7U travel team

You're not the only one who will have been "struck" once the 7-year-olds toe the rubber!

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7 years old can't be too young. Here is a picture of the winter indoor league we started.

Have you decided which of them is going to play shortstop yet? Perhaps, the first one out?

I dunno, maybe the younger one can be held back a year.

Initial projections are... the one closest to you in the picture to be a solid pitcher. We could tell because he is working on his wind up, see the hands.

The second one, well there is a problem with attitude. He thought he should have made the 1 year old team. Trying to explain to him its more than just us holding him back, as you could tell he is covering his ears and doesn't want to hear it.

PG has the guy in the front rated as a 9.5. "He's projectable... long, lanky frame, room to add strength, good genes"

UCLA scientists: "Wiggle your toe if you accept our offer for a baseball scholarship"

I think you guys are on to something!

The closer one to us looks like he might be left-hand dominant!

With the right attitude, he's probably got a future as a ...you guessed it..."closer!"

Shortnquick, I'm still laughing. absolutely perfect

It's great to have some Friday Fun!! Even if it’s a bit sophomoric.

Prepster, we will be able to tell if he has that closer mentality once we start to play "Wild Thing" in the delivery room. If he comes racing out we will know for sure!!

I had a scout friend of mine take a look... says foot speed and agility are still a big question mark at this point.

So, on a serious note, is this really yours?

At age seven going to one of the town parks for 7/8 machine pitch was as far as I was going to drive. Age seven is about learning how to play the game and having fun with friends not traveling an hour to see if your team can beat teams from other areas.

DAD, does this travel ball have anything to do with ECTB or Diamond Nation/Cust? Or is your friend down south where they have USSSA 5U Tee Ball National Championship tournaments?

quote:

Originally posted by shortnquick:
It's great to have some Friday Fun!! Even if it’s a bit sophomoric.

Agreed! A sophomoric concept begets humor-in-kind.

I know everyone will laugh about this, but I have seen 7 year olds that really looked like they were going to be very talented. Often that is based on a combination of their natural ability and who their parents are. However, I haven't seen any that played travel ball.

As far as watching... It is great fun watching little tykes play. Very entertaining and it doesn't even matter if they are any good. In fact, it's probably more fun to watch when they're not any good.

I have seen serious competitive baseball played by nine year olds. Though I don't think travel is necessary.

Perfect ex. of how adults are ruining youth sports. 7 yr olds are really just learning how to play the game. Sure you will see a few who have great athletic ability at a young age-but no way to know what they will do in the yrs to come. Some will decide to go play s****r, lacrosse, football, etc. It's a big waste of money IMO. It will be daddy ball on steroids. At this age it should be machine pitch. Too many dads are bad at throwing anyways. Teach kids this age the basics-esp. with hitting so they do not learn bad habits that need to be retaught in a few yrs. Play little league or local league until their real talent can be seen-around age 10.Then get on a team that plays a few local tourn. after LL. I've seen parents spend thousands on travel sports and the kids quits due to burnout by age 14.

RJM I will ask not sure it was ECTB or Diamond but will ask.....

We did coach pitch in our local lttle league and it was a lot of fun....based on some high school coach recco we swithced to machines...the way the coaches were lobbing the ball into the kids the HS coach said we were teachign bad swing habits....( a lot of upper cuts )...the machines accomplished our goal of getting a ball consitently over the plate so kids could hit the ball...had some complaints about the speed of the ball or the machine were diffcult to use but once everyone got used the them they turn out to be a good thing. We actaully found the simplest, cheapest sling shot machines were the best.

Later in the season after the coaches had a chance to work with some the players, we started to let kids pitch the last couple of innings.

Lot of fun back then...do miss it!

I have fond memories of watching our younger son play baseball at around age 7, with machine pitch.

When a batter would hit a slow roller to the infield, all the infielders would scramble to field it, often bumping their teammates and almost wrestling for the ball. Makes me smile when I picture those days!


Julie

The only travel seven year olds should be doing is to the local Dairy Queen after the game for a cone or a Blizzard.

I have fond memories of coach pitch. I remember the boys were more interested in winning the base race or finding out what the snack was over hitting or catching the baseball. I remember my son losing major face one game because mom brought fruit cups for the kids. I had to redeem him the next game by bringing cupcakes.

Sniffff, now look what you did. I'm all misty eyed.

quote:

Originally posted by MN-Mom:
Makes me smile when I picture those days!


Julie

Isn't that the truth?! Your recollection induced one from me.

Even though my son was a freak of nature size and ability wise,(people constantly questioning his eligibility) I wouldn't trade those experiences at coach pitch for anything. Even now at 15 some of his former team-mates are good friends and are all looking forward to HS try-outs this coming Thursday.

I recall after winning the league championship game the opposing coach protested that we were pitching to our kids in a way that allowed them to hit better. Our response was, "it's not our fault that your dad/pitcher was out there throwing to his kids like he was at a tryout for a major league scout". The next year they switched to machine pitch.

What do they say stick around long enough? I was amused when I saw a kid wearing a shirt saying t ball all star team. I asked him how old he was. You sitting down? 5

there are some of these8u/7u programs that have host families--- the kids can stay away from home all summer

While I don't agree with a 7u travel team, I'm wondering how much different it is from an 8u rec all star team. That's when my son and many others in this area started going to neighboring towns and playing in 6-8 team tournaments.

And I agree that machine pitch is the best way to play games at 7 and 8 years old. The ball is always at a consistent speed and location so the kids can swing away.

