4 YEARS...

benjey said:

Agree, but also more specifically look at the retention rates on the softball team. DD's team has had significant issues with retention. Only 2 of her 5 class members(including her) are still on the team after 2 years. We noted some of the attrition issues during the recruiting process but chalked it up to Covid and the 2 consecutive lost seasons in the Ivy league. Turns out there was more of a team culture issue than we realized. My DD who played for the same travel team with the same coach for 8 years strongly considered transferring after her freshman season.

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Totally get what you are saying by looking at the team attrition rates and I agree. However, I was more referring to staying at the same school for four years and not leaving or transferring even if they left the softball team.

IMHO, student-athletes need to extend beyond their comfort zone of sticking with their teammates all the time. While it is nice that the team is like an automatic “family,” there will be those toxic relationships as well. When teammates do everything together it gets old after a while. I think venturing out and joining other clubs, sororities, volunteer activities, etc, where they meet other people helps students to learn more about themselves as a “person” and not just as an “athlete” which so many identify with. This helps the athlete find another purpose in college if SB just doesn’t work out for some reason.

I do get it, though. For many athletes it is about playing their sport in college and if, for some reason, it is not happening as planned it is tough to stick out those for four years if their sport didn’t meet their expectations.

Traps71 said:

They don't choose it--though some families do by sending their child to private or parochial school--but kids also regularly commit to 4 years of HS ball. Coaches are often the same. Our HS coach will be entering his 18th season this coming spring. I think HS ball--especially if it is a well-run, competitive program--does more to prepare most players for what they will find in college ball than travel ball. Not saying that in terms of competition faced necessarily, but in terms of how the program will be run, focus on actually winning real games, how playing time is earned, etc.

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Our HS program has had a lot of coach turnover and players transferring to other schools. It's little more than a Rec program at this point. Biggest waste of time. Give me travel ball over HS ball anytime.

Randomly selected college for data

I guess a tangent off of this topic would be for those who have transferred - did it work out for the better?

IME, I’ve seen the players who have transferred down a level (D1 to D2 or D3) have the most SB success (going by only stats and accolades). I wonder if this has made them happier in the long run? Were they specifically looking for more playing time and better outcomes? Was it purely an academic decision?

What about those players who have transferred up a level or into a much more competitive conference? Are they truly happier now even though they might see less playing time or a drop off in their stats/accolades? Was the grass truly greener?

ETA: There is no right or wrong answer here. Just wondering if most players/parents felt the transfer was the best thing and why.

benjey said:

Agree, but also more specifically look at the retention rates on the softball team. DD's team has had significant issues with retention. Only 2 of her 5 class members(including her) are still on the team after 2 years. We noted some of the attrition issues during the recruiting process but chalked it up to Covid and the 2 consecutive lost seasons in the Ivy league. Turns out there was more of a team culture issue than we realized. My DD who played for the same travel team with the same coach for 8 years strongly considered transferring after her freshman season.

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Team culture???

Does that equal shitty coaches????

DD's History--DD was fully committed to 3 teams(HS, TB, College)---had 7 different Head Coaches-2 college coaches before she stepped on campus.


TB-HS-Same program all 4 years. 16U-Coach Leslie, 18U-Soph,Jr years-Coach Joe-retired,18U Sr year-Coach Leslie.
HS: 3 coaches
College: Committed to 1st coach HS-JR year-left for Kansas, 2nd year coach lasted 1 season(let go, went to Mich St.) HS-Sr, 3rd coach-fresh,soph years(retired). 4th coach Jr/Sr years.

Rolling Hard said:

Team culture???

Does that equal shitty coaches????

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I never liked bashing coaches as my experience during DD's travel career was most coach bashing and team hopping was the result of delusional parents. This has certainly contributed to a generation of players who feel entitled and enter college unprepared to deal with challenging situations as the response through their career up until that point was to change teams.

At the college level, for my DD and a number of her former travel teammates also playing at the D1 level, it seems like the general level of coaching is not what we expected.

It is not really bashing, it's the facts. If you have half your recruits leave you are doing something WRONG. If your college coach has not read a book or watch an instructional softball coaching video in 20 years, they probably suck.
Antenelli (even knowing his videos are unnecessarily long) has enough free information to create a good coac

Rolling Hard said:

It would be interesting to know what percentage of college softball players play 4 years at their original school. I would guess the number would be close to 50%.

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Hmmm, does seem like something to consider in the pre-planning stages. Particularly in that for those who are finding the want to transfer, all units don't always transfer, and the chunk of 6-year graduation rate statistics example more time and money.

Ohhh and that transfer portal gig,
doesn't work for all of them.
imo that would be an unreliable option to put as a plan,...sort of like a flat spare tire.
'Wellll this might work....'

RADcatchers said:

Hmmm, does seem like something to consider in the pre-planning stages. Particularly in that for those transferring, all units don't always transfer, and the chunk of 6-year graduation rate statistics example more time and money.

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This is a huge piece to consider right here the further along one gets in college before they transfer. Most schools only accept so many in-coming credits and some specific majors may want the higher level courses taken only at their specific school.