Public school team strength (So Cal)

[JumboJack]

My DD attends a small (400 kids, boys and girls 9-12) private school. To say it’s tough to pull from a pool of 200 girls and field a softball team is an understatement . Though through the years they have had some good teams (CIF div V champs in 2011) and my DD has been on league championship teams every year since freshman year (she is a senior).
But these teams are only good compared to other small, private schools in the lower ( V and VI) divisions.

But in this preseason we have played 4 large public schools (2000-2500+ kids). One of them was pretty good and beat us bad. Another was a super high scoring game we lost by a few runs. The last two we killed. Easy run rule win.

What do y’all think is the determining factor that allows a school in So Cal to be strong and another to be really, really bad.

To those not familiar with the So Cal area it’s basically one continuous, giant city of 10 million or so.


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[MNDad]

A friend had a DD at a small private school here in MN and they won 5 state championships in a row. It took a combination of things.

Good coaching
Committed parents & players
A strong pitcher
A few good travel players
Playing in the small school division helped too.

Those are key at any level of course. They seem to be amplified in HS ball due to the wide variety in talent. Some areas have teams where the starters are all travel players. Others have a collection of basketball, volleyball and hockey players looking for something to do in their off season.

 

[Shiloh]

What do y’all think is the determining factor that allows a school in So Cal to be strong and another to be really, really bad.

First, good weather. Tremendous advantage to be able to play/practice year-round.

Second, population. More players trying out means more talent to choose from.

Third, money. Travel softball is very expensive.

Hence, teams from LA, the Inland Empire, and Orange County dominate nationally.

At the individual school and district level, I would argue that money is the biggest factor in determining outcomes.

 

[JumboJack]

That does not explain why a team from Orange (a very nice area) fields a team that gets run ruled every game but a team from Bellflower kicks butt. Or one team from Anaheim is a powerhouse bit one just up the street looses badly to a tiny school like ours.

I’m not comparing So Cal schools to schools from other parts of the country. I’m talking only about the huge difference in talent on So Cal teams.

One would think that if you take 2000 kids and have tryouts you would end up with a better team then if you only had 400 to pull from. Just because of the odd of having a handful of TB available.

The weather is good all over So Cal. It still has some surprisingly bad HS SB teams.


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[flash277]

I think it also has to do with the areas where the schools are. Some towns are just not into softball. They have poor rec programs therefore the girls aren't really into it.

 

[Quigs10]

Having lived in So Cal and gone to HS and college here as well (Orange County and LA) over the past 35 years, the main thing that helps schools stay a top team/program or become a top program ....or not.... is usually tradition and the coach. Usually a coach creates the tradition of a long run of winning and the program stays a strong program. Then the "tradition" that has been built continues with the next coach and the next just because that draws in good players to be a part of it.

Mater Dei, Long Beach Poly, Servite, Crenshaw in bball, Mission Viejo (my Alma mater) in FB when Bob Johnson came over from El Toro and Troy Ybarra in softball back in 2015 had like 4 D-1 girls on his MV team. Certain schools become known for certain sports and that attracts the best in that sport. MV back in the 80's was dominant in swimming because they had a coach that coached in the olympics and that brought in "students" from other countries to my HS from Brazil, Spain, etc just to train with him and go to school. La Quinta with Demarest as the long time baseball coach. Zamora at Capo Valley for 40 years. Or Laguna Hills or Calvary Chapel in wrestling. Calvary Chapel (small private school) was awful in a lot of sports over the years, but they dominated in wrestling for a LONG time. They became known for that sport.

Players and families move to other schools even public schools all the time here to play for a power program. There were a couple brothers (Schooler ?) that transferred FOUR times I think in 4 years of HS to play football at different schools. They now are in college playing D1 or just graduated.

What may break that usual down trend is the dominant softball pitcher or maybe a couple great players that stay in their own natural school zones and that program catches lightning in a bottle.

But, over the years, I've seen amazing power programs go from nothing to a mega power and then back to being irrelevant again purely on who the coach was or is during those times.

The last important factor is demographics of an area/school population. Over 25 years of teaching in the area and it is unbelievable the change in demographics in some areas which can positively or negatively affect what sport at that school become really good...or really bad.

Sometimes, as Lou Holtz the old Notre Dame coach said, and many other coaches too..."Its not the X's and the O's, its the Jimmys and the Joes." But, sometimes it's a little bit of both with a incredible coach that brings in the Jimmys and the Joes into their program.

 

[flash277]

I don't doubt it at all, but that's quite extreme to move so your DD can play for a powerhouse high school.

 

[KrisHur]

Public schools here (southern NY/CT border) seem to be at the mercy of whether they have TB players. The school in the neighboring county where a strong A team resides does better than everyone else around here where TB isn't as popular. Some private HSs will consider scholarship for good sports players and recruit decent teams that way. I was told to apply DD at two of these schools (she's an athlete-scholar with really high grades) but decided I didn't want her to be the "poor" girl. We're actually pretty well-off but not skiing in the Swiss Alps well-off like these private school kids who's parents are paying 65k+ a year.

 

[JumboJack]

I think it also has to do with the areas where the schools are. Some towns are just not into softball. They have poor rec programs therefore the girls aren't really into it.

Southern California (LA/OC and surrounding counties) is one giant city. Softball is more popular here than anyplace else.


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[Orange Socks]

Nicole Mendes was home schooled and was zoned to DD's HS. It sure would have made huge difference having her on the team for 4 years. Some schools seem to have always have a stable of stud pitchers and players lined up for years to come while others not so much. As mentioned before, the success of the program waxes and wanes with Jimmy's and Joe's.