Travel vs. School vs. Private Coaching Conflicts

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Jul 29, 2013
6,782
113
North Carolina
I've been a part of every side of HS softball, from the ridiculously horrible, to mediocre, to pretty serviceable, to really good (🙋‍♂️). And honestly it had no effect on my DD as far as going back to her travel team later or being recruited. Our first travel practice after HS ball it was always said.....we're gonna practice the school ball right out you!!

Won't lie, there was some rough stupid times, until we realized we were really getting upset for nothing!

Be a leader, proudly represent your school, bond with your teammates, swing out of your cleats and hit dingers! It's what you make it!

Probably the happiest I've ever seen Anna play was her junior and senior years on Friday nights under the lights, especially when we were in the running for State playoffs and playing a rival team or one of the non-conference hot shot teams from Charlotte that always had several D1 commits on their roster!

EDIT.....gotta say, the absolute worst part of HS ball was the umpires, our umpires! I'd love to see the hiring applications, it had to have read like.....

If you're completely blind in one eye, and can't see out of the other eye...apply within!
If you were the head cafeteria / lunch lady and would like to try your hand at umpiring...apply within.
If you absolutely hate softball, hate softball players, and especially hate coaches...you're hired!!
 
Last edited:

LEsoftballdad

DFP Vendor
Jun 29, 2021
2,838
113
NY
I love this topic because it is always filled with drama. I know a guy who is talking with the athletic director of his school district to have the coach replaced. The season starts Monday.

He's got a point, the coach has almost zero softball experience. He's been flying his DD around the country to expensive college camps and would rather not have some noob coach her for 3 months.

But what the hell, my thought is either let the girls have fun and play some crappy softball or just let her take a break for a few months. HS softball is relatively unimportant for any recruiting purposes.
I will disagree with your last statement, and here's why. My daughter is a pitcher, and she threw 90 innings last spring, and will probably throw the same this year. She comes out of the school season in her best pitching shape of the year. She's used to throwing 7 inning games, so her endurance is at its peak. That helps the recruitment process a lot. I can't imagine skipping school ball and going into the travel season cold.

For hitters, it's the same. A good friend's daughter ran track last spring because her Catholic school team was really bad. Because she had no at bats in the spring, she was bad in the summer because she had no live at bats since November. For a 2024, that was devastating to her recruiting process.

So, while I don't disagree that most recruiting ignores school ball, the reps you get certainly help the travel season.
 
Sep 15, 2015
98
33
So, while I don't disagree that most recruiting ignores school ball, the reps you get certainly help the travel season.

This is spot on, especially for pitchers. Everyone assumes that the perceived drop off in competition makes kids worse, and maybe there is a short adjustment period for hitters. But people overlook the alternative, which is often not enough work at all (even if you play for a spring team of non-high schoolers). I’ve always thought the “swing adjustment” phase when travel resumes is more about having to hit better pitching than it is having to “unlearn” what was practiced in high school.

More generally, having now watched it unfold, I can see all the positives and negatives that people identify with school vs club ball, and at the end of the day I just don’t think they are comparable in many (if any) ways. Both can have huge drawbacks and huge upsides. I do like these discussions, however, since they hopefully give folks a sense for what to expect and how to make the most of each experience.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Sep 22, 2021
382
43
Sioux Falls, SD
Heard yesterday that a local HS coach who was hired because he had over 12 years of experience as a travel ball coach is having his team do wrist flicks as part of throwing warms-up.
Ain't nuthn wrong with wrist flicks. Start cold with some wrist flicks moving on to hip rotation throws, etc. etc. Basics be the basics 🤷‍♂️
 
Sep 22, 2021
382
43
Sioux Falls, SD
There are lots of things wrong with wrist flicks if you want kids to learn to throw the ball properly. Wrist flicks are objectively not the "basics" because they don't exist in an actual high-level throw.
It's for grip and feeling/seeing proper ball rotation...Players can get lazy, it's a basic grip and rotation leading to doing a high level throw as the player gets warmed up. It's just a 2 minute thing, not a day session :)
 
Jan 22, 2011
1,610
113
Ain't nuthn wrong with wrist flicks. Start cold with some wrist flicks moving on to hip rotation throws, etc. etc. Basics be the basics 🤷‍♂️



and 1:47 point of video below:






 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
42,830
Messages
679,481
Members
21,445
Latest member
Bmac81802
Top