About 4 years ago, there was a discussion among coaches in our girls softball league that revolved around whether 8 year olds should have to pitch in games, or if we should adopt a strict “coach pitch” approach. Someone made a point that having kids that young struggle to get the ball over the plate would eventually break their spirit and we run the risk of damaging their self confidence and their willingness to re-join. I was pretty new to coaching kids at the time and was willing to defer to those more experienced than myself.
Now that I look back, bottom line is I’m glad that cooler heads prevailed and kids were allowed to pitch. Nat’s been going ever since and we’re at a point where she’s really developing into a decent pitcher. I admit I’ve had to nudge her along at various points, but now she truly loves to do it, with me not having to coerce her to practice like I used to. Now if I say “hey, let’s pitch,” she’s generally agreeable. And whenever she has a mitt on her hand she’ll say, “I wanna pitch, OK,” not satisfied to just play catch.
But the best part is that she’s not one-dimensional and focused solely on sports. I won’t bore anyone here with all the wonderful things she does, but Nat and her brother are becoming fine, well-rounded kids.
Speaking of the boy, he had games last Saturday and Sunday, played great D at short and first, racked up about 8 hits and many RBIs over the weekend. Yesterday he played again, despite slightly damp field conditions, and he hit the ball harder than I’ve ever seen hit hit it before. 2 were absolute frozen ropes between 2nd and 3rd, the other team’s shortstop made a great play on the first one. 2 at bats later, the same kid almost made another great play, but couldn’t hold on.