Poll : HS vs TB-A

[riseball]

I wish 300 kids per grade was big. Try 700+ per grade where they just moooove them through like cattle.

 

[wichita]

I say TB-A with the exception of some of the top HS's in the nation. As far as our HS team ....my dd gold team would beat them 30-0 easy. Hardest part for my DD playing HS ball is having to slow everything down like hitting slow pitching mainly. My DD travel team played a local city college this fall which is ranked top 10 in California and we beat them soundly ....don't think they even scored lol

 

[guero_gordo]

JV team is mostly freshmen, predominantly B players with a few rec-ball girls and A players. This team could smoke most of the Varsity teams around which have 2-3 TB players total, and could compete as a U-trip team, but not ASA or PGF.
The Varsity team could fit what was described above as an all-star team, but with most of those A players in other positions, and having never played together(a familiar syndrome of all-star teams IMLE). They might take 1 out of 5 from a hand-built A team.

A-ball trumps HS.

 

[SandyM]

It would be interesting to hear the deliberations of a college coaching staff in reviewing candidates on this. I want to believe this wouldn't affect her chances too but jeesh the "school folks" they stick together like some sort of secret society......

My daughter, while participating in showcase events and college recruitment events, has been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to talk with several college coaches about her situation. Overall, the reception has been positive from coaches who have seen her play. One thing I have observed is that, after validating a player's skills, the coach wants to validate grades and the ability of a player to survive scholastically in college. At the showcases she has attended the college coaches watch her skills, then talk about academics. School ball never comes up. My daughter always mentions it to be up front in case there's an issue. There has never been an issue. The discussion of why my daughter doesn't play school ball is much easier than several players I have watched trying to justify a poor academic record.

 

[softball88]

here's a problem with hs and TB. We have technically 3 A pitcher, a solid b pitcher as a soph didn't make varsity, hs coach wanted her to pitch jv. Daddy didn't want her to pitch jv again and they quit and ran back to TB. We have no opportunity to fill our hs roster with TB players. With her we couldn't win against real a TB teams...but it would be someone who played against stronger competition.

 

[Coach JV]

TB-a of course-not even in the same park

 

[sluggers]

WHich is more difficult/challenging for the player?

The OP did not ask which was better softball. He asked which was more difficult/challenging *for the player*.

There are two issues in HS ball: 1) Not every player on your team is "A" caliber. 2) There will be "A" players on the other teams.

For example, as a pitcher my DD would, generally, dominate in HS ball. But, there were several teams in the area with one or two "A" level players. If the other team had a good pitcher (say "B" level) and two "A" hitters, then that was a real challenge for my DD. Her team wasn't going to score much, and but the other team had a couple of girls who could score off her.

Same thing for batting...sure, the other pitching was great, but the pressure to get on base every at bat increased.

There was a HS team I followed a couple of years ago. The SS was a future D1 player for a team which regularly is in the top 25. The expectations by the team, the parents and coaches were sky high. She would sometimes try to do "too much". She batted .450--meaning she still made out more than 50% of the time.

I still am always confused about people asking this question...HS ball is different than TB. It is like asking if chocolate ice cream is better than apple pie.

 

[Cannonball]

OK, lets take this further then. What parts of this assessment are true or false:

All TB-A Players will play major D-I
All TB-A Players will play D-I
All TB-A Players will play college ball
All HS Players who are not playing TB-A are incapable of playing TB-A

Well, that is a start.

 

[Jquick823]

Obviously a real TB-A team is better than 90% or more high school teams. Certain areas make up that 10% like SoCal i'm sure has HS that cut TB-A players. Here in my small state my 12U-C team could beat atleast 1 highschool. Yes i said 12U-C lol. Our pitcher and catcher are "A" level players at the 14U level and have played on the 18U A team. We only have about 3 hitters that could play above "C" ball due to the over population of travel teams that's what we have to choose from, but we have some HS that are even worse, i've seen them lol.

Overall they present different challenges and HS is probably the more challeging for your better players. Ever tried and hit slowpitch softballs? That's what some HS pitchers pitch like and when you're used to top tier pitching 8 months a year it's probably near impossible not to pop that slow crap up. HS ball has it's place and that is more for school spirit since not 1 college coach i've talked to recruits at HS games. Most colleges are at the showcases where your "A" teams are.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

RB, what has been your personal experience with HS ball? Likes, dislikes? How good/bad to they compete? What does your daughter think of it?

I'm just curious too. I like hearing other's opinions.

HS will not have a chance over TB-A. Same pitchers but talent drops off so fast after that. If a HS team has a great pitcher all that needs to happen is small ball and the greatness of that pitcher can disappear faster than a chocolate bar in the hands of my DD.

HS general Likes:
Good warm-up for TB-A.
Less tension/excitement for DW and I compared to TB-A.
It's nice to not have to deal with those helicopter parents that are most prevalent in TB-A. (funny - I bet the other HS parents think DW and I are nuts... )
Good patience tester for DD and has helped mature DD in the area of sometimes ya gotta find a way to win with lesser skills and dedication in your teammates.
Nice not to have to travel all over the country for HS and at the end of a game drive 5-15mins to get home.

HS general Dislikes:
Relative lack of care for winning.
Relative lack of quality sb skills teaching.
I believe HS is a more injury-prone environment for the TB-A pitcher.
Weird surreal world of the press around here. I know allot of folks have said they love HS for its local coverage of the game. SB does get an OK level of overall coverage during the season here but I wish it would show that they knew what they were talking about. We TB-A families laugh at the odd coverage and don't necessarily appreciate it.