Recreational softball is subsidised by the taxes of the community and therefore you have to understand one thing, it is for everyone. That being said there is a upside; All-Stars! if you are limited to a recreational softball league and have a competitive child they may not be challenged during league play. After the season is over the league most likely has a district region then state tournament that has usally competitive teams, plus you can find many warm-up tournaments and schedual pick-up games. this is how travel softball begins and how many great players are made. Word of warning. Do it for the girls, not just to win games but to develope skills and good health. If you do this keep in mind they will remember this experiance as your parenting, so don't have a dual standard.

All I have to say is stick with it. At 10u you still have to deal with short attention spans and ones who really don't know if softball is for them. Wait til 12u, you will see a great change in the ones that stay. I have seen players who were not to into it at 9 and 10 suddenly become good later. You can't save them all, but that doesn't mean you don't try. Good luck!

Seems to me that you have got some good answers but I would like to add. No matter what age group you work with you will have some of the same challanges. There are two types of coaching, individual and group.Learn to master both or you will end up frustrated. The bottom line is don't try to change a player, change your coaching technique. There is alot of great information on coaching out there. If you are not getting the result you want change your approach. I had to-Bruce

I agree with Bruce, sometime as a coach you have to change your apporach to the game, the player and how you run your practice. There will always be players who play because their friends play or their Parents are trying to get them more involved.

what about creating a A and B team? pretty much it cuts each team in half first of all and then the less advantage players play eachother within the whole league. then kids have an option of moving to the A team if they have improved enough. so that gives kids something to work hard for. i dont know about u but im sure u will have plenty of time to do traveling leagues in the future. it can be very costly. i did something similar to this in volleyball when i was young. im sure if planned right u could do this for softball. its frustrating playing with ppl who dont care, and frustraiting playing with kids who r just on a whole other level. maybe this way everyone wins.