School ball/travel ball overlap

[GOINGDEEP]

Only thing I don't care for is the pressure I've seen some TB coaches put on school players. Let's say the TB HC and maybe an AC daughters don't play school ball for whatever reason, then they pressure the school players not to play and travel full time. From what I've seen it's usually the fact that some players school programs are a joke, so they feel they can accomplish more in TB. ( which is fine ) BUT then some players have good programs, maybe a chance at deep playoff runs. So there is a split, half doing on thing and half the other. Which we all know makes it difficult on the TB end.

If a girl chooses to play for her school, represent her community, be involved with her classmates beyond normal hours, then she should be able to do so without a guilt trip from an adult. Most of us have played school sports when we were young, I enjoyed mine. I don't care if college recruiting is different now or different for softball. Taking a few months to play school ball is in NO WAY going to jeopardize her skills or college exposure. Heck college ball is playing at the same time, how many hours in a day do you think those coaches have to come watch you travel?


Let the kids have fun while they can, adulthood is just around the corner.

 

[CoachKevin]

I would think school ball would be a priority while the season is being played since it is so short any way. I would also think no MS or JV coach should have heartburn with additional practices or weekend tournaments because of travel ball.

I can however understand a High School varsity coach not wanting his season derailed by something that happens during travel ball and would appreciate his not wanting his girls doing anything besides HS softball during the season.

Goes both ways. Last year a HS team won their conference, had home field playoff, scheduled an additional game before the playoffs. Starting First Base slid into 2nd and broke her ankle. Kept her out of TB last Summer. She was just getting back during our Fall Ball.

 

[wichita]

A couple of things:

Colleges list high schools because they are themselves a school and they believe it is important to represent your school. Of course they want TB players, but they also want players that can juggle both school and sport. That's why it's important to play HS ball for most kids.

Maybe im wrong but if your playing travel arn't you juggling both school and sport? Also ill give you that they want you to represent your school.....I don't buy it but whatever....

Three college coaches have requested our HS schedule so they can come out and watch player(s). An eager college coach can get a look at a kid during the HS season and get a jump on potential recruits before TB starts, giving that coach a potential edge. If you're good at sniffing out talent, this is a very viable option.

Get a jump on potential recruits? Maybe your from a different part of the country than I but we play year round out here so if your waiting until high school to get a jump on recruits your late...

I don't understand why a college coach would waste their time watching a kid that has already verballed or signed instead of looking for more talent to make their team better. What exactly is the purpose? Now, I firmly believe a verballed or signed student should try to support their future college team by attending games if at all possible. That shows the college coaches that you are truly committed to the school.

The purpose could be to see if a recruit is still improving or maybe injured ....i do agree that once verballed or signed you should support there college of choice.....even though some college coaches will sign more kids than needed and hold a "tryout"in fall.... Loyalty should go both ways...

 

[3'sDad]

DD played MS ball. Practice/games were Monday-Friday. Her 12U & 1st year 14U teams had practice one night/week in the spring and played on weekends. The 14U coach only took MS players, no high school girls, so the team could play in the April & May events.

Last year, 2nd year 14U, the team consisted of all HS freshman (JV & Varsity) & 1 MS pitcher. Practice began in mid-May on Sundays to prepare for Memorial Day Weekend tournament.

This season, at 16U, the team just shut down as of March 1 as HS ball began. The girls will see each other twice between now and June 1 to play in two charity round-robin events, one in April & one in May, both held on a Sunday.

 

[Lenski]

Maybe im wrong but if your playing travel arn't you juggling both school and sport? Also ill give you that they want you to represent your school.....I don't buy it but whatever....

Not where I live. TB is basically 6/1 thru 7/31 so the kids are not in school. Many TB teams here (Ohio) do play in some fall tournaments but they are on the weekends so there's not much school juggling going on.

Get a jump on potential recruits? Maybe your from a different part of the country than I but we play year round out here so if your waiting until high school to get a jump on recruits your late...

I'm in Ohio so like I said before, we play June 1 through July 31. College coaches can get a jump on a possible recruit here watching them in HS ball, which runs basically April through May.

The purpose could be to see if a recruit is still improving or maybe injured ....i do agree that once verballed or signed you should support there college of choice.....even though some college coaches will sign more kids than needed and hold a "tryout"in fall.... Loyalty should go both ways...

