JV Softball - Having a great time

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May 4, 2016
70
18
East Coast
Our County has a weird rule that allows 8th graders in Middle School to try out for and play JV softball with the local High School. I think they do it because there usually isn’t enough talent in 9-12 to field a pair of teams. What this means in reality is that the JV team becomes a fun taste of High School for a bunch of 8th grade Travel Players…

My daughter is no superstar, but she’s a solid A level, first year 14U, 8th grade pitcher. And she is having a blast!!!

- No stress. 20+ JV games in a two-month period and she can pitch as many of them as she wants.
- “Practice reps”: When she’s overpowering opponents, she works on her less polished pitches to create games within the games.
- Building endurance – Normally at the first few tourneys in April, she struggles to pitch more than one game per day, but this year she is way ahead of the curve thanks to all the extra reps.
- Confidence building – She struggles to hit good A level pitching. But lower the speed by 5-10 mph and BOOM. She’s smacking singles at will and driving balls deep for doubles too. A kid who has been batting #8 or #9 for years is suddenly leading a team in hits and batting #3. That is a smile maker.
- Great social introduction to high school since half of the team are young (8th graders) while half of the team are 9-10th graders.

Is this experience pushing her limits and driving her to become the best player possible? Probably not. But sometimes it’s okay to take a breather and have some fun too. This Dad is enjoying having his smiling daughter back. :)
 
Feb 12, 2014
648
43
This is a great idea and something I wish Ohio would look at adopting. We have tons of teams in our area that have 18-19 on the Varsity roster and no JV team simply because they are just 3-5 girls short of being able to field 2 teams.
 
May 4, 2016
70
18
East Coast
Follow up - So they made my 8th grade daughter a JV team Captain. Halfway into the season she realized that the girls at the bottom of the roster aren't getting much playing time. On her own, she went to the Coach and asked for them to get inserted into a couple of the gimme games. This isn't an "equal playing time rec ball" league, but it was still the right thing to do as Captain.

The competition still sucks compared to what she is used to so she's not getting pushed as a softball player, but it is definitely helping her improve as a human being...
 

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