Playing Up 8U-10U

[stox]

10u is hardly a monolith. What's your league like? What are the rules like? Especially for a catcher, that can play in. What types of steals are allowed? Can you advance on an overthrow from the catcher, etc. Our rec league has no penalty for a failed pickoff by the catcher, so it encourages them to get used to making that throw and practicing making that throw without suddenly allowing a run to score from first on a pickoff throw.

Can steal 2nd/3rd
Cannot steal home
No drop 3rd strike
If count reaches 3-0, 3-1, or 4-2, kid pitcher is replace by coach of batting team to finish the at bat, all coach pitched balls are strikes, so no walks.

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[stox]

I think there are different meanings of travel. I think you can get with a good coach/team at 10u and not actually spend the night in that many hotels.

Yeah, we live in metro Atlanta so definitely do not need to fly anywhere or do hotel stays.

However having to drive across town during rush hour to attend practice is still very unappealing to me.

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[ninthgirl]

We just agonized over this for fall with my 2014 birth year daughter (our rec league just moved 2014s to 10U for this spring). Ultimately we chose to keep her at 8U. A big part of that was the fact that my spouse, as our league's 10U commissioner, strongly prefers to limit play-ups to absolute world-beaters. He noticed when girls stayed in each level until they had to move up, as long as the coaching was good enough, they truly learned all the skills of that level. For the 8U teams that we saw really do this well, the biggest gain was defensive positioning. The players came up to 10U and they weren't really spending a lot of time on what play to turn when, except newly allowed plays.

But we ended up having my kid play a lot of extra 10U games because she was bored and there was an opportunity. Her 8U team was learning plenty, turning double plays in games, and the rest of it, but all the other 8U teams were terrible. So it really comes down to coaching at that level and the level of play across the league. If everyone else is also capable of turning double plays, you can get a lot of baserunning skills in, for example. If no one else can even make an out, it's mind-numbingly boring.

 

[CoachCeetar]

Can steal 2nd/3rd
Cannot steal home
No drop 3rd strike
If count reaches 3-0, 3-1, or 4-2, kid pitcher is replace by coach of batting team to finish the at bat, all coach pitched balls are strikes, so no walks.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

IMO this mitigates a bunch of the "walk fest" stuff that would be an argument for staying down. Especially as a catcher (provided, I guess, that she would get to catch regularly) You get to try to throw out runners, you're getting balls in play with the coach finishing the AB, so plenty of fielding chances.

 

[earlg3]

Locally, that pitching ruleset in rec is called Modified Pitch and is played in 8U. It should make the games much more playable even if the pitchers can't pitch.

 

[stox]

IMO this mitigates a bunch of the "walk fest" stuff that would be an argument for staying down. Especially as a catcher (provided, I guess, that she would get to catch regularly) You get to try to throw out runners, you're getting balls in play with the coach finishing the AB, so plenty of fielding chances.

This is good to know, thanks.

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[lostcreek1]

I think there are different meanings of travel. I think you can get with a good coach/team at 10u and not actually spend the night in that many hotels.

This is absolutely true. It just depends at what level you are capable of and want to play at.

 

[uncdrew]

10u rec is that bad, huh?

I was hoping to avoid going to travel that early but it is an option I suppose.

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10U Rec is the worst of the worst.

Girls get to pitch, yay!!!!!!

Here's how many games go. First batter walks. Three wild pitches in a row and the girl has now scored a run. Next pitch is ball 4.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

 

[uncdrew]

Yeah, we live in metro Atlanta so definitely do not need to fly anywhere or do hotel stays.

However having to drive across town during rush hour to attend practice is still very unappealing to me.

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Excellent, you're lucky. I'm in Atlanta as well. We came up through the Alpharetta Youth Softball Association (AYSA). Really good rec program. They have All Stars, and the 8U and 10U All Star teams often morph into the Alpharetta Fire travel teams. They are B/C level and play very local. So, so many Atlanta travel tournaments each and every weekend. It's a lot at first, but it can be really fun and addictive, both for the parents and the girls.

Feel free to ping me if you like.

 

[uncdrew]

We just agonized over this for fall with my 2014 birth year daughter (our rec league just moved 2014s to 10U for this spring). Ultimately we chose to keep her at 8U. A big part of that was the fact that my spouse, as our league's 10U commissioner, strongly prefers to limit play-ups to absolute world-beaters. He noticed when girls stayed in each level until they had to move up, as long as the coaching was good enough, they truly learned all the skills of that level. For the 8U teams that we saw really do this well, the biggest gain was defensive positioning. The players came up to 10U and they weren't really spending a lot of time on what play to turn when, except newly allowed plays.

But we ended up having my kid play a lot of extra 10U games because she was bored and there was an opportunity. Her 8U team was learning plenty, turning double plays in games, and the rest of it, but all the other 8U teams were terrible. So it really comes down to coaching at that level and the level of play across the league. If everyone else is also capable of turning double plays, you can get a lot of baserunning skills in, for example. If no one else can even make an out, it's mind-numbingly boring.

8U rec team turning double plays?!? Certainly not the 6-4-3 kind. That's hard to do even in A level travel at 10U.