Travel Org and Camps

How does your travel org do camps if they have them? My DDs (she's 8, plays 10U) org head has a separate company which runs camps and then charges his organization players to go to the camps. My DD went to the first one as she just started with them and I didn't want to start trouble right away but they have another tomorrow, which is going to be run by the org head's son (AC at local college) and his 18U players (same org) which I am not putting my kid in. They actually canceled practice today ( I went with my kid anyway to hit in the facility) because every kid on the team sans my DD is going to the camp tomorrow. I personally think these camps are a waste of time for instructional purposes anyway and are only useful later on when they are run by colleges and can be used for recruiting purposes. The way they are doing this seems odd at best and smells fishy to me but what do I know...

It sounds like they are using the softball program to subsidize the other business. Not a good thing. I think you're of the same mindset and don't want to follow the path of the sheeple in the program.

There is a business near me who is doing something similar. They wormed their way into an established program and the players can take extra lessons from the coach for a fee. Smacks of a huge conflict of interest.

Yeah...I'd be leery also. TB is expensive enough as is. It's akin to the organization that has one of their coaches as the organizational pitching coach. If the pitchers don't go to them for lessons, chances are very good the ones that don't, won't get much circle time, if any at all. That's something you might want to consider; whether this will affect her playing time, batting position, etc., etc., by not participating.

YOCOACH said:

Yeah...I'd be leery also. TB is expensive enough as is. It's akin to the organization that has one of their coaches as the organizational pitching coach. If the pitchers don't go to them for lessons, chances are very good the ones that don't, won't get much circle time, if any at all. That's something you might want to consider; whether this will affect her playing time, batting position, etc., etc., by not participating.

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At current time DD's head coach is just a parent but at the older levels the org head son coaches so it really wouldn't be an issue unless org head interferes. If I see it happening we'll move on.

Sparky Guy said:

It sounds like they are using the softball program to subsidize the other business. Not a good thing. I think you're of the same mindset and don't want to follow the path of the sheeple in the program.

There is a business near me who is doing something similar. They wormed their way into an established program and the players can take extra lessons from the coach for a fee. Smacks of a huge conflict of interest.

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Oh yeah, forgot to mention that org head gives hitting lessons too, in the org. facility.

A lot of marquee organizations have changed their focus from developing elite softball players to making a lot of $$$ for those at the top of the organization.

JAD said:

A lot of marquee organizations have changed their focus from developing elite softball players to making a lot of $$$ for those at the top of the organization.

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Yeah I wouldn't have moved her to TB when I did if the local rec was even halfway decent. I would rather she waited till at least 12U if I could. I didn't move her for the instruction, that's for sure. I don't stay at
her practices anymore because I was having a hard time keeping my mouth shut with some of the things I was hearing. On the bright side I get some work done on my laptop in those 3.5 hours a week

JAD said:

A lot of marquee organizations have changed their focus from developing elite softball players to making a lot of $$$ for those at the top of the organization.

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I agree with this. Our local "top organization" does this constantly. They do some decent clinics
but they are not cheap and they think they know every thing there is to know about softball and damn you for even questioning them. Our hitting and pitching coach recently joined them and quickly became the top instructor. They recently requested that she up her rates from $50 per hr to $100 per hr, but she refused. There is a lot of stuff going on right now and she is talking about leaving them because of a bunch of other BS.

At the same time reps are reps especially for us in Michigan during the winter. There is a local team that hosts clinics in a very large high school gym every Friday night for $5 for 2hrs. One of their coaches is fairly good but most of the other guys are just helpers and as long as they don't mess with my daughters swing I love it. For us it, clinics depend on who is running them and how much. Our team has one of the best coaches around and an awesome hitting and pitching coach so I send my daughter to clinics for reps and hanging out with like minded kids. The worst part about most clinics is that they draw a huge range of talent and usually get doing remedial drills.

When DD was younger she went to a couple of the local HS camps, cost was nominal and she had a good time. After 2 weeks I am pretty sure she forgot everything she was instructed. They had a bunch of HS players there so a lot of 1 on 1 instruction. Like batting they had 6 or so stations, each player worked on something specific which they tried to pull together at the end.

Pitching and catching were not covered.

I wouldn't say our organization has a pitching coach of choice but 1 is recommended. We seen her working on field with other pitchers but DD has never gone to her for lessons. I do not think it has hurt DD.


What we and my father organization have done is setup a slight discount on lessons with a facility. Take advantage of it or not, no one checks. It is just available to you.

Once you start seeing pressure to see a specific coach, camp or facility I would be concerned as a parent.

quincy said:

After 2 weeks I am pretty sure she forgot everything she was instructed. They had a bunch of HS players there so a lot of 1 on 1 instruction. .

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Without constant repetition one day of instruction isn't going to do squat. Org. would be better off having the coaches/parents go to a camp...