New to travel, not sure it's any better than Rec league. Is the grass always greener?

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Oct 29, 2018
28
3
Our experience in 10U, the talent is spread way out. There are some girls who just develop their skills a lot faster than others. In 10U my DD stood out; we're 2nd year 12U now and she's still good but you see a lot of other girls who took a little longer to get there but have caught up now. Here at least, there are a billion travel teams and usually it's the big 3 orgs that have the stacked teams with the best talent throughout the whole lineup. That was even more the case in 10U. Find a team with a coach who can help her develop and with girls she enjoys playing with and let her have fun. Taking 10U way too seriously is a common mistake or so I hear ;)

The sales guy coaches tend to be really good at recruiting and less good at coaching, IME. That's why they have to focus so hard on recruiting even to the point of being dishonest. They don't know how to take a talented but raw player and teach them the game and refine their skills. Parent coaches aren't all bad. My DH keeps ending up one through no fault of his own, and he's kind of the anti-daddy ball. I've also found that sometimes, coaches without a child on the team are less invested. We had one of those one year too. Good coach with a good head for the game but had a hard time relating to the kids (who were 9 and 10) and it just wasn't fun for anyone. The team fell apart and I had to wonder if the coach was relieved. It's an awful lot of drama for someone who doesn't have a personal investment.

Thanks for this. I wonder if we are taking too seriously. DD is developing but sometimes hard to watch and feel like we are waiting for most others to catch up.
 
Jun 12, 2015
3,848
83
I definitely took first year 10U too seriously. I feel lucky to have snapped out of it before 2nd year started. I just keep reminding myself that it's a game and they're kids. It helps that my DD is pretty clearly not driven to play in college at this moment. In 10U everybody thinks their kid might play in college someday. lol She might change her mind but right now, she's in it for fun and competition and camaraderie and that works for me.
 

marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
I have a 10U player new to travel this fall.

She's having fun but her level of play is way above the other girls on the team and her hitting is like she is in a different league.

This looks just like a rec team to us. Is this common?

Do we just let her have fun, finish out the winter, spring, summer, and do what next year? Look around in the summer of next year for 12u? Hope the team improves because she likes the girls? Do we try to have her guest around a bit too and see what's out there? Keep up lessons on the side? Or go back to rec? Is this a case of grass is always greener?

You just ended up on the wrong travel team for your DD that is all. That is common especially when you are first starting out.

Travel is very much a season by season thing. You commit to a season, assess how things are going and then at some point you decide what you are going to do next season. At this point it is clear she needs to be on a better team, so go out and start the process or making that happen.

That means you start looking NOW for her next team for next season. It sounds like you are playing better teams, so you know what is out there. If not, go find out.

Pick out teams you think she would fit in well with, talk to their coaches and parents on the team, maybe guest/maybe not. Watch them play. Figure out if their practice field is a practical drive. See what the cost is and so on. The goal is to get her invited onto a team BEFORE tryouts if you can or at least get them to invite her to their tryout. Finish off your commitment to this team and don't burn bridges when you leave - it is a small community and you never know what might happen in the future.
 

JAD

Feb 20, 2012
8,231
38
Georgia
All TB is not created equal...there are D-level, C-level, B-level and A-level teams in our area. Trying to find the right spot for your DD to maximize her development is up to y'all, but my best advice is to take ownership of your DD's skills development and do NOT leave it to the coaches, regardless of the level your DD is playing. The same holds true for the recruiting process when you get to that point.
 
Jun 11, 2013
2,619
113
The fall is often a mess. You get teams that move from Rec and think they are really good until the spring when all the teams who played up in the fall play at the right age again.
 
Sep 28, 2015
150
18
I like the advice of not taking it too seriously in the first year because you don’t know what you don’t know.

Your commitment is for the full year, however leaving at the end of the fall might be a good idea. Be honest with yourself and the coaches whether this is a good fit for everyone involved. If she is the oldest and or an outlier in the group no matter how it happened sometimes it is best to not force the situation and just admit it was a rookie mistake.

What you don’t want to do is stay too long and have a bad attitude or leave in the middle of May and burn the team.

Good luck.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
May 6, 2015
2,397
113
Definitely start looking now, and making discreet contacts.

I completely understand about being oversold, happened to us this fall, respected org, but coach was a new coach for them, and we have not seen one other person from the org all fall.

we have been making discreet contacts for two weeks now, last tournament is this weekend, and then we will swing into high gear, we already have contacted about 5 prospective teams, just working out timing of getting her looked at.
 
Oct 29, 2018
28
3
I like the advice of not taking it too seriously in the first year because you don’t know what you don’t know.

Your commitment is for the full year, however leaving at the end of the fall might be a good idea. Be honest with yourself and the coaches whether this is a good fit for everyone involved. If she is the oldest and or an outlier in the group no matter how it happened sometimes it is best to not force the situation and just admit it was a rookie mistake.

What you don’t want to do is stay too long and have a bad attitude or leave in the middle of May and burn the team.

Good luck.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for this and all the other replies. Good point about fall and not leaving in May. I think she is overall really happy, feeling good and having fun, and learning some things. Switching now would probably not make her happy. A more natural transition at 12u at the end of next summer might work better. I'll have to look around more. We will continue lessons and looking around at other teams and organizations. In my experience with my other kids/other sports the private lessons impact development more than the team practices so that advice makes sense to me for softball too.
 
Jun 12, 2015
3,848
83
Thanks for this and all the other replies. Good point about fall and not leaving in May. I think she is overall really happy, feeling good and having fun, and learning some things. Switching now would probably not make her happy. A more natural transition at 12u at the end of next summer might work better. I'll have to look around more. We will continue lessons and looking around at other teams and organizations. In my experience with my other kids/other sports the private lessons impact development more than the team practices so that advice makes sense to me for softball too.

It's good that you're thinking about what she wants, and whether she's having fun. Over the past few years I've been watching the musical chairs parents play with their kids, bouncing them from one team to another always looking for...what? I don't know. No team and no coach is going to be perfect. Do these kids really want to have to bond with a new group every year or even twice a year?
 

Forum statistics

Threads
42,830
Messages
679,478
Members
21,445
Latest member
Bmac81802
Top