choosing the right team

[keyyoung1]

You don't mention the age of your DD... but in my personal opinion it is better to go with the team that will give your DD the best opportunity to play. You don't get any better by sitting on the bench. Since your DD is a pitcher, she needs innings and to face batters in order to improve at pitching. Same thing with infield / outfield / hitting. You just don't get any better being the #3 anything (IMO).

You also need to think about what is important to you and your DD... Wins? Or developing your DD? If wins are the most important thing, go with the competitive team, and let your daughter enjoy the wins from the bench. If developing your DD is the most important, then go with the team that gives her the best chance of playing every inning and minimizes bench time. Sure the team may take some lumps and losses, but at the end of the season your DD will have a bunch of experience. If the 2nd team coaches are decent and committed to learning and developing the team.... AND they have communicated to the parents that they are "developing" a team and to expect some losses (and the other parents buy into it), then I personally would choose team 2.

Good luck! Let us know how it ends up. Hope this helped.

Well we made the choice to play for the local team tonight. We had many decisions to look at and we thought the best fit for my DD and our family was this team. As much as I would have liked her to play for the other team we just didnt think we could give the team the commitment they were looking for. We were so overwhelmed with the decision we had to make but now it feels good to have made a decision. We have been practicing with both teams for two weeks now and it wasnt easy to choose. Thank you and to the rest of you that have responded to my concerns. Good luck to all and have a wonderful softball season.

 

[99&beyond]

We had to make a similar decision a few months ago. It was hard because my DD's best friend is on the travel team that we left. We struggled with the decision for over a month. And I was holding out for info from another team that had asked her to play with them this year starting LAST year.

The end result - we walked away from the travel team, didn't wind up going to play for the other team, but instead a coach called looking for a catcher and we went with them.

The team is way less competitve then we really wanted, but she is having a good time, the coach is good and the girls are great! My DD stepped onto this team as a leader. As of this week she is now learning how to pitch as well and pitched half of practice last night.

I feel in my heart we made the right choice for our family at this time, and in the end that is what matters most.

Good luck to you and your DD this season and welcome to the boards!!!!