The down side to tournaments

[CoogansBluff]

It is quickly getting to the level in which fewer and fewer can afford it on a yearly basis. It will never completely be gone, but you will only see the affluent playing TB very shortly.

We already see what high schools dominate the all-sports standings. It's largely the affluent public schools and the private schools. Money provides more opportunity, especially in the year-round sports where skill development is so critical.

 

[Indiana]

My 13 year old son started playing on a travel team last summer. A few differences that I've noticed regarding the tournaments around here:

Baseball: two games on Saturday - games are 2 hours or 7 innings. Seeding for Sunday is based on win/loss and runs for/against. Since there are only 2 Saturday games and the pools are made up of 6 or more teams, the win/loss records will be same for multiple teams, so it comes down to runs for/against. The baseball teams also all play league - typically two games per week, then 6 or so tournaments.
Softball: three games on Saturday - games are 1.5 hours, sometimes only 1.25 hours. Seeding is based on win/loss and runs for/against. There are 4 teams per pool, so seeding is primarily win/loss. A game that is 1.25 hours is often only 4-5 innings. There is no league play, and teams play 12-15 tournaments.

I also like the longer time/7 inning format. At 16U, in 2 hours, a game can almost always be 7 innings. There is a big difference between the 1.5 hour and 1.25 hour games. I've seen a few 1.5 hour games go 7 innings when the pitching is hot - these games are much more about competing through the entire 7 innings. 1.25 hour games can sometimes be about time management, which is a different sort of a ball game.

I'm not sure what baseball is like in the rest of the country, but it seems like softball should try to copy the format for baseball - it would be better for the development of the game. I also like the league format. There have been a few tries around here regarding getting a league together - there is a very good league for rec/C level teams; it would be advantageous to see league for the upper level teams. The sticking point seems to be tournaments - teams play so many tournaments in various locations that it's hard to come together and organize a league. DD's team sets up 7 inning scrimmages on a friendly basis during the week - these games have been a tremendous help to the girls and have often sparked exemplary showings at the next weekend's tournament.

 

[YoungBuck]

I think it makes a huge difference where you are in the country.

Some parts leagues do very well with Babe Ruth and then as the boys get older it leads in to American Legion. In Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, etc there is a team in every town. If you live in Kentucky plan on spending your weekend in the car !

 

[ScottyDont]

We won't see the end of multi-game days in tournaments until directors can get the same amount of money for 1-2 games per day. We have done several tournaments where even at 10U the champions have to play five games on Sunday. At the older levels, sometimes it's as many as six. It's exhausting for the girls and coaches and the parents as well. It's also hard to find time to do "other things". Remember when you had spare time for little stuff like mowing the lawn and cleaning the house? Or going to a movie or a park?

It's tough, people outside of softball don't really understand the commitment involved. There aren't many (any?) other sports that are laid out this way...7-8 games each weekend places a huge demand on families. But where I live, "friendly" or one-day tournaments are not very popular because they're not as profitable. The parks would rather book the fields for two days and get the huge payoff instead of dealing with one day open or having to scramble to fill in the second day with another one-day.

Honestly, it's a lot of fun, and when my family was going through it (twice) at the 10U level, we went along because that's what was always done. But I'm really wondering if there's not a better way. 10U players aren't being recruited yet and I'm sure parents would love to have an alternative to waking up at 5AM on Saturday, playing until 5PM or later, and then praying the team did well enough to be seeded in the bracket that doesn't have to play an 8AM game on Sunday.

 

[YOCOACH]

I think it makes a huge difference where you are in the country.

Some parts leagues do very well with Babe Ruth and then as the boys get older it leads in to American Legion. In Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, etc there is a team in every town. If you live in Kentucky plan on spending your weekend in the car !

Unfortunately, I don't think it matters anymore where you live in the country unless you are right next door to a top college program where the coach can come and watch during their limited downtime.

It used to be that rec leagues were the way to go and then off to HS ball where , if the player was exceptional, or at the least, very good, they would get noticed by college scouts and probably be recruited. However, that is no longer true.