Good points, but I just think any free time a college coach has is a good time to find potential recruits.

 

[JerseyBall]

I coach a 14u mixed team of HS freshmen and 7th/8th graders. I cancelled all weekend practices and we have a 1 Sunday tournament this month and 2 next month. I was told that it would be ok because the schools in NJ always have off on Sundays because it's against the rules to play 7 days a week. I have several freshmen who are still working out with their varsity squads and they have been having Sunday practices. So I'm a little nervous about what's going to happen, especially because their coaches have been telling them late about having to be there on Sunday. On my dd's varsity squad, all the players are also on active TB teams.

Of course HS practice > TB games. I already spoke with the 12u coach about borrowing some players just to fill some spots just in case. So yea, I'm all in favor of school ball being played in the Fall.

 

[Pdiddy]

I agree with you. I think having softball be a fall HS sport works well. The fall tb season is not terribly serious; far better to lose it to school ball and then be able to fully concentrate on tb from winter through to the end of summer.

However, DD is not yet to high school age, perhaps spring HS ball has merits of which I'm not aware.

In Missouri, HS ball is in the fall and across the state line in Kansas it's in the spring....IMO, it's a big advantage for TB teams from the Missouri side in the spring to play together for 6 weeks together before the Kansas HS season is over with by the end of May....from the beginning of August to the beginning of October not much happens anyway for TB tournaments....and fall HS players then can go play in some college exposure events in October....the spring HS players TB season is only 8 weeks long....many Kansas side parents and coaches complain but there isn't nearly the population on that side of the state line and schools need players for volleyball in the fall I suppose is the reason they won't change it....

 

[459'smom]

I'm now in a state where school ball takes place in the spring. ... I think school ball in fall is a better fit for travel because it allows TB teams to take a long and needed break in August and then have those players to themselves from winter through summer. But that's another topic altogether.

My issue is this - My daughter is on middle school team that practices or plays a game every day Monday through Thursday, with an occasional Friday practice. Meanwhile, her travel team practices once midweek and once on the weekend. My daughter is having trouble w/ the double practices midweek. And I can't say that I blame her. IMO, it's asking a lot, maybe too much, of a kid to practice twice a day after school in the middle off the week. I'm afraid of burnout or injury. So is she.

What do you think?

I should add that the head coach is very understanding and welcoming of any concerns of this kind. If I have a conversation w/ him about this, it will go well. Just want to get others' thoughts on it. I'm used to fall school ball, when many travel teams give way to school ball entirely. I'm never experienced this dilemma. I'm an assistant coach on this team, fwiw.

Every tb coach we've ever had would understand if she already has school practice on those nights, and it sounds like yours would too. I don't think it would hurt for her to miss TB practice during the week provided she's attending HS practice that night even if she is the AC's DD. Lol, they'll still need their AC though.

I wanted to add:
How many other girls on your team have the same thing going on, and do they make it every week to both?? I agree completely that 2 practices in one night is alot, but this is something to consider.

 

[459'smom]

After reading the differences from state to state on this post (I had no idea everybody didn't play year round).....I AM SO THANKFUL TO BE FROM TEXAS!!! Lol, we do have some coaches who don't want you playing TB during HS Varsity ball, but other than that there are tournaments here year around. We slow down a little from end of December through February, but there's always a tournament to be found. Usually we shut down mid-December and catch a tourney the first of February. Sometimes we have to pick up but that's better than sitting out!!

 

[GOINGDEEP]

I like our spring ball set up. Free indoor facilities for conditioning in the winter through the school, full attention on school ball Feb-May, then TB May-whenever.

I like it mostly because it "feels" like we get two seasons of ball. One being school where we have our local "core" of players with their eye on how deep they can run in the playoffs. Two would be where we have our "core" and and a few recruited members from abroad, and gear up for TB state or national events in the summer.

A lot of our HS girls also play volleyball, soccer, and basketball.

This is just my two cents.
We did the "play all year" when they were young, before MS years. But looking back I feel by "the big TB events" in July, we had that dreaded flat/burned out virus. I have crunched the numbers by TB seasons (if I could remember where I put them), but I do remember statistically we played about .100 better ( winning % ) after we "split" the seasons between school and TB. I venture to say even though we may have missed months of "practice", we actually performed better with the shorter TB run.