I serve on the board of a community based softball association with more than 250 girls playing on teams ranging from t-ball to 14u "competitive." We have Three 14u teams playing "tournament only" B level softball. One 12u (first year)playing B (some B/C tourneys) and two 10u tournament teams. We have two high schools in our community and we're looking for ways to create a nice feeder system with our organization (and have the high school coaches become more involved with the youth movement).
Here's the question: how "serious" should be become? We have some parents that want to go turbo and start training nearly year 'round with our tournament only teams. I'm under the belief that they're young and should do lots of other sports, activities, etc. and not give up their soul-- and time-- for such a long and never ending season. We live in a blessed community with families with the financial means to travel, ski, play multiple club sports, etc. I am certain we'd lose some of the better athletes if we went down the "specialization" road or asked girls to start training/playing in winter, spring, summer and fall.
I'd love to know if there's a good model to follow. 95% of our girls are from our community. We're not looking at being the "best" by recruiting girls that live 50 miles away. We just want to be as competitive as we can be and create a sort of club like atmosphere. Any good models out there? I hate to reinvent the wheel.
Thanks.
Here's the question: how "serious" should be become? We have some parents that want to go turbo and start training nearly year 'round with our tournament only teams. I'm under the belief that they're young and should do lots of other sports, activities, etc. and not give up their soul-- and time-- for such a long and never ending season. We live in a blessed community with families with the financial means to travel, ski, play multiple club sports, etc. I am certain we'd lose some of the better athletes if we went down the "specialization" road or asked girls to start training/playing in winter, spring, summer and fall.
I'd love to know if there's a good model to follow. 95% of our girls are from our community. We're not looking at being the "best" by recruiting girls that live 50 miles away. We just want to be as competitive as we can be and create a sort of club like atmosphere. Any good models out there? I hate to reinvent the wheel.
Thanks.