Travel Ball is Killing Rec Ball

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Mar 21, 2019
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If this was for me, then I haven't asked. She would probably end up missing half her games for both teams since tournaments are both in the summer which isn't really fair for either team. Like I said, at her age in basketball I can work with her on her skillset, along with taking her to the local rec center to play with boys, to get to the point where she will be good enough to have to make a decision later on down the road. In softball there are certain things I can work with her on her own, but the one thing I cannot do is provide quality pitching for her to face which was the main reason I moved her out of rec.

Right. She had to choose a sport. Can’t play decent competition at both bc travel ball has ruined youth sports.


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Nov 18, 2013
2,255
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Couple things. Most kids parents aren’t felicity huffman or whatever her name is. Average kids
Parents can’t buy their way onto a college team.

What do I propose? Get rid of all the low level travel teams but that won’t happen. These low level teams are here bc kids that weren’t good enough for the elite level travel wanted to play travel too so they made a step down and another step down till it’s very watered down. My daughter had a game tonight she’s upset frustrated bc most of the girls don’t know what to do they won’t cover bases she chases erratic pitches non stop and even when she tells em watch the runner and cover the bag good Chance is they won’t move to cover. Sadly this is what’s become of rec ball. Shouldn’t have to play travel ball just to play with semi decent kids but all the semi decent nothing special just decent players are playing travel.

I’m obviously of differing opinion than the vast majority of this site but travel ball is so watered down now it’s just really expensive rec ball at the low levels. Some of em are so watered down they play in rec league tourneys cause we played em last year. Is what it is. My apologies for offending the site.


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Until this year Minnesota didn’t have travel softball before 14U. We still had all those issues you mentioned. It’s just the way rec ball is. Vastly different talent levels, dedication and goals. The biggest draw of travel is non parent coaches and families who are generally on the same page. I agree the talent is diluted, but that’ll take care of itself at some point.

At 10 there’s no reason to pick a single sport. I agree with your approach there.

Back to size and speed. Nobody said it wasn’t a factor. It’s just not the only factor. If it was my kid would have had full ride offers from all top 25 schools. That sure as heck didn’t happen.
 
Mar 21, 2019
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Until this year Minnesota didn’t have travel softball before 14U. We still had all those issues you mentioned. It’s just the way rec ball is. Vastly different talent levels, dedication and goals. The biggest draw of travel is non parent coaches and families who are generally on the same page. I agree the talent is diluted, but that’ll take care of itself at some point.

At 10 there’s no reason to pick a single sport. I agree with your approach there.

Back to size and speed. Nobody said it wasn’t a factor. It’s just not the only factor. If it was my kid would have had full ride offers from all top 25 schools. That sure as heck didn’t happen.

I’m fully aware size and speed aren’t the only factors at no sport do they routinely choose the smaller athlete with the same skill set as a larger athlete except in horse racing.
I don’t think travel should even exist until 14 and up but I know I’m rowing that boat alone. Her travel b-ball coach would actually agree with travel is starting too young now said the only reason he has the younger teams is bc if you don’t you won’t have any girls when they get older.
Oh well I’m obviously wrong so hopefully some of these girls play hs so she’ll get her chance to play against em.


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Jul 14, 2018
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In defense of lower-level travel teams...

There's been a lot of talk on this thread about size and speed, but one very important point that has not been made is that girls in the second-year 10U through first-year 14U level mature at wildly different rates. Go to any elite-level 12U game and the pitchers look like fully-grown women. Some girls just get there earlier than others. The point is often made on DFP that the dominant 12U pitchers often fall back to the pack when the rest of their peers catch up physically.

My DD is on a lower-level, 'development' 12U travel team. She's a decent pitcher with good mechanics, but she just turned 12 and is 61 inches tall and weighs 94 pounds. She's too good for Rec (although she still plays to get on the field with her friends), but not good enough for high-level ball because she simply doesn't have the size to throw 55+. A lower-level travel team gives her the opportunity to work on her game year-round, and get some quality coaching, without worrying that a bad outing will force her into the dugout when what she needs most is reps.

