I am looking to start a 12u travel team. I am familiar with nsa asa usssa and have all the ins. info and places to practice and 6 girls looking for 6 more. I am familiar with eteamz and am not worried about finding more girls but I would like a little info about the fact of doing this separate from local park. I have been told that we have to be affiliated with a softball program but I have also been told we could do this on our own. any help would be great.
starting team
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We went off on our own this year, formed our own team. It will be tougher for you, not being affiliated with a softball program. If we would have been affiliated with our program, we would have had to take girls from the league. We took girls from the general area, and this year, will be our first having tryouts.
Our league didn't want us traveling, like we did, they wanted us to play in a lesser league. So I decided we needed to go off on our own.
You will have to pay for diamond time, because the programs will have all the diamonds, monoplolized. You will have to go out and get your own sponsors. You will have to do all the paperwork yourself, insurance, but you said you already have that.
You will have to go out and get gym time in the winter, where as our little league, lets them use a warehouse, and we could not, because we were not affiliated with them anymore.
But the good part is, the league cannot dictate to you, on what to do, how to do it. It will be your own decision.
Our league didn't want us traveling, like we did, they wanted us to play in a lesser league. So I decided we needed to go off on our own.
You will have to pay for diamond time, because the programs will have all the diamonds, monoplolized. You will have to go out and get your own sponsors. You will have to do all the paperwork yourself, insurance, but you said you already have that.
You will have to go out and get gym time in the winter, where as our little league, lets them use a warehouse, and we could not, because we were not affiliated with them anymore.
But the good part is, the league cannot dictate to you, on what to do, how to do it. It will be your own decision.
Eric has a lot of good points, so I'll just list them:
1) You'll need to make your own arrangements for team insurance.
2) You'll need a place to practice and play. This can be a real headache because many towns share softball facilities between girl's fastpitch and slowpitch, so there may not be many available fields after 4 PM. Talk to the people who schedule playing time at the softball fields. Most likely, you won't get access to the fields, but it is worth a shot. After that, you'll have to find some place to play--you may want to try to get permission to use the high school field, or you may have to upgrade some field.
3) You need to be real careful about fees. You have to pay for tournaments in advance, so you can easily end up loaning money to your team. For what it is worth, you won't know if a kid will actually play on your team until you cash the check and deposit the money in the bank.
4) Umpires--generally there is someone who schedules umpires. Find out who he/she is and talk to him/her. Find out exactly how it is done and how much it will cost.
5) Equipment--you need to think something about what you will need and how you are going to pay for it. You can spends several hundred dollars.
6) Players--need to really decide if you need 12 or 14. More players mean more headaches with playing time. Fewer players mean more risk that the entire team will fold midway through the season. Last year, my DD was coaching a 12U team. They had 12 players. Three got the flu during the last week of the season. You need two catcher and two pitchers, preferably with one more player that you can use as a pitcher or catcher if something bad happens.
7) Which tournaments? How many over-nights? You need to make sure you everyone agrees as to the tournament schedule. Some parents will want to play in Aurora, Co, while others thinks that the local tournament around the corner is too far away. This has to be discussed in the beginning. Don't leave anything unsaid or assumed.
1) You'll need to make your own arrangements for team insurance.
2) You'll need a place to practice and play. This can be a real headache because many towns share softball facilities between girl's fastpitch and slowpitch, so there may not be many available fields after 4 PM. Talk to the people who schedule playing time at the softball fields. Most likely, you won't get access to the fields, but it is worth a shot. After that, you'll have to find some place to play--you may want to try to get permission to use the high school field, or you may have to upgrade some field.
3) You need to be real careful about fees. You have to pay for tournaments in advance, so you can easily end up loaning money to your team. For what it is worth, you won't know if a kid will actually play on your team until you cash the check and deposit the money in the bank.
4) Umpires--generally there is someone who schedules umpires. Find out who he/she is and talk to him/her. Find out exactly how it is done and how much it will cost.
5) Equipment--you need to think something about what you will need and how you are going to pay for it. You can spends several hundred dollars.
6) Players--need to really decide if you need 12 or 14. More players mean more headaches with playing time. Fewer players mean more risk that the entire team will fold midway through the season. Last year, my DD was coaching a 12U team. They had 12 players. Three got the flu during the last week of the season. You need two catcher and two pitchers, preferably with one more player that you can use as a pitcher or catcher if something bad happens.
7) Which tournaments? How many over-nights? You need to make sure you everyone agrees as to the tournament schedule. Some parents will want to play in Aurora, Co, while others thinks that the local tournament around the corner is too far away. This has to be discussed in the beginning. Don't leave anything unsaid or assumed.
All of the above and I'll add a little as well.
#1 Determine what your budget will be and what your registration fees are going to be before you hold tryouts. Nothing worse than holding a tryout, picking your team only to find out that several of the kids can't afford being on the team.
