when do you know its time to go to travel ball?

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Sep 15, 2016
40
8
DD is 11, good all around player. she is known for being a catcher, but has started pitching lessons 6-7 months ago and is doing surprisingly good at pitching. I have gotten a couple of messages from travel coaches that I know about my DD, but at the time she had just started to pitch and knew that if she went travel ball then , that it would affect her learning to pitch as she wouldn't get the circle time to learn than she would if she stayed in 12u rec for spring and maybe fall season. nearing the end of spring season now and her pitching and catching are better than ever, her hitting has taken a bit of a slump spending so much time on pitching. I again have gotten messages from the same coaches and a couple others offering her to work out with there teams and even pay in a few tournaments with them.
should I keep her in rec for a bit longer so she can work on her pitching development more or take some the coaches up on there offers to have her work out with there team?
 
Jul 14, 2017
181
28
IMO, if you are thinking of TB, get her in now, rather than later. 12u is a great place to start because even the “seasoned” TB players have a lot to learn and adjust to with new rules and larger ball. Why don’t you have her guest play now so she can get a feel for it and come tryout season, you’ll have a good idea of who she’ll want to play for.


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Sep 15, 2016
40
8
that was offered, but if she even works out with an "a" level team, she is not eligible for all-stars. now if we don't have a 12u all-star team this year seeing how we only have one 12u team in our league, I've been trying to gauge how many of the girls and parents will commit to all stars. only reason I'm trying is I feel that this may be the last chance some of these girls get to be an all star..
 
Jun 12, 2015
3,848
83
DD played 8U all stars. We went back to rec for fall season of 2nd year 8U. I remember her coming back in after one of her homeruns and saying, disgustedly, "At a tournament that would've been a single." She had to hold back her throws because only 2 girls on the team (the 2 who played all stars with her actually) could take a full throw from her. It was just obvious she had moved beyond rec level. She learned to pitch in travel. We started lessons in January of her last year of 8U and she started pitching that fall.

Can she work out with a B or C level team? Going straight from rec she's probably going to start more at a B level anyway I assume.
 
Last edited:
Sep 15, 2016
40
8
DD admits to holding back at practice because she knows some of the girls on the rec team are new and she doesn't want to hurt or scare them...
 

Top_Notch

Screwball
Dec 18, 2014
512
63
Time to go. DD went to travel at 8U and started pitching 9U. We always said that if one year of travel didn't work out we'd go back to rec ball. There is no going back. The level of play and progress in travel is astronomical. Do not wait any longer as even at the 12U level the level of competition and athleticism is unbelievable. Your daughter is falling behind
every day.
 
Feb 7, 2013
3,188
48
My DD started travel ball as a second year 12U player because she was ready for a new challenge and frankly we got tired of the rec league politics.

She had played since she was 5YO and for a couple of fall/winter seasons before moving to year-round TB, she played on what is called a "tournament team" (hand picked group of players) and played in a league with 12 games followed by a couple of tournaments. It was a good transition to travel ball without committing year round. Spring and summer was back to ASA rec league and then all-stars (4 or 5 tournaments leading up to Districts, State, and Nationals).

However, I am seeing more and more young players starting to go travel ball at 10U (and even 8U) ranges in both softball and baseball which really guts the rec leagues unfortunately.
 

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