- Jun 8, 2016
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- 113
8U (DD is actually 7 at the moment and will turn 8 in Sept) DD looking to play travel ball as local rec is horrible. Don't necessarily need a powerhouse team, nor one that associated with a large organization, just one that my DD doesn't have to worry about hurting somebody when she plays catch, have kids on her team who have similar love of softball and a team that plays against decent competition.
Anyway local softball board had a post about a team needing players and the specifics regarding timeline was good e.g. practices geared towards moving to 10U kid pitch in spring but Summer and Fall tourneys would still be machine pitch. This is what I thought would be best for my daughter as she has yet to play kid pitch and although Dad throws windmill to her I would like her to work on that some more before moving to kid pitch tourneys. Anyway, I sent a PM saying we were interested and then asked what this team had done in the Spring and Summer. Response to my inquiry was the following(redacted where necessary):
"My daughter played for *****(travel ball org in area) and league in *****. We left the *****(travel ball org) because of differences with the coach. Currently, we are starting over with the **** (new team name) and hoping to get enough girls that want to play in a positive environment. We are done with the coaches who kill the girls spirits because they want the trophy more than the girls do. We'd love to have you come to a practice, no tryouts, just girls who want to play ball and dedicated parents. We practice on Mondays and Wednesday at 6pm in ******. The practice field is behind the bus barns which is on the road just north of the high school all the way back into the bus maintenance entrance. My husbands name is ***, feel free to text him anytime with questions *******."
If I wanted to be cynical it sounds like the parents were unhappy with playing time and quit in order that their kid my playing time, which at 8U is perhaps understandable. My first thought is to not to commit to anything but have my DD go to a few practices and see for myself if the kids she will be playing with will be at least more competitive than her rec teammates.
Looking for some insight from parents with more experience than I with the travel ball scene.
Anyway local softball board had a post about a team needing players and the specifics regarding timeline was good e.g. practices geared towards moving to 10U kid pitch in spring but Summer and Fall tourneys would still be machine pitch. This is what I thought would be best for my daughter as she has yet to play kid pitch and although Dad throws windmill to her I would like her to work on that some more before moving to kid pitch tourneys. Anyway, I sent a PM saying we were interested and then asked what this team had done in the Spring and Summer. Response to my inquiry was the following(redacted where necessary):
"My daughter played for *****(travel ball org in area) and league in *****. We left the *****(travel ball org) because of differences with the coach. Currently, we are starting over with the **** (new team name) and hoping to get enough girls that want to play in a positive environment. We are done with the coaches who kill the girls spirits because they want the trophy more than the girls do. We'd love to have you come to a practice, no tryouts, just girls who want to play ball and dedicated parents. We practice on Mondays and Wednesday at 6pm in ******. The practice field is behind the bus barns which is on the road just north of the high school all the way back into the bus maintenance entrance. My husbands name is ***, feel free to text him anytime with questions *******."
If I wanted to be cynical it sounds like the parents were unhappy with playing time and quit in order that their kid my playing time, which at 8U is perhaps understandable. My first thought is to not to commit to anything but have my DD go to a few practices and see for myself if the kids she will be playing with will be at least more competitive than her rec teammates.
Looking for some insight from parents with more experience than I with the travel ball scene.
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