Committed, SR Season - What to do???

[nikkilugi]

Long post but I need perspective and help.

Backstory: DD's team is done with their summer season. It actually ended on a pretty bad note IMO. The team was supposed to be flying out to Cali on Friday for PGF Nationals where the team would have been playing in the 18U Premier division. However, the day we were flying to CO we found out that Breeze Airways canceled all of their LA flights from Norfolk VA for the remainder of the summer. They refunded our money for 16 tickets and said "sorry". Of course I started to look for tickets immediately and found nothing that was under $900 round trip & those flights were over 12+ hrs in length. Unfortunately that is just not feasible for many of our players and families. So we had to cancel. Of course a couple other factors played into the cancelation including the fact that we have basically no pitching. We have one healthy pitcher and she took major lumps in CO (20-3 loss in one game as an ex). We would have taken one of the org's 16U pitchers but she is just as hittable. Many families (mostly of committed players) couldn't see spending the money to go when we just wouldn't have pitching to sustain us. I was on the fence - I wanted to go because I want my DD to play the highest level talent but with 3 of us flying this year the total cost would have been pretty close to $6K when the trip was all said and done.

So we finished with a local showcase tournament in VB this weekend and now we are done. The team graduated 7 seniors this year. That leaves 7 girls. Out of those 7 girls I know of 3 who are coming back to the team, my daughter is one of them along with our pitcher and one utility player. The other 4 are moving on to other teams - for many reasons to numerous to get in to here.

DD is committed to go to UMBC Fall 2023. Her future coaches did come to some of her games this summer and she mashed - she has the grades to get in - there is no concern she will not get to sign her NLI in November. Our concern is we don't want her to step off the gas. We don't think it is appropriate for her to take it easy the summer before she is thrown into the fire of college ball - especially D1 level ball. DD is going into a winning program & will have to fight for everything. Her hitting coach (and employer since she works at the facility she trains at) tells her this all the time. Now is actually the time for her to work harder than she ever has. Of course that also means she needs to play the best talent levels out there. She needs to keep mashing balls off of ASU & other college committed pitchers. She needs to get faster off of college level fielding. She just needs to play at that high level.

"Early" tryouts start tonight for her org - DD is going to help and gauge the talent. Things have gone downhill and we are not sure the level of talent will show up for the tryouts and if there is no talent then the team won't want to pay for the higher level tournaments. Or we will play them but we will blow hard and be on the back fields in crappy locations against other crappy teams. DD will likely be one of 2 seniors on the new team and TBH she doesn't care for the other girl (it happens). The 16U team will probably bring up a bunch of girls but although that team was scrappy they didn't have IDT level talent, hence why they were in regular pool at Sparkler.

Our area of SE VA is a conundrum. It's got tons of lower level local/regional teams who are B level at best. DD's org and one other org (which we would never ever ever join - ever) have the highest level teams in the area whose top teams travel to the big showcases like PGF, IDT, Legacy, Scenic City, etc. None of the others do. There are orgs in Richmond and NoVa and even down south in NC but DD doesn't want to travel 2 or more hours for practice and she DOES want to attend practices with her team. We want her on a competitive team which will push her and will also play the high level talent teams she will see in college, she doesn't want to travel hours to practice with the team. If you were her parent what would you encourage her to do?

 

[Vertigo]

Maybe she can practice with a good local team but compete in high level tournaments with another team? There is a team near me in PA that had USF committed players (some lived in FL) a few years ago who practiced with a team in their home state but traveled to play with the PA team at showcases.

 

[Pigskinguru34]

Here is a thought, ask her what she wants?

I know this because I have seen 2 types, ones that are done with travel and competing and want a summer of recovery before going into college ball where it will be a lot more intense and ones that want to compete and just love the game.

My fear is if your daughter wants to enjoy a summer and actually be a kid and go to the beach, etc. and you keep her involved she isn't going to enjoy it and go into college not refreshed and kind of on a bad note to the game.

I say this as the most recent class of seniors I have seen 9 girls that went on to play in college last fall. Only 1 of the 9 will be playing in college this fall. The team didn't take much of a break leading into college and the majority of the 8 that quit all said they burned out and it got to be no fun anymore. (of the 8, 5 of them were starters for their teams this spring)

 

[flash277]

If she's already committed, you'd need to be committed if you want to get on a team that s going to fly around the country and cost you a fourtune.
You have a bit of WE in your statement, " we don't wasn't her to step off the gas" "we want her to be on a competitive team". What does she want to do? As a parent, if my DD made a college team, if encourage her to do what she wants to do. She put in years of working hard at softball, which she will do in college as well. If she wants to take it "easy" her senior year, let her. She's still have to play somewhere, but even I wouldn't want to go travel 2 hours for practice or spend thousands of dollars flying around the country when she's already committed to a team. Be happy she's playing in college, plus her college coach is gonna give her playing time based on what she does there, not what she does her senior season oh high school.

