43 feet for 14-UNDER

[Battle]

Premier has already stated a desire to go to 43' for 14U. Gary doesn't care much for the younger kids and wants to make the college coaches happy. The idiots now coaching college will get what they wished for and will offer verbals to kids who won't even be playing when they are 17.

Sam, is there anything about softball that makes you happy? I hate to sound sarcastic, but really?

Battle,

SB is getting worse....solely because parents allow it to get worse for their DD's. You didn't hear about overuse injuries and problems with colleges in Lisa Fernandez's day...there was no 10U division....players began playing TB at 14 years old. Now they will be recruited at 14 years old....there are parents that feel the need to have their child seen by recruiters when they aren't old enough to even drive. It is insanity which is tacitly authorized and encouraged by the parents of these children. One could make a comparison between TB softball parents and the parents of children serving in catholic churches. Church was good for the kids, right? Sure there were rumors of abuse by priests....but not MY priest. There was at least a 60% that MY priest wouldn't abuse my kid...so lets take the lambs to the slaughter. TB softball parents on this board make very similar arguments, only they are being warned more vociferously by people who have been there and done that. Then organizations like ASA and Premier make changes to promote the insanity which the TB parents soak up. In the end, there will be children injured....some for the rest of their lives....all so mom and dad have something to brag about.

I love the game and hate the insanity.

You may have already stated, but what age did your dd start TB and was there a rec league in your area at that age? Was the area California?

If there is anything I agree with you on, it's the insanity but insanity can go two ways. In politics, I think they call it the "right" and the "left.

[Sam]

Premier has already stated a desire to go to 43' for 14U. Gary doesn't care much for the younger kids and wants to make the college coaches happy. The idiots now coaching college will get what they wished for and will offer verbals to kids who won't even be playing when they are 17.

Sam, is there anything about softball that makes you happy? I hate to sound sarcastic, but really?

Battle,

SB is getting worse....solely because parents allow it to get worse for their DD's. You didn't hear about overuse injuries and problems with colleges in Lisa Fernandez's day...there was no 10U division....players began playing TB at 14 years old. Now they will be recruited at 14 years old....there are parents that feel the need to have their child seen by recruiters when they aren't old enough to even drive. It is insanity which is tacitly authorized and encouraged by the parents of these children. One could make a comparison between TB softball parents and the parents of children serving in catholic churches. Church was good for the kids, right? Sure there were rumors of abuse by priests....but not MY priest. There was at least a 60% that MY priest wouldn't abuse my kid...so lets take the lambs to the slaughter. TB softball parents on this board make very similar arguments, only they are being warned more vociferously by people who have been there and done that. Then organizations like ASA and Premier make changes to promote the insanity which the TB parents soak up. In the end, there will be children injured....some for the rest of their lives....all so mom and dad have something to brag about.

I love the game and hate the insanity.

You may have already stated, but what age did your dd start TB and was there a rec league in your area at that age? Was the area California?

If there is anything I agree with you on, it's the insanity but insanity can go two ways. In politics, I think they call it the "right" and the "left.

My DD played rec ball ages 6-8. TB ages 9-18. She injured her shoulder at 13, but kept playing. She had shoulder surgery at 16 and played until she was 18, but she was little more than a DP because she couldn't throw the ball. She tried pitching again, but couldn't throw more than an inning due to the pain. She only kept playing because she thought it would make me happy.

I put her in TB at 9 making many of the same arguments you hear on this board. Softball didn't pick her, by the way.

[bugs]

ASA will go 43 and Gary and Premier have stated they will go 43. Makes sense as the 9th graders don't want to go back and forth between 43 and 40.

Hey, why don't we go to the old Bobby Sox divisions and that would make it perfect. 11 & Under 35 feet; 13 & Under 40 feet; 15 & Under 43 feet. That way the 8th graders would through at 40 feet and the 9th graders would move up and through what they will in high school, 43 feet. That would eliminate this argument.

[lvtwft]

What about the 14 year olds that are in middle school still??

[Gone in 2.6]

Sam makes some great points. However, from the perspective of someone who recently went through the recruiting process I largely disagree with the assertion that the recruiting insanity is initiated by the parents. The early recruiting is a "keeping up with the Jones'" war between the college programs. Parents can not make the coaches offer early.

I'm willing to bet many parents would prefer their Susie taking her five OFFICIAL visits during her senior year. But in the current environment, that could be a recipe for walking on at ITT Tech.

