What is the goal to all of this?

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Cannonball

Ex "Expert"
Feb 25, 2009
4,854
113
I won't bore long time members again with the story of how my dd came to play TB but I will say that she was forced into it if she wanted to play softball. She did! So, we began to travel simply because she loved playing. From there, her goal was to play in HS. In our area, HS is a big deal and since I was a HS coach, she was around it all of the time. At first, it was local tournaments and that was fine. Her first TB coach wanted to talk to my wife and I after her 1st 12U season and he said that BB had to move up and that she was capable of so much more. His brother was the HS softball coach and the HS coach wanted her playing up. Therefore, she played up. With that came the more serious and expensive travel. BB played in 7 or 8 states playing 14U, 16U and 18U that first year. She/we were gone every weekend. It wasn't until colleges started showing interest in her that we began to think about college. From there, it kind of just exploded. I don't regret one moment of it. My dd played on her terms and on teams she wanted to play for. She created life time friends and now, they are in each other's weddings. She talks to 3 or 4 former TB teammates every day and they live in places like Ohio, Colorado, ...

That college experience she earned was so outstanding both on the field and in the classroom. My dd now does a job she absolutely loves. She coaches HS and MS ball. She coaches TB ball. Most people believe this has been a natural progression for her. I know this, you will get out of TB exactly what you want.
 
Nov 18, 2013
2,255
113
I think you misunderstood the “full athletic” part. Colleges at the highest level, and I could be mistaken, don’t give 100% athletic only scholarships. In other words, if tuition, room/board, and books cost $100,000 for four years(Duke, Vandy, etc), they don’t give an athletic scholarship for $100,000. Now, if there is an elite, blue chip athlete, who struggles academically, then yes, they will do everything they can to pay that kid’s schooling to come play for them. It happens a lot, but only for those top athletes who may struggle. So, they might get to go to college on a “full athletic” scholarship. Otherwise, kids are getting 1/2 academic, 1/2 athletic; or 1/2 academic, 1/4 leadership, 1/4 athletic, etc. I was on full scholarship also. 1/2 academic, 1/4 leadership, 1/4 athletic. That was due to how funding was at that school. I don’t mean to insult anyone. I’m sorry you took it that way. Please accept my apologies. Seriously.


Where did you come up with this? Full scholarships are just that. Full, tuition, room & board and in some cases a stipend for misc costs to attend college. Being an equivalency sport, most softball players are on partial athletic and academic scholarships, The scholarship amount is based on a the number of scholarships allotted per team, and not a specific dollar amount. It would only be for smaller schools that aren't fully funded it can be a dollar amount.

In another post you said female scholarships are much less and harder to obtain? That's just nonsense. Due to Title IX the number of scholarships are comparable. There's also several times more males seeking roster spots than females to it's much, much easier for females to obtain athletic scholarships.

It was nice you apologized taking a shot at female athletic scholarship recipients, but then you go right back and do it again. Being a D1 athlete doesn't mean a kid is some kid of dunce. Daughter just spent four years pitching at a P5 school and managed to come away with an engineering degree. And she's not alone! Female D1 athletes as a whole perform better than the general student population.
 
Jul 16, 2013
4,659
113
Pennsylvania
Well hell now i'm confused. :)

The attached chart may be helpful. If you scan through it you can see the average scholarship amount offered to athletes at various schools, as well as tuition costs. Again, I do not claim to be an expert in this. But my understanding is that a lot of this will depend on athletic department funding. Just because a D1 or D2 program is allowed by the NCAA to offer a certain amount of scholarships, doesn't mean that individual schools will actually use them. More than likely, most coaches will utilize the budget allotted to them. If a school is fully funded, the coach is in the best possible position. If a school is only partially funded, that means they have chosen to not use all of their available scholarships. The school I mentioned before is such a program. In private discussions I have had with their coach, she confided her actual budget with me, and it isn't close to what a fully funded program would have. By my calculations, she has less than half of that available to her. On the other end of the spectrum, some schools do not offer athletic scholarships at all, even though they are permitted to by the NCAA. For example, most Ivy League schools do not offer any athletic scholarships. So it really varies from program to program. My guess is that most P5 programs are fully funded or close to it. It will vary as you spread out.

This all said, if a school does have athletic money available, it will likely be used on pitchers first. Once they lock down their pitchers, they will typically focus on other key positions such as short stop and catcher. But there are always exceptions.

http://www.scholarshipstats.com/average-per-athlete.html
 
Dec 2, 2013
3,410
113
Texas
My DD will start in the fall at a D3 school. The school is considered a high academic school that has more National merit finalists than any other school in Texas. Enrollment will be 29,000 this fall! Unfortunately, the athletes do not get preferential treatment and are treating just like every enrolled student. They are competing for the same academic monies as the rest of the student population. Once DD got to sophomore year we decided THE goal was to go to the most academic rigorous school while playing competitive softball. It's all about getting that marketable degree. The team won their conference tourney over 2 time National Champs( UT-Tyler) who is moving up to D2 this fall. Other D3's, most private schools will discount there tuition and call it a scholarship.

