Advice needed for getting my baseball obsessed 7yo daughter to even entertain the thought of making the switch to fastpitch

[HunterMO]

I don't think preferring baseball over softball is that uncommon. Kids/people just don't talk about it. If given the choice, my DD would play baseball over softball 10/10 times. In terms of consumption, baseball is far more accessible than softball. It's better marketed and better produced. It feels like there's hundreds of youth baseball teams in every town/city. And at the young ages (5-10), girls and boys are pretty well equal in terms of physical ability. Only when growth spurts and puberty start to intrude does the difference begin to be noticed.

Let her play baseball. Support her in it. She will figure out on her own (as she gets older) that there isn't a big place for females in higher level baseball. At least for now. But there are avenues to pursue it as long as she wants to. I suspect however, that once she gets to 10-12 years old...the draw of playing with all girls will outweigh playing baseball with mostly boys.

In the end, the sports are similar enough that playing baseball won't hinder her at all. Keep her excited about a stick-and-ball sport. Enjoy the laughs, snacks, and friends. Zero reason to worry about baseball vs softball at 7-years old. Let her be a kid who wants to be doing something outdoors.

BTW, my DD started in local rec-league baseball around 7-yo. She didn't play formal softball until 11. As a Sophomore she played 50% of her time on Varsity and produced as starter/top player for her regional travel ball team in "A" and "Open" 16u and Highschool divisions. Now, as a Junior, is a starter for Varsity and ultimately will finish her softball journey next year. Some of her friends/teammates (who started the same way) will continue their journey's into college.

 

[CoachCeetar]

I don't think preferring baseball over softball is that uncommon. Kids/people just don't talk about it. If given the choice, my DD would play baseball over softball 10/10 times. In terms of consumption, baseball is far more accessible than softball. It's better marketed and better produced. It feels like there's hundreds of youth baseball teams in every town/city. And at the young ages (5-10), girls and boys are pretty well equal in terms of physical ability. Only when growth spurts and puberty start to intrude does the difference begin to be noticed.

According to some charts, the average male doesn't pass the average female until like 14.

There's a 13 year old girl on our rec football team. She's literally taller than every single boy, judging by the pep rally anyway. She's probably taller than half of them EVER will be. She's an outlier for sure, but you can get pretty far along before there's any sizable muscle/strength advantage. Unless you're pitching, almost all of the skills are pretty transferable. Play the sports you want to play, with the friends you want to play with, gender be damned.

 

[HunterMO]

Yeah, I probably under estimated on where physical size starts to separate. But you're right. I see it in hockey quite a bit. Up until 14u, very common to have a few girls sprinkled in amongst the boys. Often in 12u/14u, the girls are noticeable simply by height (and of course long hair sticking out).

 

[1bucketmom]

She’ll learn more about the core of game in baseball and she has plenty of time to switch. When she switches, she’ll learn the difference in speed and rules but have such an advantage. Let her have fun for now!

 

[Coach AU29]

So, I'm having a hard time getting my dd to even consider the fact that she'll need to make the switch at some point (I'd think the sooner the better) from baseball to softball. She LOVES baseball and has been playing on an 8U travel team for a little over a year. She loves it but as she gets older (she's only 7 but plays at a high level) I would think she really should make the switch so she can find a team "family" and grow with them. Just the comradery aspect of having a team of girls around her vs being the only girl in her league is huge. Not to mention the mechanical fundamentals that she should probably be building now.

Has anyone else dealt with this? If so, how'd y'all go about explaining the pros and cons to them? She says she wants to play in college so she can go to college for free. LOL. I tried recently explaining that there's SO much more opportunity for a girl to play at a good college program in SOFTBALL much more than baseball as I think there's only a few D1 collegiate girl baseball players. Plus, as she gets older and reaches puberty/postpubescent age the physical divide of boys and girls gets much wider. She's just fighting me on it so I try not to push it too much so that I don't annoy her with it or create any unnecessary stress for her. Any advice on this topic? TIA!!!

Unless she is a softball pitcher I would keep her in Little League until age 12 then I would make the change. My best players over the years started in baseball as they get the nuisance of the game much better. After 12 change her to softball. The only change I would make at this time is to have her keep a short swing and try to eliminate the big load. I am a HS Varsity head Coach

 

[earlg3]

In my opinion, the only justifiable reason to prioritize baseball over softball to 12U is if all of the softball coaches and kids in the area are terrible.

There is nothing inherently better about doing baseball over softball.

 

[CoachCeetar]

In my opinion, the only justifiable reason to prioritize baseball over softball to 12U is if all of the softball coaches and kids in the area are terrible.

There is nothing inherently better about doing baseball over softball.

and there's nothing inherently better about doing softball over baseball.

So in the end..let the person doing it choose?

 

[earlg3]

and there's nothing inherently better about doing softball over baseball.

So in the end..let the person doing it choose?

I would rather encourage supporting and lifting up softball, softball players, and expanding softball in general, which I believe is a more elegant and better game.

 

[Vaydoe]

I would rather encourage supporting and lifting up softball, softball players, and expanding softball in general, which I believe is a more elegant and better game.

This

 

[CoachCeetar]

i mean I disagree and think both can happily exist in fact I wish they co-existed more. But either way I don't think that's a reason to overrule a 7 year old's decisions about what they want to play.