensued.

I was at a park naming ceremony this week and a certain known hot head politician was there and he approached and ask how do we know each other. Softball of course from 11 years ago. He complimented me how I was able to calm the coaches down, set expectations with umps, and work on player development. He admitted he was one of the problem coaches. He even tried to threaten to use his political weight when it came to getting our Concession stand city permit in our new building. He has grown from that experience, as well all do.

 

[stox]

So yes, sure, start with an out at first as long as you have a plan to build the girls up past that. And rec leagues everywhere should make sure coaches know a nice, simple progression for doing so. I finally put my foot down with our league's board this summer and made sure they started explaining some of this to the new volunteers.

Not sure how you're league is run, but we have to redraft every season. The past three seasons I've coached up new girls with outstanding potential and they end up being too good for me to draft the next season, another coach will get her in the first or second round, even though I picked her up in the 6th or later last season.

The only kids I'm guaranteed are my daughter and my assistants daughter, who both rank as first rounders so I pick very late and my team ends up being a bunch of new kids each season.

I am coaching kids beyond throwing to first, but it's a challenge when half your team each season has never played before.

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