The school is very generous with academic monies but is awarded on a case by cases basis. This year the threshold for the lowest scholarship is 32 ACT where they pay for 1/2 of tuition. And goes up to full tuition + $3000 stipend for the almost perfect scores. Even if you hit those scores, you may not get anything. DD did not qualify. She's a smartie, but not as smart as these kids! We were very lucky that my DD was just notified that she will receive a private scholarship(not related to the school) that will pay for close to all of her tuition. This had nothing to do with her softball skills, but her academic and extracurricular activities. Life is funny that way. Only years ago, we were fretting over finding a decent team to compete on. Next thing you know, you are sitting in an auditorium full of families attending freshman orientation!!!
 
May 4, 2016
70
18
East Coast
I have no misconceptions about my daughter's skill level -- there are no scholarships in her future.

What she does have is a love for the game, and a love for spending the weekend with her teammates and being a part of something bigger.

Well said. The opportunity to surround your child with other people that want to work hard to better themselves, support each other, and work together as a team.

For me as a Dad, It's about establishing the proper mindset in my little girl that will serve her a lifetime. Do we need travel softball to do this? Not at all, but if your daughter loves the sport, then it is a good vehicle to help teach life lessons... Winning with class, losing with dignity, and always giving your all. Plus, it's fun to watch. :p
 
Jul 13, 2017
7
3
The Southeast wasn't a complete wasteland in the '80s, I played travel ball outside of Atlanta, Murphy Candler Park (it is still there) and we went to the ASA nationals in 1982, got our butts kicked in 2 games in Las Cruses NM and came home. We rented a bus for travel. Our team picked up some other girls from the Atlanta area and I never even got on the field. (still mad about that I think) So no college softball for me, but I did get an ROTC scholarship, and that pays way better if you are looking for college money. I am sure my softball experiences were a big positive in that competition.

I encouraged my daughter to play travel ball, because we have a big high school, and if she wants to play in high school, local rec ball will not cut it. I cringe anytime sports people start talking to the kids her age about college scholarships (sports). They started the talk at basketball camp when they were in elementary school, they mention it when they are recruiting for the local rowing teams, and every other sport. I think that is crazy, these kids don't even know what they want to eat for dinner, much lesson what they want to do for college.
 
May 23, 2019
12
3
I look back at my brother and I playing ball. We were good ball players. He was a pitcher, I was a catcher. We made all star teams every year from 8-9 to 14-15. I don’t recall travel ball being a thing, but select teams were starting. This would have been 1990-91 in the Dayton OH area. It was not pay to play as it is now...If you were good, the team would have you. One year it was Dayton Braves, next year Dayton Sox, it seemed the team name changed every year. Games were on weekend and against teams in other communities close by, not overnight trips and 5 games. Shoulda Woulda Coulda.
 

ceas04

Fastpitch Dad
Aug 29, 2018
9
3
Massachusetts
"I’m probably naive when it comes to how kids get noticed by college recruits. But, if a kid is good enough, like I was (due to hard work on my own time, not travel ball) why is it necessary to start kids at 6/7 years old, playing competitive travel ball? Yeah, the competition is greater, but on an individual level, does better competition really make an athlete better? There has to be a limit. Just because I play against Michael Jordan, doesn’t mean I’m going to be like Mike. This all just doesn’t add up to me, at this point. Again, I’m a fairly new softball parent."

First, you mentioned your experience as it relates to basketball. Without getting into an "about me" post, I played hoop at a pretty high level. Knowing how I improved in basketball and watching my daughter, I'd have to say that she wouldn't be able to truly be elite at softball with the "hard work on my own time" approach with SB. I used to shovel off courts in the snow to play, so I'm familiar with your point, but hing is with softball, she can only throw me so many pitches or hit so many balls before she needs to play against other good players.
My daughter is now 12 and we are new to travel ball this year. Never saw a point before this year - all we had extra was a pitching coach - and I agree that I don't see the point of 6/7 yr old travel. Now she's a fairly hard thrower for her age (mid-50s) and has good movement. Batting, she hit a HR and/or multiple triples in literally every game. Her issue going into this year was the competition level. Now I'm sure this is dependent on where you live as well, but she is the hardest thrower in her town by a mile; even throwing harder than the fastest 13-15yr old town pitchers. The starting varsity pitcher on a 14 win team might throw slightly harder than her. Girls that were 10, 11, 12 and even some 13 yr olds were afraid to bat against her. She hit 1 batter and parents were asking the coaches to have her pulled from the game. They would cheer on foul balls like they were hits. She wasn't getting better facing kids like that at all.
The best thing that happened to her this year so far was a girl ripping a triple off her in travel ball. She looked stunned that this could happen. She's done well in year one, but having her let up hits and runs, needed to spot her pitches to get outs, needing to use her other pitches to throw off timing - none of that would have happened in rec league. Same with hitting. Seeing faster pitching, a change up, a curve....needing to adjust to these things....wouldn't have happened. This isn't PGF level travel ball or anything, but I know that the tournaments that she's played thus far have been invaluable to her growth as a player. If she wants to keep playing beyond HS, I'm not sure that would be possible (at least at a stronger school) without travel ball on her resume.
 

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