Playing up or down 8yr old

[CoachBroker]

If she can hold her own in kid pitch then keep her in kid pitch, no need to be a super star in coach pitch. I can understand staying in 10u and being a stud (rather than movingnup to 12U) before I can see staying in coach pitch if you have the skills to move up.

 

[YOCOACH]

#1) She wants to move up
#2) She is one of the better players at her age level
#3) She has already played at the older age level and succeeded....from what you have said, evidently quite well
#4) Any questions......see #1

If she can't make it work, I'm sure she will let you know

 

[grounded]

I went thru this last spring with DD #2 in LL. We could have moved up, but I didnt think she was quite ready for majors LL. We stayed down in minors, while the rest of the 9yr olds moved up. It was a disaster as far as development went. We played SS and 3rd because we were the only one who could reach across the diamond..sadly, no one was left on the team who could catch her. If I had it to do over again, I would have moved her up.

 

[Eric F]

A thread from a while ago about the same topic...http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-discussions/15297-move-up-stay-down.html

For the girl in this ^ thread, playing 10U Fall Ball was ABSOLUTELY the right decision (my DD and her were on the same team again). She continued to be one of the best players at the 10U level. 8U would have been a waste of time for her abilities, and a terrifying experience for most of the 8U batters she would have faced.

Generally speaking (IMO, YMMV):
Playing up and holding their own is a good decision.
Staying in age bracket and being in the upper echelon of players is a good decision.
Staying in age bracket and being way above everyone else's ability is a bad decision.

 

[SoCal_Dad]

Being the younger sister of a player, I expect she's advanced for her age. If she's comparable to at least the top half of the players aging up, she should be fine moving up with them.

8U at our rec league had a mix of kid/coach pitch - after ball 4, the coach pitches instead of awarding a base on balls. One of the top pitchers one year was a 7yo, so the next year they moved her up to 10U for the spring league season and back down to 8U for all stars. Both seasons worked out for her.

 

[Axe]

This is one of my questions in this as well.

There are a few decent pitchers. But they can only pitch a set number of innings a week (6 I believe) so they won't be pitching every game. I don't know all of them though so I can't say for sure. My dd has been going to lessons and has good arm but has not pitched in a game.

In previous seasons, the teams were 6-7 coach pitch, 8-9 modified kid pitch, 10,11,12 kid pitch 12" ball.

Would she have to pitch with a 12" ball as you mention above? I don't know many 8 year olds who could do that. My DD's that are pitchers certainly couldn't.