Rise of select teams

I am in the sugarland area south of Houston and has anyone notice the rise of 8u and 10u select teams. Just wondering if the level of competition is getting better or is it just a bunch of dads starting teams for daughters. I have heard some good things about some of the new teams starting and i have found out that some have already disbanded. Just crazy was kind of quiet for a couple years and now they just sprouted.

What is a select team?

Around here we have A & B travel teams & rec all star teams comprised of players that played rec but form an all star team to play all star tournaments in June & July.

Around here we normally refer to a team made up of hand picked players from the same community as a select team, like a local all star team.

we call the teams where the players come from a bunch of different communities travel teams.

I personally think "select" teams are a money grab by organizers who are cashing in on the fact that every parent thinks their DD is "special"....and assume having their DD chosen to participate on a select team is the golden ticket to a college scholarship....

I think it's a little of both. I get annoyed at all the extremely snotty attitudes people have about teams playing an A schedule. It comes up all the time on our local board and I get so irritated with people thinking only the best of the best should ever play an A schedule. Not sure how teams are supposed to get to an A level of play if they aren't allowed to play A tournaments until they can play at an A level. Makes no sense. Anyway.

Houston area, it's commonly known as "select" team; although from my years of perusing this site, I now call it travel ball because heck...I have receipts for gas, hotels, etc. LOL.

But yeah, I have seen it, and I think some of it is dads starting their own teams trying to take it to the next level. There are some good organizations that have a system in place, but then there are organizations where there are too many and there is no way they could "regulate" or "supervise" how the teams are run. I also see teams joining organizations with the idea of assuming the name but underneath they are no better than they were before (this especially happens 12U and up).

I also believe there is a HIGH turnover rate between 8U and 12U so the number of the older teams is sparse compared to the younger teams.

Edited to clarify: we have Rec Ball, All Stars (which only runs from May thru July), and Select ball (these vary - they can be A, B or C - at the older age groups - not all are true exposure teams).

In our area, we too use the term "Select". I've never liked it. Select sounds like something extra special. It really isn't any more. It's merely pay to play.

I prefer travel ball, or club team, or tournament team.

Terminology probably differs across the country. While in Georgia, I became aware of a ''select league'', which was the best players in a rec program forming a team. But instead of playing tournaments after the season (like all-stars), they would play other select teams during the season. So for example, a rec program might have 4 regular 10U teams that play each other and one ''select'' team that plays a schedule of games against other ''select'' teams from other rec programs.

I've never been part of a scenario like that, but as someone who has run a rec program, my concern would be that it helps the 10 select players at the expense of the other 40 kids in the league. Softball is a difficult game, and you need some of those better players to be pitchers and catchers. Unlike soccer or basketball, where it's fun for young kids just to run around, softball is no fun unless somebody is throwing strikes. That's why I prefer an all-star situation, where the best can see a higher level while also benefiting the rec league as a whole.

All that said, this is probably not what the OP is talking about. I don't know that there is a universal meaning to 'select' team.

We now have 6U travel teams in our area. I believe parents feel their kids are going to be left behind if they aren't "keeping up with the Jones". DD started TB on a first year 10U team after one season of rec ball. While it was fun, other than getting our brains beat in, there was no benefit to starting that early, IMO. If I had it to do over, we would have waited til 12U.

GRC, Your local board, along with another, crack me up with all of the A Ball and best of the best threads. I check them daily to look for the latest train wreck, lol! Sometimes I just need a laugh.

Jdaddy said:

GRC, Your local board, along with another, crack me up with all of the A Ball and best of the best threads. I check them daily to look for the latest train wreck, lol! Sometimes I just need a laugh.

Click to expand...

what board is that? Please share!! Could use more entertainment as it pertains to softball. LOL


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