High school softball

[BB875]

Which one is it?

Not sure what you mean? I don't allow varsity players to play TB during our HS season. It doesn't work.

 

[_MIA_]

Not sure what you mean? I don't allow varsity players to play TB during our HS season. It doesn't work.

Yeah I misread your post, my fault.

 

[Shawn]

As a community we love our HS team. Almost everyone plays TB which has feed our HS teams. I’ll check how many times we won league, districts and State. At one time we made it to the State championship game 3 times in a roll. Won one. Had 9 seniors on the 3rd time, only loss of the season.

We also love TB, everyone has always done both.

Because of our local success, the community paid for a new complex. State of the art drainage, new grass with turf infield’s.

2 students just want to play in HS. They want a chance at their mothers era record for a year, .06 good luck, you better not allow one earned run.

 

[terricheek8]

Would love to get your opinion. My DD is in 7th grade and wants to play softball in college. We just found out the high school she plans on attending no longer has softball. Is travel ball enough? How important is playing high school ball to get into a good college?


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If she is going to attend a high school that excels in academics then I would recommend that. My college playing grand daughter was recruited from travel ball showcases. My 13 year old started playing show cases with her 14U team this fall. I don't feel that school ball is all that important if you are on a good A travel ball team that is playing college showcases.

 

[Vertigo]

If she is going to attend a high school that excels in academics then I would recommend that. My college playing grand daughter was recruited from travel ball showcases. My 13 year old started playing show cases with her 14U team this fall. I don't feel that school ball is all that important if you are on a good A travel ball team that is playing college showcases.

Totally agree with this. My dd went to a private HS known for its academics, and they were not allowed to enter the post-season tournaments since they were not a part of the PIAA in PA, so probably not very well known for softball. The softball team had, at most in one season, 4 other TB players on the team. While DD’s HS coach was very willing to talk to college coaches on her behalf, it was her TB exposure that helped her get recruited. DD’s team had a losing record her freshman year and then went 15-6 her sophomore year. They lost out on her junior year and she was already committed her senior year - so really, HS ball probably didn’t do much for her recruitment.

ETA: I do feel that playing HS ball is something that should at least be considered. There is something to be said for the “team” aspect, camaraderie, and learning how to deal with adversity that comes along with playing HS ball that you sometimes don’t experience as much on a TB team. However, it’s importance in recruitment is probably negligible unless you are on a top powerhouse team full of other TB players who will also be playing in college.

 

[kennykozman!!]

When I coached Little League softball (decades ago) they had just put in a rule saying that you couldn't play or practice with your travel team while you were playing LL. The reason was that when the LL playoffs were going on girls who played on TB teams would often skip LL playoff games because they had a TB tournament, causing LL teams to forfeit playoff games. I'm guessing that the same thing can happen in HS if a player has a conflict. Here in Massachusetts they have a rule which says that if you miss a school ball practice or game because of a TB event you are suspended from play for 2 weeks.

This is no longer the case at least here. LL is unfortunately dying out. Our district (about 1 million population) had only 6 Juniors (13-14 yr old) teams total and some of the LL combined to make teams. Most of the girls on my DD LL team were travel players and some practices only had 5-6 kids. Without the travel kids there is no LL program. That being said my DD continues to want to play LL and is signed up again. Her travel club cannot play until the 9th graders HS softball season is concluded. My DD is in 8th grade. She will play MS as well but the season is very short.


Seniors LL (15-16 year olds) there was only an all-star team made up of travel ball players in the district. They didn't have 2 regular teams to play against one another. This is a LL district that has won numerous LLWS at the Senior Level in the past, been on ESPN and all that.

 

[uncdrew]

The more time I spend in and around youth sports, the more I realize the entire thing - and I mean *all of it* - is centered around football, and money.

Exhibit A - the NCAA

And everything flows down from there.

So, next time you run into nonsensical rules about players being forced to choose between HS and travel softball or HS softball and any other sport, pls remember, travel/club football does not exist at the HS level.

All 85 full, headcount scholarships for football at every D1 school in the nation are determined by relationships between the HS and college coaches. And as you might imagine, those HS coaches and state athletic associations are not eager to give up their relationships or control over their most prestigious, lucrative asset.

Therefore, ergo, thus, the state HS sports federations will continue to favor HS over club, dictating who may and may not participate on their teams, for whatever reason they can dream up. Has nothing to do with softball or fairness.

(Who knows...maybe HS softball in Iowa got pushed to summer cause the football teams wanted to use the softball field for drills. Would not surprise me.)

I've gotten a bit involved in the inner-workings of my DD's high school team. When we do fundraisers, a healthy portion of the money we raise goes to the football program.

I was flabbergasted.

 

[uncdrew]

There is an academic component of this, as well. I don't think it could be argued that playing both HS and TB at the same time would greatly diminish the time allowed for studying. They are, after all, student-athletes until school is out.

... and many top colleges expect the student to have stellar grades and do more in life than just study.

 

[uncdrew]

Well, you were wrong again. It was not tongue in cheek; it is a fact that the coach requires a goal of playing in college otherwise, you're taking up a spot for a more committed player. She notified the coach that she does not plan to continue on the team and the coach appreciated her honesty. I'm hoping she changes her mind once high school season is over, which she plans to play. Maybe she just needed a break, idk. She knows the consequences of her choice. In the meantime, she's playing basketball and snowboarding every other weekend and is happy.

I had a conversation with some 12U parents and they said "well she doesn't plan to play softball in college" so she will play for this lesser team.

My comments:
1. She has 6 years to change her mind about playing in college or not
2. Playing on a better team is often more fun
3. Playing on a better team will make her a better player
4. Playing on a better team probably keeps her options of playing in college open longer

 

[CrazyNani]

I had a conversation with some 12U parents and they said "well she doesn't plan to play softball in college" so she will play for this lesser team.

My comments:
1. She has 6 years to change her mind about playing in college or not
2. Playing on a better team is often more fun
3. Playing on a better team will make her a better player
4. Playing on a better team probably keeps her options of playing in college open longer

Well, the truth is, they don't get 6 years to decide. They need to know this by 14u, if playing on a A-level Travel team. The sole purpose is to make the team showcase ready so, if the girl isn't ready to make the commitment to playing at that level to attract college coaches, oh well. There are no other options for that age group, other than high school.