Advice for stressed out new travel ball parent....

[wheresmycar]

So what do you think you will do this summer? Play her again with the current 12U team she is on? (for us that would mean she will play with them for another year, and then either move up early again, or find another team when she is 11 turning 12...) Or try to find a team with mostly 2005 players?

I would try to find a team with mostly 2005 players.

 

[GoCaboNow]

So what do you think you will do this summer? Play her again with the current 12U team she is on? (for us that would mean she will play with them for another year, and then either move up early again, or find another team when she is 11 turning 12...) Or try to find a team with mostly 2005 players?

DD really likes her teammates, coaches, parents etc., and is getting #1 circle time. You never know what the future holds, but the plan would be to stay with the team through the summer of 2017. After that it gets murky. Does the team move en mass to 14u in the fall of 2017? Do all the kids want to continue with softball or some go full time to other sports? Do we decide to do a 3rd year of 12u and find a 2005 team? In DD's mind the team stays together and keeps moving up together but will be interesting to see what happens. As a parent I would rather she played 10u as a 10 year old but we did not have many options compared to the 2004 team she knew and liked.

 

[Rooster's Dad]

Hip flask.

 

[Bartow12]

There are multiple stages of parenthood emotions when it comes to travel softball.

@9U 1st year of travel ball. OMG. These girls are all so good. My DD will never be this good. She keep making mistakes. The coach knows everything. This is all sooooo new and different. 4+ games in one day??? Did I do the right thing with my DD?

@10U 2nd year of travel ball. My DD paid her dues. She is a much better player now. She belongs on the field. It's old hat now.

@11U 3rd year of travel ball. OMG. Those other girls are so big. They are fast and they hit the ball hard. Don't know if DD can play and keep up with them and the bigger ball. The coach is OK. Wonder what he's thinking sometimes.

@12U 4th year of travel ball. It's time for my DD to dominate. WTF is wrong with the coach??? He keeps making mistakes with the lineup and where he's playing the girls. I'll have to talk to him about it.

@13U 5th year of travel ball. College recruiting?? What??? Next year it starts??? It's so confusing. The coaching seems to be better. My DD can play with some of the bigger teams. It's not so scary. I'm soooo bummed we didn't play late on Sunday.

@14U 6th year of travel ball. The recruiting process is a lot of work. Which college camp is the right one? Does HS ball matter? Which exposure tournaments are we playing in? That's a lot of traveling. Getting really expensive now. Oh... DD is playing a lot. Coaches seem better.

@15U 7th year of travel ball. DD is driving me crazy. She doesn't know which school she wants to try and attend. She doesn't know what she wants to major in. The HS coach is a complete joke and does not know how to coach the team. My DD needs to play more in the showcases. Got a couple of letters from college coaches inviting her to their camps. The coach must be interested in her, right? So-n-SO is being asked to verbal already. DD told me sit and relax during the games. Guess I'll put my chair down the outfield line and just watch.

@16U 8th year of travel ball. DD finally decided where she wants to go to school. Still haven't heard from that coach. No other offers yet. What are we going to do? More of her friends have verballed. DD's HS coach is still brain dead, but DD plays more. Why doesn't the travel coach do more to get my DD recruited? I need to talk to him. She plays all the time in the showcases.

@17U 9th year of travel ball. The DD finally got a couple of offers. They weren't from her #1 choice. She is happy. We are happy. The HS coach might be getting better. DD drives herself to practice. She is playing less in the showcases to let the younger girls play. Life's a Beach!!

@18U 10th year of travel ball. DD signed her NLI. Don't care what happens this year. I'm still parked down the line at the field.

College: DD told me the schedule is posted on the web site. Still have my seat down the foul line.

Well put and very cute.

 

[junkball]

Hip flask.

At this point I can't argue. Bottoms up with some STRONG stuff. Some people are just a glutton for punishment...

 

[nikkilugi]

Hip flask.

I bring a flask - for sure. A little helps take the edge off......

I think for our situation we will see about testing the tryout waters and hopefully try to find a new 12U - 05 team that needs a pitcher. It would be a hard choice to make but we don't plan on having her move up to 14U early and there are other factors in play as well. Unfortunately our metro area is so spread out - we live on one extreme edge of the metro and the rest of the teams seem to be other the other extreme edges of the metro at a minimum of 45+ minutes away (without traffic). I know many of you would scoff at that type of drive to get to practices but it would be a hard adjustment to make when I work full time and my husband travels. But for the right team/coach we would definitely think about it.

 

[grcsftbll]

Yeah... We drive 1:15 to practice if there's no traffic. There are teams much closer but we've gotten pretty picky about coaching at this point. Or maybe not so much picky, more like overly cautious/gun shy. But I'm in the Atlanta burbs and you have to drive an hour to get anywhere from my house.

 

[Legendsmom]

CaAllkl



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