Incidentally, DD plays for a large org with teams at every level. On the 18U teams, 100% of the girls have college commitments somewhere.
 
Mar 21, 2019
137
28
In defense of lower-level travel teams...

There's been a lot of talk on this thread about size and speed, but one very important point that has not been made is that girls in the second-year 10U through first-year 14U level mature at wildly different rates. Go to any elite-level 12U game and the pitchers look like fully-grown women. Some girls just get there earlier than others. The point is often made on DFP that the dominant 12U pitchers often fall back to the pack when the rest of their peers catch up physically.

My DD is on a lower-level, 'development' 12U travel team. She's a decent pitcher with good mechanics, but she just turned 12 and is 61 inches tall and weighs 94 pounds. She's too good for Rec (although she still plays to get on the field with her friends), but not good enough for high-level ball because she simply doesn't have the size to throw 55+. A lower-level travel team gives her the opportunity to work on her game year-round, and get some quality coaching, without worrying that a bad outing will force her into the dugout when what she needs most is reps.

Incidentally, DD plays for a large org with teams at every level. On the 18U teams, 100% of the girls have college commitments somewhere.

I find it fantastic that she still plays rec too. That’s awesome.


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Jul 14, 2018
982
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I find it fantastic that she still plays rec too. That’s awesome.


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We've managed to keep a lot of girls involved in rec locally. They play on travel teams all over, but they still look forward to playing together in school and rec ball. Rec can be a challenge with the lower-skilled players mixed in, but come all-stars her rec team (which I still coach with) is better than her travel team.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
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Right. She had to choose a sport. Can’t play decent competition at both bc travel ball has ruined youth sports.


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Well the decision was either she play against lousy competition in both sports or good competition in one and that decision was made based upon what I thought would be the best path for her to be able to improve the most in both sports given she would not be able to play travel in both. She still has fun playing rec basketball, but mostly just from practicing with her friends..at times the games I don't think are too much fun though...she scored 90% of her team's points this year and in the league championship the other team was smart enough to put two girls on her at all times and 90% of the time when she passed it away the girl she passed it to either a) missed the pass or b) traveled shortly after receiving the pass..she was quite frustrated after that game.
 
Last edited:
Aug 19, 2015
1,118
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Atlanta, GA
Coaches do show up at HS games. Usually to watch players they’re already recruiting, but I’ve seen several just observing in general. State HS tourneys usually have a decent showing of coaches.

“Best of the best” isn’t often associated with a D3 camp. I don’t doubt they were very good, but I think teams like OU and UCLA recruits when talking best of the best.

Agreed. We saw several D1 (SEC and ACC) head coaches at a couple of our games last fall. GA plays HS ball in the fall, so they are able to do so in our state. I was really surprised to see that, but it happens.
 
Dec 5, 2017
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I find it fantastic that she still plays rec too. That’s awesome.


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My dd's story is the same. We play on a league based "travel team" and also play in the league. She also runs track and plays basketball in the fall and winter. The key is realizing that she is only 9 and isn't getting a scholarship tomorrow or possibly ever. She loves to play softball and our rec league is only 5 weeks long. Our team is really inexpensive and we fund raise as needed. The rec thing is getting very old though because of the skill gap between the travel/rec girls and I imagine this will be our last season with rec. I hope she continues to play softball through HS and if it's in the cards for her to play in college then that will be awesome, if not then so be it. However, as long as she wants to continue playing other sports we will never play for a team that won't work with us to allow that to happen. If that means she plays for lower level teams then that's just the way it will have to be.
 
Dec 26, 2017
487
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Oklahoma
Agreed. We saw several D1 (SEC and ACC) head coaches at a couple of our games last fall. GA plays HS ball in the fall, so they are able to do so in our state. I was really surprised to see that, but it happens.


Do you feel like they were just out looking for kids to scout or do you feel like they were there to look at some kids they'd already had some sort of contact with/heard of?
 

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