#2 Write a parent information packet to hand out at tryouts. This should include what your coaching philosophy is, registration fees, fundraisers, what you expect out of both the players and the parents, practice days and times, and probably the biggest one, infractions and what the possible outcome may be from those infractions.
#3 I have found (at least in my area) scheduling fields is much eaiser going through the School District. The P&R Dep't really won't allow travel teams to practice on their fields, but the local schools may. We paid a nominal fee ($50) for use of the HS JV field 3 nights a week from Apr - Aug.
#4 Be upfront with the parents at the begining. Have monthly parent meetings and show them the budget and where the money is going.
#5 Advertise, advertise, advertise. Start a website, post stuff in the local paper, get banners to hang during Tournaments and fundraisers. Get your name out there to generate interest. Some local businesses may even allow you to place flyers out.
#6 If there isn't a local travel team in the area, get with the HS softball coach, they may allow you to use some of their practice equipment (State to them that these girls will only get better facing stronger competition, thus increasing the strength of the HS Softball program)
#7 Set reachable goals for the team.
#1 Determine what your budget will be and what your registration fees are going to be before you hold tryouts. Nothing worse than holding a tryout, picking your team only to find out that several of the kids can't afford being on the team.
#2 Write a parent information packet to hand out at tryouts. This should include what your coaching philosophy is, registration fees, fundraisers, what you expect out of both the players and the parents, practice days and times, and probably the biggest one, infractions and what the possible outcome may be from those infractions.
#3 I have found (at least in my area) scheduling fields is much eaiser going through the School District. The P&R Dep't really won't allow travel teams to practice on their fields, but the local schools may. We paid a nominal fee ($50) for use of the HS JV field 3 nights a week from Apr - Aug.
#4 Be upfront with the parents at the begining. Have monthly parent meetings and show them the budget and where the money is going.
#5 Advertise, advertise, advertise. Start a website, post stuff in the local paper, get banners to hang during Tournaments and fundraisers. Get your name out there to generate interest. Some local businesses may even allow you to place flyers out.
#6 If there isn't a local travel team in the area, get with the HS softball coach, they may allow you to use some of their practice equipment (State to them that these girls will only get better facing stronger competition, thus increasing the strength of the HS Softball program)
#7 Set reachable goals for the team.
Where we live, there is a very established softball league and multiple travel teams - town level A & B. Parents in our Town wanted to have our own town team where none had existed, so the ball fell in my lap to get this organized.
What we did - which solves many of the challanges raised above, is to have a local softball instructor "sponsor" the team. She is a former collegiate player who is in ther business of softball. The softball business already is required to carry insurance, provides the coaching (no parent coaches whatsoever) and team administration, etc. The benefit to the coach is advertising for her instuctional business and client generation as a result name identification, etc. She also has access to indoor practice facilities for offseason work. Field time for warm weather practice is corrdinated thru our league and Township Recreation Dept. Win-win for all and the budget is similar to any other local travel team per on a per player basis. The roster carried 11 this past season.
What we did - which solves many of the challanges raised above, is to have a local softball instructor "sponsor" the team. She is a former collegiate player who is in ther business of softball. The softball business already is required to carry insurance, provides the coaching (no parent coaches whatsoever) and team administration, etc. The benefit to the coach is advertising for her instuctional business and client generation as a result name identification, etc. She also has access to indoor practice facilities for offseason work. Field time for warm weather practice is corrdinated thru our league and Township Recreation Dept. Win-win for all and the budget is similar to any other local travel team per on a per player basis. The roster carried 11 this past season.
There were some very good points that I left out. That others contributed.
If you are going to do it, start now, so you can have tryouts. We didn't get the team going until Jan. By then all the teams have had their tryouts, we bascially threw together a team from the local rec league. I knew not to expect too much from this year, but being a competitor, I still wanted to win, as did the girls. Tournaments didn't fare too well, we ended up winning our league.
The point I'm trying to make is: we were not that good in all positions, only had 1 really good pitcher, which really showed at tournaments. We only carried 11 girls, some days we were scrambling for replacements.
You will learn a lot your first year, and what to do, and what not to do.
The money issue will be a big thing. We didn't know what to charge this year, and I paid a lot of my own money this year, but it was worth it.
I formed the team, so hopefully my daughter gets the chance to play at the next level.
Good luck!!
If you are going to do it, start now, so you can have tryouts. We didn't get the team going until Jan. By then all the teams have had their tryouts, we bascially threw together a team from the local rec league. I knew not to expect too much from this year, but being a competitor, I still wanted to win, as did the girls. Tournaments didn't fare too well, we ended up winning our league.
The point I'm trying to make is: we were not that good in all positions, only had 1 really good pitcher, which really showed at tournaments. We only carried 11 girls, some days we were scrambling for replacements.
You will learn a lot your first year, and what to do, and what not to do.
The money issue will be a big thing. We didn't know what to charge this year, and I paid a lot of my own money this year, but it was worth it.
I formed the team, so hopefully my daughter gets the chance to play at the next level.
Good luck!!
