Players who bypass high school softball

[CoogansBluff]

So I get word today that a couple of travel ball players I know are not playing for their high school teams this fall. Not sure exactly why, but something to do with not liking the head coach, or not agreeing with the role they expect to play, but just guessing.

I'm finding myself being judgmental by this, and I want to make a question of it.

IMO, it's some sort of red flag when a travel ball player doesn't want to play for a pretty good high school team, when lots of other travel ball players are playing on that team.

Key point: I'm not talking about teams that are so dreadful that only a handful of players own a glove, and the team will go 1-22 with or without you. Or the team whose coach is abusive or a total jerk. Iget that.

But I'm talking about pretty good high school teams where every player in the starting lineup is a travel player at some level.

For those who don't want a part of that, what is it about?

Is it a failure on the case of many players and parents to grasp what it is means to play for something bigger than yourself, to take pride in the name in the front of the jersey? I see kids and parents whose only goal is college softball, and so every team is viewed as, ''What do you have to offer ME?" ''Will you make ME better?"

Would you be wary of these players if you were a college coach. Wouldn't you want to know their experience of high school softball? I think you'd learn a lot.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

In my DD's case if I thought it was not going to hit the local SB & HS community like a brick on the head I would have pulled my DD from HS SB. My DD pitched and she got screwed-up by the way she was utilized in HS. It took her the first half of the summer TB season to get back to a successful pitch-calling scenario (where in HS the pitch calling was FB/FB/FB/FB etc etc.....maybe a CU if nobody was on base,...and almost nothing else - catcher could not block CU's and missed half the RB's to the backstop). I HATED this and what it did for DD's pitching. But we felt the obligation..... I tell ya what though, if we would have been presented with a TB-type team involvement for Spring we would have jumped all over it like a chicken on a June bug!!!

So I am one case here with one type of story. The others you are referring to might be totally different. Point being I bet you will find all kinds of reasons for not wanting to play HS.

 

[riseball]

...I see kids and parents whose only goal is college softball, and so every team is viewed as, ''What do you have to offer ME?" ''Will you make ME better?"...

I see nothing wrong with this. Why should anyone be expected to participate in an endeavor which they view as undesirable or unproductive with respect to attaining the goals they have set? Or worse do something that will cause their skills to degrade? Like any other HS activity they should not feel obligated to participate just because they have a particular skill set. Would you press the academically gifted Mensa member to participate on the debate team or brain bowl on the premise that they owe something to the school? If it is important for them to experience participation in something bigger than themselves, their time would be much better served as a volunteer at a homeless shelter, soup kitchen, etc. than playing HS Softball. If anything these elite athletes should be commended for stepping aside and allowing a less gifted student to have the opportunity, as they may have a deeper appreciation of the experience.

 

[CoogansBluff]

RB - The only thing that I don't quite follow in your scenario is why you would pull her out. Seems that would be totally the player's decision. But I get the rest. Sounds like very bad team + very bad coach. I remember you posting about this before. I can see the frustration for a pitcher there.

 

[Cobb_of_Fury]

Because High school programs can be hotbeds of Politics & Drama and it is really not worth putting up with for some girls.
In some cases you are taking all the drama that happens in the halls of the average High School and putting it on the bench of their favorite sport and why should they put up with it when they have a travel team they are happy with.

To answer your last question Collage coaches don't really care a wit about high school -

 

[CoogansBluff]

I see nothing wrong with this. Why should anyone be expected to participate in an endeavor which they view as undesirable or unproductive with respect to attaining the goals they have set? Or worse do something that will cause their skills to degrade? Like any other HS activity they should not feel obligated to participate just because they have a particular skill set. Would you press the academically gifted Mensa member to participate on the debate team or brain bowl on the premise that they owe something to the school? If it is important for them to experience participation in something bigger than themselves, their time would be much better served as a volunteer at a homeless shelter, soup kitchen, etc. than playing HS Softball. If anything these elite athletes should be commended for stepping aside and allowing a less gifted student to have the opportunity, as they may have a deeper appreciation of the experience.

When you say, ''Would you press the academically gift Mensa member ... ''

I'm not suggesting that parents press their kids to do anything. I'm asking why kids wouldn't naturally want to do it.

You gave me a pretty good example of a kid that perhaps wouldn't want to do it, one who is far better than everybody else, to the point where HS ball would be boring. Perhaps that would be an exception. In the example I gave, that's not the case. It's two very good players, but others on the team would be better, and many that they'd face would be better, too. Doesn't mean they wouldn't improve more if they trained on their own.

Hard to explain my thoughts here, but I see some girls who view softball purely as a team sport, and they want to be part of a team that goes to war against another team, with something at stake. HS ball might be beneath their level of play, but their love of that battle and pride for team is enough to make them do it. Others see it more as an individual sport - If I work hard, I can get on this team. If I work harder and longer, I might get on this one. I'm trying to be as good as I can be, and every decision I make is based on that. The latter is not nearly as likely to tolerate HS softball.

 

[riseball]

Because High school programs can be hotbeds of Politics & Drama and it is really not worth putting up with for some girls.
In some cases you are taking all the drama that happens in the halls of the average High School and putting it on the bench of their favorite sport and why should they put up with it when they have a travel team they are happy with.

To answer your last question Collage coaches don't really care a wit about high school -

Great point! High School softball is just like... High School. And when compared to travel ball it is a much bigger time commitment. Time which could be spent on more productive activities. Quite frankly you are asking a lot of a TB player to commit to 3 - 5 hours every day, 5 - 6 days a week for several months to play what amounts to rec-ball with lots of drama and politics.

 

[CoogansBluff]

Great point! High School softball is just like... High School. And when compared to travel ball it is a much bigger time commitment. Time which could be spent on more productive activities. Quite frankly you are asking a lot of a TB player to commit to 3 - 5 hours every day, 5 - 6 days a week for several months to play what amounts to rec-ball with lots of drama and politics.

Didn't your daughter play high school ball?

 

[riseball]

RB - The only thing that I don't quite follow in your scenario is why you would pull her out. Seems that would be totally the player's decision. But I get the rest. Sounds like very bad team + very bad coach. I remember you posting about this before. I can see the frustration for a pitcher there.

I would pull her for two reasons:

#1 - Participation poses a risk to her health and welfare. Unfortunately not an uncommon scenario for an elite level pitcher in HS.

#2 - Participation poses a risk to her academic well being.

Failing those two conditions l would leave it up to her. If it were an environment where she would at a minimum maintain her existing skill level I would most likely encourage her participation.

 

[riseball]

Didn't your daughter play high school ball?

Yes she did.

Freshman season was she out due to horrendous coaching.

Sophomore season played for new coach whose credentials included Cal and Akron Racers. Won a National High School Player of the Year award.

Junior season had surgery and missed most of season.

Senior season played for new coach who had zero experience. Regretted the decision and hated every moment of it.


FWIW - My niece is now a Senior at that school and a very adept catcher skilled in the art of pitch calling. She will play for the same clueless coach but this time on her terms. She will no longer catch and will use the opportunity to work on her hitting and fielding. She will not miss getting zero credit for calling a great game and conversely receiving all the blame when fielders make errors on routine ground balls and popups because she called pitches that got hit. Every other weekend she plans to travel to Georgia to catch for a TB team up there during the Florida HS season.