Questions about NYC are softball, esp. Brooklyn

[BobInMadison]

For about the past 6 months, I have been living with in-laws in lower Manhattan, commuting to work in Jersey City, and my family has been living in Wisconsin.

At the end of the summer, my family will likely move to the NYC area to be with me.
While I have been looking at both NYC and northern NJ, I think DW would greatly prefer Brooklyn. She has siblings and some close friends in Brooklyn.

In the past, we used to live a few blocks away from her brother, who lives in the James Madison HS area. (I gather that HS has a great softball team). She also has family in Coney Island and Midwood, but more likely in the James Madison HS area. (Her brother lives close to U and Nostrand).

I am wondering what TB teams and pitching coaches I should look at.

I did find an article about a good pitcher in that area who plays on the Brooklyn Cyclones, and who uses the LIU Brooklyn pitching coach as a PC. However, I couldn't find the Cyclones on Google.

So, the question is: what teams and PCs should we consider, and how do I contact these teams?

Thanks so much,
Bob

 

[goinglefty]

Hi Bob! Sent you a PM.

 

[InsidePitch]

Personally I think you should go NJ but....LI Bandits had a decent org but I haven't seem them in a bit but still around. Long Island Bandits Girls Travel Sofftball

Team LI has a well respected 18U team that plays in some hard to get into tourneys, not familiar with their younger teams. http://www.teamli.com/

 

[BobInMadison]

Thanks to people for getting back to me so quickly with great information.

I realize I should mention a little more about my DD.

She is now first year 14U, will be second year 14U next year.

At the 12U level she pitched for one of the best 'C' teams in the area, and by the end of her second year 12U she was starting every game. In one tournament she pitched all but 2 innings, including a 14-inning scoreless streak. During that time she shut out one of the better B level teams in the state.

So now she has moved to one of the best B teams in Wisconsin, and is one of two starters. She could probably play on an A team, but there are none within an hour's drive, and she might not be a starter on an A team, or she might be a #2 or #3 starter at best. Probably not a strong D-1 pitcher, but that is hard to tell. Her rate of improvement can be really fast. She went from being the #3 or #4 starter on a C team her first season at 12U to the #1 starter by the end of the season. Last summer she started out as the #1 starter, and ended up starting every game, and most of those were complete games. If she keeps on improving at this rate she should be an A level pitcher by the end of the summer.

She is also a good hitter, a good fielder, and a great base runner. Not sure how fast. Coaches told me her older sister was possibly fast enough for D-1 as an infielder, and this girl is almost as fast as her sister.

 

[Jquick823]

What I was told in the fall was that the 14U LI Bandits is now the 16U Team LI. Team LI has very good teams to include their 14U, played them several times this fall.

 

[Kevin7273]

Team LI Is a great organization. An old friend of mine coaches there and has had 3 daughters come through their program, one pitching in college. Personally I would look into north jersey, but that would just be my preference. I work in NYC and live in Orange County NY, about an hour northwest of the city. As you probably know there are some very nice areas in Brooklyn but also some VERY undesirable areas (I worked in Brooklyn for 8 years). The nice areas are very expensive, but even there open space is tough to come by. For instance, it will be very tough to find an open park area to practice with your daughter. My biggest concern with raising kids in NYC would be the way schools work. Kids can get sent to HS across the city and have to rely on public transportation to get there.

Of course having family nearby in Brooklyn is a big bonus and will likely weigh heavily in your decision. Good luck!

 

[BobInMadison]

I wanted to update everybody on this, since so many of you were nice enough to answer, both in the forum and PMs.

For the past couple of years or so, I have gone from having a secure job to living in the "gig" economy. To make a long story short, I was hoping to upgrade my last contract position to a full-time position. It didn't happen, and I have been back in Wisconsin the past couple of month, although my car is still parked in Brooklyn. The good thing, at least I was able to watch my DD 3 play softball, get to DD 3's middle school completion ceremony, and DD 1's high school graduation. Last night I dropped DD 1 and her roommate off at the dorms for a summer lead-in at Wisconsin. At this point, DW laid down the law, and no more contracts so far from home. A contract close to home is OK, or else a permanent position. Right now, the leads I have for permanent positions are mostly in the SF Bay area, so we probably won't be moving to NYC after all.

And, I discovered some comments some of you made about NYC HS softball are right on the money. The last two days I was in NYC, I got to watch 10 teams in 5 games in a park along the river, on the Lower East Side. I think my DD 3 could've been the starting pitcher for at least 9 of those teams, and she was still in middle school.

Thanks again for all your replies. There are some great softball people in the NY metro area.