All of that needs to be taken into consideration. When my DD pitched for the JV, people would come up and say "Oh, thank you. We haven't won in years." There were girls that had never played before. I watched our neighbor girl sign up and the form asked what positions have you played? She put "all". I was fairly impressed until she said "Oh, I mean none."
My DD never had a goal of going to college, so it was different for us.
The girl who plays centerfield for our summer team was advised that she would only play JV for her AAA team school.
Her parents moved to a different area, dad changed jobs, a AAAA school she played every inning for the varsity hit 360 and was named on the All Region team this week.
Just goes to show that some coaches couldn't hit water if they fell out of a boat.Originally Posted by PEPPERS
PS - freely substitute hitter, pitcher, umpire, and crazy parents for coach as you deem fit
Her previous HS coach missed a good thing, but as crazy as I am, I don't think we're moving if DD is told she has to play JV. It'll be up to her to either play or play for her TB team instead.
varsity
I know of girls that were told they had to change positions even if they wanted to play varsity, because there were X # of girls ahead of them for that position. In one case, a particular girl was an outstanding outfielder, speed, great glove, good arm and fast release, but she had to play a different position that she was so-so at for JV just to try to make the varsity team. Still hadnt made it by sophmore year, so moved and switched schools. new coach was thrilled and said "Wow, what were they thinking over there not playing her"
Coach that wouldnt play her has a coaches dream team of ALL travel ball players, and does well with them. But a good coach would win the state with the talent she has coming to her.
But were the other girls better then her? It is possible for a player to be very good at her position yet be behind other girls who are better.
No. Just soph, jrs and srs, that were nowhere nears as good of outfielders. She was at end of a long list of outfielders, ranked by seniority, not ability.
I asked a HS coach I know how he handles the "political" aspects of having to put jrs and srs on varsity. He said, thats how works unfortunately. But they dont tell him how many players he can roster, and he doesnt have to play them .
A part of what team you'll be on is who is ahead of you too. There is an assumption that high school teams have two or three very good to excellent players and the rest are so-so at best. That's not always the case.
Some high schools, especially the ones that do consistently well year after year, have many excellent players. If that's the case, they really don't need to bring up many (or sometimes any) freshmen. Given a choice between experienced players and kids three or four years younger with equal skills, those coaches are going to go for the experienced players ever time. As well they should.
Other high schools can barely scrape a team together. They have to bring up any competent players they can find in order to compete. They usually don't do too well in the state tournament, but your daughter can say she played varsity all four years.
College coaches know all of this and take it into consideration.
Ken Krause
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Contributing editor, Softball Magazine
Life in the Fastpitch Lane
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I think that is a little over the top unless she really is much better than current players.
I would never imagine "moving" so my DD could play HS ball. And her situation is different...she is at a disadvantage as she is a sophomore and has two senior pitchers over her. While i don't expect her to start as the other girls are seniors and decent pitchers....i will be very disappointed if she does not get some Varsity pitching time at some point.
With her TB record and exposure at the u-18 level i am not that worried about early HS exposure.
Last edited by JBG; 12-20-2011 at 02:27 PM.
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