Players who bypass high school softball

[SoCalASABlue]

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 -

And sometimes the HS coach IS the drama...

 

[Doug Romrell]

It is often the case that the high school coach expects all high school players to play on his/her summer-travel team. If they don't, they are blacklisted and must prove themselves in HS ball much more than those who worship at the HS coach's altar during the summer-ball season. I think this is when the power of a high school coach goes much too far, often being the result of narcissism. High school players should feel free to play on whatever summer team they want to without fear of punishment by the high school coach in the high school softball program.

In our area, it is the HS coach's summer team organization that essentially owns the high school softball program. This is wrong!

 

[SoCalASABlue]

goes to war against another team...their love of that battle.

It's a freaking game, not a war...

I hate losing at anything...so does DD...but it's not life or death...

 

[riseball]

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.

I was referring to the High School Softball Community as a whole, not the parents. There seems to be an expectation within most High School Softball Community's that elite level travel ball players are somehow expected, even obligated to participate. High School Softball and TB are two totally different animals and need to be viewed as such. Not with disdain for either but for what they each offer. Subsequently the respective experiences may or may not be for everyone. For a myriad of reasons it is best for some TB players to pass on the High School Softball experience. And as Doug points out having a HS Coach who is also a TB coach is a really bad idea. That situation always leads to some level of controversy.

 

[obbay]

when we saw how DD#1 was treated in HS, I started getting DD#2 ready to run track instead of playing softball.
turns out she will be playing and I will shmooz with the coach and as long as it is a good experience for DD, we'll go with it. But she will not learn anything from this coach/team, there will be drama but TB is her priority.
I heard that Raven Chevanne ran track.

 

[riseball]

It's a freaking game, not a war...

I hate losing at anything...so does DD...but it's not life or death...

Granted, no bazookas or bayonets, but yeah it is a war. And in the mind of an adolescent many things trivial to us seem like life or death to them. Otherwise they would not be balling their eyes out after a loss.

 

[CoogansBluff]

It's a freaking game, not a war...

I hate losing at anything...so does DD...but it's not life or death...

OK, I understand that the analogy of 'war' offends you because in games, nobody actually dies. Sorry for my poor choice of word. I am guilty of exaggeration.

Was that your only objection?

 

[Out in Left Field]

I don't know of any TB players here that skip playing softball in HS, but we are not a softball hotbed as far as getting schollys to Arizona or Florida, that is for sure. I have had a handful quit TB after 9th or 10th grade and only play HS.

I think if you go in hating something you will hate it. I just wonder why the massive turnover in head coaches that I read about here and elsewhere. Then you will hate the next coach, too. If I was a parent, I would look into the cause. Are the coaches not getting paid enough? Are only one or two candidates applying?

I do see and hear a lot of TB coaches trying to control existing HS coaches and teams (witnessed some ugly stuff at away games). I think if you are a TB coach you need to also look in the mirror. Fortunately, not enough players from one TB team on my HS team for that to be happening to us. And I wonder how come they are off work at 3pm in the afternoon.....

 

[CoogansBluff]

For a myriad of reasons it is best for some TB players to pass on the High School Softball experience.

It might be that these myriad of reasons are more prevalent than I want to believe. My daughter is just entering high school. We've not fully experienced it.

You noted that your daughter played. If she did, I can't help but think that she had the school spirit necessary to have enjoyed and thrived in it, but there comes a point where it becomes unbearable for reasons out of her control.

 

[guero_gordo]

The girl that played for a competing TB org and sat the entire season on the Varsity bench while coach played lesser contributors from his own org. did not come back to HS ball afterwards. OP might judge her, I will not.