My kid started playing select ball at 7, but we only traveled in the DFW metroplex. Coach took the All-star 6 year old tee ballers and made the team. We played other teams like us. A few years later we moved a better team that combined kids, and a few years later did it again. I think this allowed my kid to progress more as he played and practiced more with other kids that were talented, so if one kid was able to do something he tried hard to be just as good. I think if the kid is having fun why not.

Question: What is something very good about young kids, at any age, playing any kind of baseball?

Answer: They are playing baseball!

quote:

Originally posted by Will:
What do they say stick around long enough? I was amused when I saw a kid wearing a shirt saying t ball all star team. I asked him how old he was. You sitting down? 5

USSSA has 5U Tee Ball National Championships.

quote:

Originally posted by Aleebaba:
I think this allowed my kid to progress more ....

More than what? Other seven year olds? Did it make him a better 13U player? Did it make him a better high school player? Did it make him a better college prospect? I'm discounting the "fun aspect of it. I don't see how 7U ball makes any kid a better player. I can only see where he plays better competition at 7U, which I question the value if it involves traveling.

IMO - if the kids are having fun playing baseball, who gives a **** what anyone thinks about it. At any age.

Its about the kids anyway - not the parents.

you would be amazed at how many precocious very good little 7YO ball players there are down here and lots are just more interested in the game if they're playing with and against similar type players. There is the potential for burnout and I have seen it but if that's what they want to spend their time and money doing then have at it. There's definatley a market for it. I do not think however it will make them a better player at HS or above. Only talent will do that. I've seen that too.

"cball" said something that gets me to thinking. I have seen such a very big difference in size and ability among real young kids.

A still remember watching a 9 year old Ryan Sweeney hitting a line drive that the little first baseman never reacted to. It just missed his ear, 4 inches to the right and we have a disaster. Maybe it's not so bad to separate the competition. Probably more enjoyable for the more advanced kids and more enjoyable and "safer" for the other kids.

I do believe that good instruction is important at any age. Forming good habits is a good thing.

I'm not a big believer in burnout. IMO, lack of success at some point creates most of the burnout. That said, maybe we should watch out for young kids that lack any success or aren't having fun.

quote:

I have seen such a very big difference in size and ability among real young kids.

Until puberty a kid may be physically plus or minus three years of his actual age. You could have a 10U team where one kid may have the physical maturity of a thirteen year old while another has the physical maturity of a seven years old.

When I started a 13U travel team one dad wanted to know if pro scouts would be at our games. He walked around LL districts telling everyone his son was his LL's ticket to Williamsport. Without another pitcher the team didn't have a ticket to the district semifinals.

His 5'9", 160 son was on his way to MLB. The kid had nine inches and seventy pounds on my son at twelve. He dominated LL and LL all-stars. He never lost a game. The dad was 5'5". The kid grew one more inch. He never made high school varsity. Throwing seventy-five down Main Street worked great in LL. It didn't work so well in high school. The kid's velocity never increased.

I agree PGStaff
I coached a high level youth team and occasionally we would face team playing up in classification and there would be some scary moments when the kids on the lower level team were not used to reacting to the ball hit as hard as some of our kids could hit it. That's not to say some of those other kids did'nt go on to become very good players. I'm sure some did. It's just better for all involved when the teams are evenly matched.

I made a mistake once and put my team in an open 12U tournamnent when we were 11 so of course most of the 12U's were USSSA Majors and some of the kids we faced in the first game literally had facial hair and their pitcher was bringing it. Naturally my son got hit right in the side with a fastball. We hung in there against a couple of the average teams because they were having trouble adjusting to our slower pitching. But the better teams scared me and our players and I never made that mistake again.

That's also why I like the way USSSA and Nations do it by having four distinct levels of teams per age group. You can play at your own level and have fun.

Other issues aside, my problem with travel at this age is that the teams tend to be select. A talented kid who has a bad try-out might become so discouraged, he quits baseball.

I also agree with PGStaff, "Maybe it's not so bad to separate the competition", at some point between maybe 7 and 10 years old.

Earlier in this thread I shared a sentimental memory of my younger son's team tumbling over each other at about age 7. He was our less athletic, more artistic son.

In contrast, an early memory of our older son's early baseball experiences was at about age 8. I remember him playing 3B, fielding the ball and throwing it straight and hard toward the 1B-man's chest, as he had been taught. And I remember another mom screaming toward the coach, "Tell him not to throw the ball so hard, he's going to hurt someone!". So it can be hard for kids with above-average skill level to play the game the right way if they are expected to accommodate players with below-average skill level.

Julie

P.S. PGStaff told the story about Ryan Sweeney. When my son was about 15 or 16 he attended the same PG showcase as Ryan Sweeney. Sweeney was one year older. My husband came home from that showcase and told me that when Ryan Sweeney walked by him, he felt like he should ask Sweeney for an autograph. He just looked and walked like a baseball player.

quote:

Its about the kids anyway - not the parents.

In a perfect world?

quote:

Originally posted by LHPMom2012:
Other issues aside, my problem with travel at this age is that the teams tend to be select. A talented kid who has a bad try-out might become so discouraged, he quits baseball.

LHPMom2012
That's possible but as I said in an earlier post one good thing about select ball is the four levels of teams. I have had tryouts where kids who were not ready for our level of play would show up. I tried to have as many of my own players there so the prospective parents and players could observe their level of skill. In the early years most of the times I passed on a prospect it was with the kids safety in mind first and his ability to compete second or I was looking for a specific need. Most of those kids were attending several tryouts and i"m not aware of any kid quitting baseball because we didn't select them.

I like the term "select" better than "travel". We were a pure select team but there's so much good baseball in our area we didn't have to travel very far to find a good tournament unless it was a State or National level event

We did 8U travel softball. Those were great memories. Great fun.