Choosing DD’s Position.

[uncdrew]

At age 9 very few balls are hit to the OF with a chance of an out. Put her at 2nd, SS or 3rd if she has the arm. If she has the best glove put her at first. That is where most of your outs will be made.

Very fine advice.

If you want her to get plays, and she's 9 - answer is infield.

Often we coaches put small girls at 2B. The throw from 3B to 1B is very hard for 9 year olds.


However...


You gotta get them reps at multiple positions. That's really your job as coach. Yes, they can have a primary position but please rotate girls, give them all chances. I fear you're walking on a straight path to DaddyBall Town, and that won't go well for you, your team or your daughter.

 

[_MIA_]

You gotta get them reps at multiple positions. That's really your job as coach. Yes, they can have a primary position but please rotate girls, give them all chances. I fear you're walking on a straight path to DaddyBall Town, and that won't go well for you, your team or your daughter.

I've never been a coach for my DD. She played where they put her (I think she has played all IF positions so far) and wherever she was playing at that time I would work on things specific to that position (she played 1st when she was 5 or 6 so that just involved being able to catch balls..lol).

To be honest working on the fundamentals and working on position specific things is a blended proposition sometimes. For example in the IF you have make sure you are hitting all kinds of different ground balls to them and then try and teach them the proper way to go about fielding those particular balls for that specific position. You are still working on the "fundamentals", in this case fielding ground balls, but you can bring into the mix position specific aspects to it.

 

[marriard]

Why hit brakes on college thing? I don’t understand why anyone would think that? That’s my goal for my girls and we are going to work towards that. If it comes to day, that I see they can’t , I will stop, but why would anyone not have that goal?

Because they are 9? And also because you talked specifically about what to do for ONE kid, not the whole team. And you have no idea where the journey for any of these kids will take them.

You have no idea who they are going to be at 12U or 14U or in HS. Some will surprise you, some wont. Some will quit. Some will mature faster... some later and so on. When you look at your team today, realize that the odds are that only 3-5 of them will be on the same team by 14U - and it probably wont be this team. As many probably wont be playing softball. Totally likely your current best 10U pitcher wont be pitching. And so on.

Why no one is answering your question is because the question itself is bad. Everyone is saying work on fundamentals because that is what is critical at this age. Work on developing a great swing, good throwing mechanics, good fielding... Work infield out at 10U just because there is less action in the OF. The elite athletes will find their way to the OF as they get older and the action gets more intense and often as they go through the ages. Making sure they have a good time and WANT to play softball next season.

Play as many kids as you can in as many positions as possible so they learn more and more about the game. Don't focus on 'she has to be a SS or college isn't for her' - that thinking is not good for anyone. When you lose control (say HS) and she is at 2B (or on the bench because there is a senior SS) now you panic and start the whole 'the coach doesn't know what he is doing'.

I have seen the total focus on getting to college from 10U way too often. It is a forest fire of burnout kids. One extreme case form personal experience- coach I know focused on getting HIS kid into the SEC since she was 8... and he did.. He burnt out 30 other people's kid to do it, and his daughter hates him. She quit after one season in college because she could. He is now in the process of doing the same to his younger kid.

You are probably thinking "That isn't me" but it creeps up on you. It almost got me once and I was lucky someone I respect called me out on it.


Added: At some point it becomes her game, not yours. It isn't what you want for her, but what she wants for herself. Recognizing this point is hard because what they say (I love softball, I want to play in college) may be said just because they don't want to disappoint their parents (especially when you are heavily invested) versus how they really feel. At some point you have to become more guidance and support more than the driving force and coach.

 

[Long Baller]

Agree with that but it is probably also true that a stud college SS was a stud SS at 9 (or at least by 12U)..It is ok for people
to be rational and level headed about things, and learning to play all positions is good for everybody, but if you were to poll P5 SS (e.g. "stud") by 12U I would guess at least 90% of them would have had SS as their primary position..

Definitely not going to disagree with that, but I would say it is because of their raw athleticism, and not because they were groomed to be a SS at 9 years old. Your best athletes play in the most athletic positions. We have all seen countless kids labeled as "studs" at 10U and 12U, but two years later they are just "average" at best. I remember a conversation with my DD's 10U coach years ago where he was "identifying" which kids on the team were going to play Power 5 in college.... Yeah ... The child's (yes, I purposely used the word child) physical development at those ages has more impact than anything else. I have seen clumsy, un-athletic looking kids at 10U be the best athletes on the team at 12U.