[dustyshoes]

I've followed this thread with interest because my oldest dd is directly impacted by this change, she's a 13 yo pitcher who just moved up to 14u. Around here, all associations are making the move from 40" to 43" effective in the spring so for all our fall ball tourneys we're pitching from 40".

Although I would prefer to stick with 40" next spring I'm wondering if I'm alone in thinking this isn't as big a deal as everyone's making it out to be. Dd's team practices at a high school that already has the rubber set at 43" so the coaches just throw a plastic home plate directly in front the real home plate for live pitching in practice. We hosted our first scrimmage recently and played from 43" and I didn't even think about it or notice a difference until it was over. We hired an ASA umpire so I'm sure it was called like most of our tourney games would be called. Dd isn't a flamethrower either, her peel drop is her go to pitch so she usually gets a lot more ground outs than strikeouts when she's pitching well and that's what she was getting in our scrimmage.

I realize my experience with this is very limited and I may be singing a new tune next spring but does anyone else think this isn't the kind of issue that's going to ruin the game?

[TeNeetkeeMom]

Premier has already stated a desire to go to 43' for 14U. Gary doesn't care much for the younger kids and wants to make the college coaches happy. The idiots now coaching college will get what they wished for and will offer verbals to kids who won't even be playing when they are 17.

Sam, is there anything about softball that makes you happy? I hate to sound sarcastic, but really?

Battle,

SB is getting worse....solely because parents allow it to get worse for their DD's. You didn't hear about overuse injuries and problems with colleges in Lisa Fernandez's day...there was no 10U division....players began playing TB at 14 years old. Now they will be recruited at 14 years old....there are parents that feel the need to have their child seen by recruiters when they aren't old enough to even drive. It is insanity which is tacitly authorized and encouraged by the parents of these children. One could make a comparison between TB softball parents and the parents of children serving in catholic churches. Church was good for the kids, right? Sure there were rumors of abuse by priests....but not MY priest. There was at least a 60% that MY priest wouldn't abuse my kid...so lets take the lambs to the slaughter. TB softball parents on this board make very similar arguments, only they are being warned more vociferously by people who have been there and done that. Then organizations like ASA and Premier make changes to promote the insanity which the TB parents soak up. In the end, there will be children injured....some for the rest of their lives....all so mom and dad have something to brag about.

I love the game and hate the insanity.

You may have already stated, but what age did your dd start TB and was there a rec league in your area at that age? Was the area California?

If there is anything I agree with you on, it's the insanity but insanity can go two ways. In politics, I think they call it the "right" and the "left.

My DD played rec ball ages 6-8. TB ages 9-18. She injured her shoulder at 13, but kept playing. She had shoulder surgery at 16 and played until she was 18, but she was little more than a DP because she couldn't throw the ball. She tried pitching again, but couldn't throw more than an inning due to the pain. She only kept playing because she thought it would make me happy.

I put her in TB at 9 making many of the same arguments you hear on this board. Softball didn't pick her, by the way.

Perhaps you have already explained how your daughter hurt her shoulder/arm but I would like some insight on your experience (since you said her shoulder started hurting at age 13) if you could please explain how that occurred? How old she was, how many practices a week she pitched, how long were her pitching practices, how many games per tournament did she pitch, did she take any breaks - those sort of things. I have a 11 yo (almost 12 yo) DD pitcher who is taking a 3-week break from pitching as well as over hand throwing to rest her rotator cuff - no damage as was stated by her ortho doc but he highly suggested giving her a break so we are. Toward the end of this past Spring season every now and then she told us the top of her shoulder hurt when she threw overhand SOMETIMES and only a couple times when she was pitching. That scared me and her dad enough to go take her to an ortho and adhere to his suggestion of resting her. Just curious about your DD's experience to hopefully avoid it for mine and others.

[dustyshoes]

TeNeetkeeMom,

This should get you started,

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3910&hilit=open+letter+to+pitchers+parents

[TeNeetkeeMom]

TeNeetkeeMom,

This should get you started,

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3910&hilit=open+letter+to+pitchers+parents

Thank you very much. I have been reading the posts on this topic - very good insight!!!!

[PDad]

If meetings are not until Nov, who can we contact to state our position (if that even matters to them)? 43ft is not a good idea for 14s. Hitting stats will be inflated and mom/dad can brag about how great DDs avg is. With all these comments someone has to listen, RIGHT?

You can find contact info for your ASA reps here: http://www.asasoftball.com/about/contact_us.asp