IS TRAVEL BALL leaving people/players/rec & school behind...OR...

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Jun 27, 2021
418
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Around here at the HS age TB is pretty much dead during the season so while you can quit HS ball, leaving it for TB is probably not the right phrase (around here at least)
Pretty accurate here too. Those that leave HS for travel don't seem to do too well either.
 
Nov 9, 2021
184
43
Might be a slight tangent from the original post but I think it is still relevant to this discussion.

Are most girls starting travel ball too early now? I am a big proponent of travel ball but it seems like the burnout rate for girls that start young is really high. Would it be better to work on strengthening rec leagues at younger ages to make it a better alternative to travel ball too soon? At some point there has to be a natural transition for the more talented girls to challenge themselves with travel ball. But it seems if you rush it you may end up losing more talent in the long run.

Why the rush to start travel ball at 8u/10u. Is it easier to just do your own thing then work to make the rec program better? Do too many parents not want to let their DD get left behind? No matter how good the coaching is on a travel team your child is only getting a few minutes of a coach’s attention at every practice. Individual work for your child is critical at young ages. I know every situation is different and one answer may not fit every scenario. But would most be better waiting until at least 12u for travel ball in your opinion?


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Dec 2, 2013
3,410
113
Texas
Might be a slight tangent from the original post but I think it is still relevant to this discussion.

Are most girls starting travel ball too early now? I am a big proponent of travel ball but it seems like the burnout rate for girls that start young is really high. Would it be better to work on strengthening rec leagues at younger ages to make it a better alternative to travel ball too soon? At some point there has to be a natural transition for the more talented girls to challenge themselves with travel ball. But it seems if you rush it you may end up losing more talent in the long run.

Why the rush to start travel ball at 8u/10u. Is it easier to just do your own thing then work to make the rec program better? Do too many parents not want to let their DD get left behind? No matter how good the coaching is on a travel team your child is only getting a few minutes of a coach’s attention at every practice. Individual work for your child is critical at young ages. I know every situation is different and one answer may not fit every scenario. But would most be better waiting until at least 12u for travel ball in your opinion?


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Bingo! IME I saw many girls make the jump too early. Some came back to the REC league shell shocked, others faded away for various reasons. Parents believe their kids are so good that they need to escape REC ball. They barely know the fundamentals. At 12U the numbers seem to be cut in half. 12U is when the game actually starts to resemble a real game of softball. If parents can get past 10U, the game becomes more enjoyable. More strikes thrown, more hits, more plays.

And to your point, yes lots of families and players get burnt out. Why not cycle through all of the seasonal sports and play Summer Allstars? It seemed to work for us. But I also understand there are many factors that push families out of rec ball. In all reality, it's the parents not the kids that have the need to move on. If you choose to make the jump early, you have to KEEP IT FUN.

I know lots of parents that were so done with TB when the time came to end. They were the ones that hit it hard year round since 10U. Me...not so much. I loved it and miss it. In the fall I'll grab some dads and meet at the fields to get our fix. In fact, I am having lunch with a softball dad today.
 
Jun 27, 2021
418
63
Might be a slight tangent from the original post but I think it is still relevant to this discussion.

Are most girls starting travel ball too early now? I am a big proponent of travel ball but it seems like the burnout rate for girls that start young is really high. Would it be better to work on strengthening rec leagues at younger ages to make it a better alternative to travel ball too soon? At some point there has to be a natural transition for the more talented girls to challenge themselves with travel ball. But it seems if you rush it you may end up losing more talent in the long run.

Why the rush to start travel ball at 8u/10u. Is it easier to just do your own thing then work to make the rec program better? Do too many parents not want to let their DD get left behind? No matter how good the coaching is on a travel team your child is only getting a few minutes of a coach’s attention at every practice. Individual work for your child is critical at young ages. I know every situation is different and one answer may not fit every scenario. But would most be better waiting until at least 12u for travel ball in your opinion?


