quote:Originally posted by Jeff Connell:
There are some on here who think you have to be 15 before you should start pitching. They have never been around kids who can actually throw and catch at young ages. I have battled til I am tired of fighting them. Each league has their own rules and each parent chooses what is best for them and their kid. Don't even think about bringing up tournament ball for young kids...
Jeff, Not insinuating anything with my question to rodk. Just thought it odd that a league in NY had kid pitch for 7U's. Growing up, spent several formiable years up North (OH & NH- military brat). LL & Pop Warner was what people put their kids in. Coach pitch was the norm at 7, if they still weren't playing T-ball. Flash forward 2+ dozen years & a thousand miles southwest. Have a ton of friends & relatives up North. Though competitive relatively young "travel" type teams exist ( to a small extent), its quite a bit different than what I see locally with what borders on insanity. 64-0 travel T-ball teams, a WS for every letter of the alphabet, 6 game guarantee local tourns ending at 1:00 AM Monday morning in early March! I could go on & on...
Having coached my own boys from 5 & up in a competitive enviroment (league is mainly played for practice, solid tourn ball team ) understand exactly where you are coming from. Back years ago on my youngest's 7U-MP team the most advanced & I'd hazard to say most "clutch" players were the youngest (still 5, a few months shy of 6) & the two oldest. In the entire bunch, only one or two had avg to weak arms, & we worked around that as those two boys could HIT & field. While this 7U team was solid, base runners stealing & our catcher throwing out runners @ 2nd, & pitchers proficiently dealing fastballs & change-ups was still a year out (summer leading into 9's).
rodk, welcome to HSBW, enjoy the ride, the boys grow up mighty quick.