 

[krazykat]

My DD played on a competitive TB team until the summer before college started. That summer she played on a team (4 tournaments) that was basically her high school team and other friends. It was very relaxed and the girls did surprisingly well. Her focus during the summer was on conditioning and strength training. The grind in college is way different than TB. The most important thing is for your DD to enter college physically strong and mentally rested. Let her decide what she wants to do next summer. Also, as a parent your role is transitioning from guidance to support. It's time to let your DD go do her thing. Many parents have a tough time with this.

 

[_MIA_]

She is old enough to make her own decisions in particular when it comes to things that won't have a huge effect on the rest of her life..(and despite how I react sometimes, how good you are at softball is one of those things..) If she wants to play on a competitive team next Spring/Summer, try and make it happen (whatever that entails as long as it is financially/logistically feasible). If not, then respect her wishes and let her prepare for college ball the way she wants to.

 

[nikkilugi]

If she's already committed, you'd need to be committed if you want to get on a team that s going to fly around the country and cost you a fourtune.
You have a bit of WE in your statement, " we don't wasn't her to step off the gas" "we want her to be on a competitive team". What does she want to do? As a parent, if my DD made a college team, if encourage her to do what she wants to do. She put in years of working hard at softball, which she will do in college as well. If she wants to take it "easy" her senior year, let her. She's still have to play somewhere, but even I wouldn't want to go travel 2 hours for practice or spend thousands of dollars flying around the country when she's already committed to a team. Be happy she's playing in college, plus her college coach is gonna give her playing time based on what she does there, not what she does her senior season oh high school.

The we does include DD. She does want to play on a high level team. We showed her a tryout listing for one of the lower level teams here and she laughed, and laughed and laughed. She is just as concerned as my husband and I and when I say we or us it absolutely includes her.

 

[Vertigo]

Just wanted to add - many baseball players (sorry for the comparison) heading into college after senior year typically do not play on a travel or showcase team that last summer prior to college. If they do play, they typically will play for their local Legion team. Their focus is as mentioned above - training in the gym and continuing with hitting/pitching/fielding instruction.

Another thought is can she ask her future college coach what he would like to see her do? He might be fine with just working out in the gym that summer or playing on a local team vs traveling to the top showcases.

 

[Orange Socks]

Most kids if asked would choose to do nothing all summer, that goes for many parents as well. DD's last summer had 4 Seniors that ghosted the team starting at IDT, then onto TCS Nat's. 3 of those girls didn't last more than a year in college. One is no longer on the roster of her school, not sure what happened.

The college coach would prefer their in-coming players are battle tested and ready to go. Furthermore, players will take an entire month off before heading to school.

Does she have to find a team that travels the country? Not necessarily. IMO she needs to be getting game reps somewhere, somehow. Perhaps use the fall to find that team. I am seeing more and more players playing on teams that are not local to them.

 

[nikkilugi]

My DD played on a competitive TB team until the summer before college started. That summer she played on a team (4 tournaments) that was basically her high school team and other friends. It was very relaxed and the girls did surprisingly well. Her focus during the summer was on conditioning and strength training. The grind in college is way different than TB. The most important thing is for your DD to enter college physically strong and mentally rested. Let her decide what she wants to do next summer. Also, as a parent your role is transitioning from guidance to support. It's time to let your DD go do her thing. Many parents have a tough time with this.

After this last tournament we talked about what the remainder of her summer would look like - we don't make her work. Ball & school has been her job. Like I said in the OP she does work at the facility she trains at - for a few hours a week and helping with softball camps for younger girls. Now for the end of July through August until school starts after Labor Day her "job" will be common app essay, studying for her last & hopefully best scored SAT, applying for a couple local scholarships and starting a REAL strength and conditioning program that she will maintain through the next year. We have not gotten her in on a regular basis with strength training or speed and agility. It has always been off season stuff. I told her other than the tryout she will help with tonight she won't need to do any softball work like lessons, etc. through the end of Aug. She won't need to pick up a ball or bat unless she wants to.