In today's hurry-up society, convenience is "King" and TB has catered to that. College coaches/scouts no longer have to scour the newspaper clippings for names of players that keep popping up nor do they have to travel all over the country to the various HS's to see if that one player they want is as good as the papers claim. Instead, they can now go to maybe 3 destinations for one weekend each and watch some of the top talent in the area/country, depending upon the quality of the showcase tournament.

The truly sad part is that there are exceptional players in the rec leagues and High Schools that will never be noticed because they don't have the financial backing to play TB and fly across the country several times to play in these showcases.

 

[YoungBuck]

I agree that the landscape has definitely changed.

I think comparing baseball and softball though we are often comparing apples to oranges. I don't see any similarities in how the two are organized/administered. I do hear and see a lot of travel baseball teams where I live now, but where I grew up it continues to be that if you are a good baseball player you are probably on your local American Legion team. If you're good enough (and there have been some) you get noticed, scouted, and drafted. I don't see a parallel to that in softball ? Maybe some of it has to do with there being less money involved and no potential to get drafted out of high school... ?

 

[3bmama]

I do wish tournaments were ran a little differently. This will be my dd's first season with a heavy tournament schedule. I have 3 younger kids and have no idea how I am going to manage. Closest family is 3 hours away, babysitters cost a fortune, and our coach decided not to a fundraiser this year. Luckily we live in the KC metro area so we do not have to pay for hotels or travel 2 or more hours for every tournament. If we did, we wouldn't be able to afford it, both money wise and time investment wise. It seems that every decent to good player in the area is playing travel, the rec leagues near here have either 6 or 8 games, with no tournies at the end.
In the fall, we played in a competitive league. It was a double header league on Wednesday night. Obviously leagues have to be during the week bc of tournaments, but playing 2 games on a weeknight is a lot for 8-10 year old girls who have already sat in school for 8 hours. I'm not sure that is the answer either.

 

[Lenski]

I get that, but from the standpoint of growing the game, getting more kids and families to be a part of it, and to stay a part of it, wouldn't it be better to have more leagues, and less tournaments? More games in which the start times are known well in advance?

It's called rec.

 

[MsDinosaur]

I do wish tournaments were ran a little differently. This will be my dd's first season with a heavy tournament schedule. I have 3 younger kids and have no idea how I am going to manage. Closest family is 3 hours away, babysitters cost a fortune, and our coach decided not to a fundraiser this year. Luckily we live in the KC metro area so we do not have to pay for hotels or travel 2 or more hours for every tournament. If we did, we wouldn't be able to afford it, both money wise and time investment wise. It seems that every decent to good player in the area is playing travel, the rec leagues near here have either 6 or 8 games, with no tournies at the end.
In the fall, we played in a competitive league. It was a double header league on Wednesday night. Obviously leagues have to be during the week bc of tournaments, but playing 2 games on a weeknight is a lot for 8-10 year old girls who have already sat in school for 8 hours. I'm not sure that is the answer either.

It is hard for the younger kids. If the spouses can split duties, then the younger ones can stay home with one parent while the other chauffeurs the sb player. But then the family never gets much time together and one parent ends up missing the games. I've seen both--cases where I hardly ever see one of the parents and cases where I get to know the whole family and the younger kids are hanging out around the stands or roaming about in one of those softball sibling packs.

When we had the hour drive down to Lone Elm in Olathe for league play, I tried to have DD study in the car--with mixed results: carsickness, not enough light, didn't bring the right schoolbook along, etc. There just aren't enough hours in the day sometimes.

 

[CoogansBluff]

It's called rec.

I understand, but I don't mean grow the game at the grass-roots level. What I'm suggesting is that the lifestyle of the travel softball player is very demanding on players and families, enough so that many top athletes might gravitate to another sport because of it. One reaction to that might be 'great, only the toughest and fittest survive,' but from a broader perspective of the sport, perhaps if the travel ball life/schedule weren't such a pain in the rear that it would attract and keep better athletes in the game, who in turn would make the sport stronger at the higher levels.