 

[_MIA_]

Definitely not going to disagree with that, but I would say it is because of their raw athleticism, and not because they were groomed to be a SS at 9 years old. Your best athletes play in the most athletic positions. We have all seen countless kids labeled as "studs" at 10U and 12U, but two years later they are just "average" at best. I remember a conversation with my DD's 10U coach years ago where he was "identifying" which kids on the team were going to play Power 5 in college.... Yeah ... The child's (yes, I purposely used the word child) physical development at those ages has more impact than anything else. I have seen clumsy, un-athletic looking kids at 10U be the best athletes on the team at 12U.

Most people labeling kids as studs at 10U do it for the wrong reasons, e.g. they are just bigger than everybody else not necessarily more athletic or with better skillsets. Also yes, kids can go from being unathletic to athletic but the opposite typically doesn't happen unless they decided to go on a year long ice cream eating binge..

There is a lot more to playing SS than raw athleticism, although that is required for sure. I agree that 9 is too early..wait till everybody hits puberty but by second year 12U and definitely 14U, a kid who is going to be playing SS in college is playing a majority of their innings at SS. There are just too many skills to be an effective SS to be able to take somebody who is a natural athlete and try to groom them to play SS (effectively...) beyond that age.

 

[Long Baller]

Because they are 9? And also because you talked specifically about what to do for ONE kid, not the whole team. And you have no idea where the journey for any of these kids will take them.

You have no idea who they are going to be at 12U or 14U or in HS. Some will surprise you, some wont. Some will quit. Some will mature faster... some later and so on. When you look at your team today, realize that the odds are that only 3-5 of them will be on the same team by 14U - and it probably wont be this team. As many probably wont be playing softball. Totally likely your current best 10U pitcher wont be pitching. And so on.

Why no one is answering your question is because the question itself is bad. Everyone is saying work on fundamentals because that is what is critical at this age. Work on developing a great swing, good throwing mechanics, good fielding... Work infield out at 10U just because there is less action in the OF. The elite athletes will find their way to the OF as they get older and the action gets more intense and often as they go through the ages. Making sure they have a good time and WANT to play softball next season.

Play as many kids as you can in as many positions as possible so they learn more and more about the game. Don't focus on 'she has to be a SS or college isn't for her' - that thinking is not good for anyone. When you lose control (say HS) and she is at 2B (or on the bench because there is a senior SS) now you panic and start the whole 'the coach doesn't know what he is doing'.

I have seen the total focus on getting to college from 10U way too often. It is a forest fire of burnout kids. One extreme case form personal experience- coach I know focused on getting HIS kid into the SEC since she was 8... and he did.. He burnt out 30 other people's kid to do it, and his daughter hates him. She quit after one season in college because she could. He is now in the process of doing the same to his younger kid.

You are probably thinking "That isn't me" but it creeps up on you. It almost got me once and I was lucky someone I respect called me out on it.


Added: At some point it becomes her game, not yours. It isn't what you want for her, but what she wants for herself. Recognizing this point is hard because what they say (I love softball, I want to play in college) may be said just because they don't want to disappoint their parents (especially when you are heavily invested) versus how they really feel. At some point you have to become more guidance and support more than the driving force and coach.

^^^marriard's reply should be a sticky^^^

 

[joe720]

If you are a masochist, teach her to pitch.

Otherwise imo busiest other positions in no particular order catcher, SS, center fielder.

 

[FP26]

Has she ever caught? If so, did she enjoy it? C is one of the most difficult and challenging positions on the field. But it also one of the most heavily recruited. And starting C training at an early age has its benefits.

 

[justanotherguy]

My DD was put at SS a ton when she was playing coach pitch baseball. She was the only one that could field a ball. The next season 2nd some. That's the last she's ever played MI. LOL

Personally, she always played preparing for "the next level". Never college or the majors or whatever, just the next level.

 

[OsDad]

Why hit brakes on college thing? I don’t understand why anyone would think that...

Because she hasn't even hit puberty yet. Depending on what grade she's in, she may not even have started getting HOMEWORK yet.

That’s my goal for my girls and we are going to work towards that...

What is HER goal? Considering she is too young to even REALLY understand what playing college sports means, if you really boil it down, you'd probably find that it's to have fun and get ice cream after the games.

... If it comes to day, that I see they can’t , I will stop...

What if the day comes that they can, but they just don't want to? What if they can but they turn out to be lazy? What if they can but they just have some bad luck and it never happens? You can't control every aspect of this.

... why would anyone not have that goal?

Because there is far more, for most of us, to raising our kids. Why would I want to miss out on watching my DD waddle out to play catcher in gear that very obviously swallows her up, to play a position she has no business playing but thinks it's fun to try new things, just because she might miss out on reps at SS or 2nd because my goal is for her to play college ball at 10? I think most of us have goals for our children that include things like being good people, learning to work hard, having successful relationships, finding fulfilling careers, etc. The goal of playing college ball should be THEIR goal, that we support, not OUR goal FOR them.


/rant