Middle School Softball

[YoungBuck]

When most of you (DFP posters) refer to middle school softball does the team you reference actually have an affiliation with the school ? As an example does the school pay insurance, supply uniforms, provide fields, oversight by the school board, etc ?

The reason I ask is because in the area I currently live middle school softball is a relatively new phenomenon and seems to be growing, however, it has no affiliation with the schools. Started by a group of high school coaches hoping to create their own 'breeding pool' often siphoning off kids that otherwise would have played in established leagues.

What I find interesting about this scenario is that the school's would allow their high school coaches to conduct a league such as this. I would think the school's would be 'ripe' for a lawsuit ... ?

 

[ScottyDont]

Middle school ball here in NJ is the same as HS ball but on a smaller scale. Fields are on campus, coaches are typically teachers at the school, insurance, uniforms, etc. are supplied by the school.

Sounds like you have some high school coaches creating 12U/14U travel teams for "league" purposes. It's not typically like that in my experience.

 

[CoogansBluff]

I would think the school's would be 'ripe' for a lawsuit ... ?

Are they using school facilities? What kind of lawsuit?

Some school systems sponsor middle-school athletics. Some don't.

If they do sponsor sports, then it's much like high school sports. The school system or school supplies uniforms, fields, coaches, etc.

If they do not sponsor sports, then you might see people organize something similar. Teams might be based on the high school where the players would attend or high school district they live in, not a middle school, since a middle school might feed more than one high school. No official support comes from a school or school system. It's sorta like a private league.

It's understandable that high school coaches would want to start such a league if nothing exists. They want to identify talent at that age and have a feeder team and help develop those players, both in their skills and their pride for their high school. In football, for example, one of the key ingredients to success in high school is having a strong feeder program. So, you have softball coaches attempting to do the same for their sport.

 

[quincy]

At least when I talk about MS in Illinois the Team is 100% associated to the school. We have a JV and Varsity Team with tryouts and cuts. We also have an end of the year single elimination tournament.

 

[Coachmom]

We have Middle School Softball program. It is the same as high school except it's a shorter season. THey just had tryouts last week and they start games next week. I think they play about 8 games in total.
The school pays all the appropriate fees and insurance.

 

[grmerrill]

When we had middle schools there were no team sports, now we have JR High and the sports are school sanctioned.

 

[Grogger31]

Middle school sports are school sanctioned here

 

[tritonfastpitch]

School sanctioned ball for middle school (7th and 8th only) here in MN. Practicing now, season runs end of March to end of May. 14 regular season games, 3 weekend tournaments.

 

[Lenski]

In Ohio you have both.

 

[cuzmail]

When most of you (DFP posters) refer to middle school softball does the team you reference actually have an affiliation with the school ? As an example does the school pay insurance, supply uniforms, provide fields, oversight by the school board, etc ?

The reason I ask is because in the area I currently live middle school softball is a relatively new phenomenon and seems to be growing, however, it has no affiliation with the schools. Started by a group of high school coaches hoping to create their own 'breeding pool' often siphoning off kids that otherwise would have played in established leagues.

What I find interesting about this scenario is that the school's would allow their high school coaches to conduct a league such as this. I would think the school's would be 'ripe' for a lawsuit ... ?

When I refer to MS softball, I mean 100% school sponsored.

What you are referring to sounds more like a select/travel team league.