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Mine is off to play next year, lower D1 and that is one of my regrets. Getting her in too early at 9U. Looking back and talking with her now she is amazed she is still playing.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
I moved mine to TB when I thought she was ready to play kid pitch. I went and watched the 10U rec games and saw about 10 strikes in two games..that wasn't going to be any fun for her.
 
Nov 9, 2021
184
43
I moved mine to TB when I thought she was ready to play kid pitch. I went and watched the 10U rec games and saw about 10 strikes in two games..that wasn't going to be any fun for her.

I think this is a common theme. 10u rec can be brutal even for the most avid softball fans. But that also doesn’t mean travel at that age can’t be negative also.

Curious on ways to make 10u rec more beneficial to all so that parents/players don’t feel they have to rush to travel to avoid the torments. In our current league my youngest plays in it can be painful. The pitchers and catchers get work and that is about it. We seem to have some really good pitchers that strike everyone out. Or really bad ones that walk everyone. Hard for the other girls to develop when they don’t get the chance to field a ball often or hit but maybe once a game and even then they may not see a strike. There is no shortcut to experience for pitchers, so we have to let them struggle. But it makes that age group painful for everyone else.

If anyone has seen something in the 10u range that works I would love to hear about it. Looking to help my local league improve the development at that age.


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Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
I think this is a common theme. 10u rec can be brutal even for the most avid softball fans. But that also doesn’t mean travel at that age can’t be negative also.

Curious on ways to make 10u rec more beneficial to all so that parents/players don’t feel they have to rush to travel to avoid the torments.


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Pitching is such a huge part of the game. The community/rec leagues need to make an effort to provide
instruction (and talk to them about what it takes to be a good pitcher in terms of practice) to parents/pitchers at a young age. Doesn't mean that those pitchers themselves won't move on to TB but it would at least give the leagues a shot at keeping kids for a bit longer.

Also our league didn't have any All Star team which would play in a few tournaments after the season as a carrot for the kids who were a little more serious about it.
 
Sep 19, 2018
928
93
The reason that you have written I agree with. Those people who would step up and Coach did not want to do it in rec ball. The question is why?
because in Rec (little League in my case), you take everyone, and not only does everyone gets a chance, but they get chances over and over again. Regardless of the effort put in by the child and or parent. Those are the rules. So the game play suffers. I am not saying this is bad. It is actually great! It gives children the chance to learn to love the game.

But for children that do more work, it is no fun. It really isn't. What do you do when you can't throw the ball to 1B because 1b is scared of how hard you throw? When you are one of the 2 or 3 girls on the field that can play, it is frustrating and takes away the fun. Watching 12U Rec in my area hurts my eyes. Forget 10U.

So, as a parent, you look for someplace 'better'.
 
May 21, 2018
567
93
because in Rec (little League in my case), you take everyone, and not only does everyone gets a chance, but they get chances over and over again. Regardless of the effort put in by the child and or parent. Those are the rules. So the game play suffers. I am not saying this is bad. It is actually great! It gives children the chance to learn to love the game.

But for children that do more work, it is no fun. It really isn't. What do you do when you can't throw the ball to 1B because 1b is scared of how hard you throw? When you are one of the 2 or 3 girls on the field that can play, it is frustrating and takes away the fun. Watching 12U Rec in my area hurts my eyes. Forget 10U.

So, as a parent, you look for someplace 'better'.
DD was constantly getting in trouble in rec for throwing too hard. She had a decent arm, but it wasn't like she was Rick Ankiel out there. We moved her up an age which helped a little, but it was a painful experience.

On a positive, she met some new girls and we met some parents, so I at least, chalk it up as a good experience.
 
Dec 4, 2021
14
3
I got thru page 6 and didn't have time to read the rest of the posts (yet). One thing I haven't really seen mentioned is that parents are allured by the words "travel ball" and many times (I would venture 40-50% of the time) their children don't have the talent to play travel ball at any level, really. This is a hard concept for parents to see and admit. They can continue to place their daughters on travel ball teams because there are plenty of other girls' parents that start their own team so their kids can play "travel" when they couldn't make the top teams for lack of talent. This dilutes travel and is exactly why so many teams are "run-ruled" each weekend.
 

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