(no subject)

[the_rck]

Thursday evening was the school science fair. Delia didn't have a project this year, but she wanted to go because one of her friends was going to be there. I escorted her over (she said she could go on her own, but I'm not ready to let her cross the street in front of the school by herself), and we looked at all the projects. She took some pictures so that she could show Scott what he'd missed.

Saturday was Delia's last soccer game of the season. We were late arriving, so Delia didn't start out as goalie (she normally does and plays a half as goalie). Instead, she played goalie in the second and third quarters. Delia's team lost the game but not by too much.

After the game, the family of one of the girls hosted a party. They were serving hotdogs, so Scott and I picked up Subway sandwiches. Scott and I had some serious miscommunication about what was going on, so neither of us was happy with how things were going. Once we were there, Scott and I both talked to other parents while Delia ran around with the other girls. The family has a zip line, and Delia used it three times. If we hadn't needed to leave, she'd probably have kept going back for more.

We left the party at three because Delia had a party to go to at four. It was meant to be a slumber party, and we packed everything for Delia to stay the night. She was pretty adamant that she wouldn't stay, and we promised to come get her whenever she couldn't handle more.

Scott and I weren't very hungry. I can't eat after eight, though, so we went out looking for food. Our first choice turned out to be closed, and we concluded that neither of us really wanted much. We ended up at Wendy's, getting sweet potatoes and frosties.

Delia hadn't called by the time we went to bed, a little after eleven. We were both hoping she'd spend the night. She didn't. She called us at twelve forty-five to ask us to come get her. It was two by the time we were all home and in bed.

Sunday was laundry day. Delia spent the afternoon with a friend who lives in the apartment complex at the bottom of the hill. They have a pool, so the girls went swimming. I couldn't find the waterproof sunscreen, so I used what I could find and hoped for the best. Delia didn't burn, at least. She never has, thank goodness, in spite of my not always being good at remembering sunscreen.

Monday was the first softball practice. Delia's not yet officially on the team. I mailed in her registration. Hopefully, it will go through all right. Practice was at Delia's school. Unfortunately, that won't continue. Once school's out, practices will be across town, at six on Sundays (the only time and place the coach could get since the time he wanted (and booked Delia's school for) wouldn't work for half the kids).

The season's going to be exhausting because there will be two games a week, every week until early August. I'm pretty sure Delia hasn't thought through the heat and the sun and the exertion and so on. I've also been warned that softball is really tedious to watch (which doesn't surprise me).

I was a bit worried about signing Delia up for softball. My mother and I both have the problem that we can't see the ball at all when it's coming toward us, and I didn't know if Delia had inherited that problem. She says she can see the ball fine, so I guess she didn't.

Last night, Scott took Delia out and bought her a mitt and a bat. She brought a ball home from practice.

I am a little puzzled-- Rec and Ed offers softball for girls and baseball for boys. I'm not sure what the difference is between the two and wondering why what's offered differs by sex. Who knows?

Comments

[adrian_turtle]

I am a little puzzled-- Rec and Ed offers softball for girls and baseball for boys. I'm not sure what the difference is between the two and wondering why what's offered differs by sex. Who knows?

Softball uses a bigger, somewhat softer ball, and a shorter bat. (Little kids playing baseball use a shorter bat, but they still use the hard ball with more bounce.) Baseballs don't bounce like tennis balls, and softballs aren't soft like beanbags, but the difference in bounciness is enough to make a baseball go further from a similar impact off the bat. The softball field is smaller.

Baseball pitchers can throw the ball however they like, and they mostly throw it overhand, trying to get the ball past the batter as fast as possible. There's a rule in softball that pitchers have to throw underhand. High school girls and college women have fast-pitch softball leagues, where the pitchers throw as hard as they can within that constraint. Recreational slow-pitch softball is much less competitive--in addition to the rule about pitching underhand, it has a rule that the ball has to go up and down on its way to the plate (so it has to be thrown pretty gently.) It's probably obvious that slow-pitch is easier for the batter and less strenuous for the pitcher. It may not be obvious that it also makes the game easier for the fielders, because the ball comes off the bat slower.

High school and college sports teams are quite strongly segregated. (A few sports are mixed, but not these particular ones.) If these kids want to play for their high schools in a few years, it's going to be boys playing baseball and girls playing softball.

[the_rck]

Interesting. Rec and Ed softball (and baseball) is coach pitched up through third grade, so none of the kids on Delia's team will be learning to pitch. I think that both baseball and softball teams use the same fields here.

I think I've been spoiled by Rec and Ed's soccer and basketball. The boys and girls don't play together, but they're playing the same game, with the same rules.

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

Softball uses a larger ball and the way you pitch it is different. I'm not sure when this gender divide sprung up, but it's here, too. I think because there's a stereotype among the public that softball is "easier" that it's geared more toward girls ('cause, of course, women can't do the Really Hard Sports! Teh HORRORZ!.) I once had a student in my English 100 class write a very earnest and impassioned essay, however, about how softball is actually much more difficult because even though a larger ball appears to be a bigger target, a good softball pitcher can make it extremely difficult to hit. Uhm... if she has an eye for pitching, she could do really well?

And 12:45??! :(

ETA: adrian_turtle on DW gives a much better answer than I!

[the_rck]

At the third grade level, the coaches do all the pitching. I'm not sure which team each coach pitches for. I expect we'll find out. Next year, if Delia plays again, the girls will be expected to pitch. I imagine they'll take turns equally for the first year or two while they figure out who's actually good at pitching.

I have no idea if Delia will be any good at pitching or not. It's completely outside my area of expertise.

[fjm.livejournal.com]

It sprang up in two ways
a) the women proving they could play damn fine baseball during the war (see A League of their Own) and men not wanting to lose.
b) the Federal Funding rules which require equal funding for boys' and girls' sport: in many ways this has been fabulous for US women's sport and we need it in the UK, but one side effect is "alternative" sports for girls that are 'softer' and won't let girls compete with boys. See netball in the Uk. Daft game.

[fjm.livejournal.com]

ps softball uses an under arm pitch, so no wicked fast bowling.

[the_rck]

Somebody on DreamWidth gave me a detailed run down on the differences between softball and baseball. Most of it seems to have to do with the pitching and the ball. The coaches do the pitching at the level Delia will be playing (next year, the girls will pitch), so it will mainly affect Delia in how hard/easy the ball is to hit.

[the_rck]

I wish they let girls play the same sports as boys. I'm spoiled by soccer and basketball where it's the same game and the same rules for girls and boys. This is Delia's first year playing softball. I hope she enjoys it.