Appreciate your feedback/insight

Here is the situation. A fellow softball parent that I have known for many years approached me and my DD this weekend with the following proposition: His DD's 12U travel team is looking for a #2 pitcher. Their current #2 starter is not content with her role and will be leaving the team at the end of April. Their #3 and #4 pitchers are not ready to move into a starting role. The travel team coaches met and agreed that adding a #2 starter was necessary. My second year 12U DD has made tremendous improvement over the past year and has become the top pitcher in our rec league. While her pitching is at the travel team level other areas of her game are not at that level. The coaches of the travel team recognize this and the offer to pitch on the team came with several caveats.

1) My DD would in the #2 role and would be pitching mostly in pool play. Once the team reaches bracket play the #1 pitcher will carry most of the load.
2) Most of the time they will be using a DP/Flex lineup and my DD will not be batting.
3) Unless there is a large lead she will not be playing in the field.

The decision facing my daughter is whether she joins the travel team in May or stays with the rec league and plays on the tournament team. My personal preference is she remains with the Rec league and works on building her skills in other areas. Have other parents on this forum been in a similar situation? What is your feedback/advise/insight?

What does your DD want to do? She will not become a better rounded fielder
sitting on the bench, she will not become a better hitter without actually getting
a chance to hit. She is 12, she needs to learn by doing

Coach JV said:

What does your DD want to do?

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Being 12 YO she wants to do both/neither/text with her friends. It all depends on the moment of the day. What she did tell me is that playing for a competitive travel team sounds very compelling and some times she leans that direction. The very next moment she will tell me that she wants to stay with her Rec league as all her friends will be playing on the tournament team. Quite honestly I do not think the upside of playing on a competitive travel team is greater than the benefit of growing her batting, fielding, base running skills on the rec team.

Sounds to me like she needs to, and should, stay with the rec team. You could use this new opportunity though, to look forward to next year with her, as you progress through this year. Put a plan together to develop her other areas this year, as well as identify if her friends / families might be interested and skilled enough to take the leap next year with her. Then maybe she/they can get on a young 14U team with lesser expectations and more playing time. They need to play more, watch less at that age.

I'd lean to the travel team. Maybe she is playing along with everyone else's level? She would be practicing with the travel team, no? There are a million hitting coaches out there if she needed some extra help.

This is a constant theme that runs thru many posts here.

What is your daughters goal? Does she want to be an excellent softball player, or does she want to be a poor one? Skills are made at practice, period. At that age it does not take long very long either.

When someone lacks skills it is most likely because they have never been taught , and drilled properly. No amount of rec ball practice, playing time will make her a better player if fundamental skills are not being properly taught and practiced. I really do get tired of hearing that girls need another year of rec ball, or another year of B ball, etc to be ready. Its usually simply that what they need...for the first time in their life....is better coaching and teaching

Put her on the travel team if the coaches are good, and she can commit to practice time, $$ for travel, etc. She will probably be a much different player in a few months. This assumes that the coaches coach, and dont rely on private instructors to teach girls everything.

absdad said:

I'd lean to the travel team. Maybe she is playing along with everyone else's level? She would be practicing with the travel team, no? There are a million hitting coaches out there if she needed some extra help.

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i agree that many girls tend to play at the level of their surroundings and to some extent to the level of competition. not all, but some for sure. even if they have/are being taught properly.

perfect example - last year my purely rec team tended to play a little soft when playing the other rec teams. but when we played the a and b level teams, they were like a totally different team out there. i'm putting that theory to the test this summer...i'll have to let you know the results this fall.

Does your DD have another position? I wouldn't want to go onto a team with my DD just getting to pitch, when they want to rest their #1 and #3 and #4 aren't very good.

Maybe you should talk to the family that is leaving.

But, I would go if she was starting at another position.

fpdad5 said:

1) My DD would in the #2 role and would be pitching mostly in pool play. Once the team reaches bracket play the #1 pitcher will carry most of the load.
2) Most of the time they will be using a DP/Flex lineup and my DD will not be batting.
3) Unless there is a large lead she will not be playing in the field.

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It sounds like this team plays to win and not necessarily want to teach your DD another position. If she doesn't pitch well in her pool game she may play even less than what they are outlining. This happened to one girl I know and she ended up so sad after every tournament and eventually left the team in the middle of the season. She was a good travel level pitcher but could only pitch. She had potential to be a #1, or #2 but she had a bad game and the coaches started bringing out the hook faster and faster each game. They never allowed her to work through it to develop as a pitcher and she ended up on the bench most of the time.

Travel teams can be a large commitment with both your time and financially. Is it worth giving up your weekends to pitch maybe 1 or 2 games in pool play so she can sit the bench most Sundays? If she has friends on the team it may become bearable; but if she doesn't she may just never want to go back.

If it were up to me I would leave her playing rec and tournament unless she really wants to do the travel and showed a commitment to get better and be good enough to play other positions and hit. Definitely work on the hitting. If she can hit... they'll find a place to play her.

To all who provided insight and feedback on this thread,

Last night my daughter committed to play on her rec tournament team. She and I discussed the pros and cons of each team and I also shared this thread with her. Her decision to stay with the rec team was driven by her desire to win as a contributor in multiple areas and not just as a pitcher. She also agrees that growing her skills in other positions, batting and base running is very important to her continued growth as a player. She told me she does not want to be thought of only as a pitcher. I feel she made the right decision. Once again thank you for your support on this thread.