Rise of select teams

[1bucketmom]

Terminology probably differs across the country. While in Georgia, I became aware of a ''select league'', which was the best players in a rec program forming a team. But instead of playing tournaments after the season (like all-stars), they would play other select teams during the season. So for example, a rec program might have 4 regular 10U teams that play each other and one ''select'' team that plays a schedule of games against other ''select'' teams from other rec programs.

I've never been part of a scenario like that, but as someone who has run a rec program, my concern would be that it helps the 10 select players at the expense of the other 40 kids in the league. Softball is a difficult game, and you need some of those better players to be pitchers and catchers. Unlike soccer or basketball, where it's fun for young kids just to run around, softball is no fun unless somebody is throwing strikes. That's why I prefer an all-star situation, where the best can see a higher level while also benefiting the rec league as a whole.

All that said, this is probably not what the OP is talking about. I don't know that there is a universal meaning to 'select' team.

DD plays on her leagues select team, but they must also play on a rec team. This way, they help raise the level of rec but also get to play teams at their level - somewhere between A and B. This is typical for our area but some select only strictly play select as mentioned here.m

 

[Rocketech1]

In SoCal it goes like this:

ASA Rec league (B or C) fall/spring
All-Stars (summer)
Tournament team (either fall league and/or a few winter tournaments between rec seasons)
Select (new, see JJ's comments above)
Travel ball (mostly A and Gold teams)

Somebody mentioned 6u travel ball? I think if you are hitting off a tee, "travel" should not be in the same sentence! I do remember our local rec league having a 6u all star team that went 15-0 in 3 tournaments. I was shaking my head but apparently the families and players had a good time, so what do I know?

Lastly, as I look back at the only year I was the head coach for 8u all stars, 6 years later, 10 of the 12 players are still playing softball. That's a pretty good ratio still playing in spite of me coaching them...

 

[Vertigo]

Terminology probably differs across the country. While in Georgia, I became aware of a ''select league'', which was the best players in a rec program forming a team. But instead of playing tournaments after the season (like all-stars), they would play other select teams during the season. So for example, a rec program might have 4 regular 10U teams that play each other and one ''select'' team that plays a schedule of games against other ''select'' teams from other rec programs.

I've never been part of a scenario like that, but as someone who has run a rec program, my concern would be that it helps the 10 select players at the expense of the other 40 kids in the league. Softball is a difficult game, and you need some of those better players to be pitchers and catchers. Unlike soccer or basketball, where it's fun for young kids just to run around, softball is no fun unless somebody is throwing strikes. That's why I prefer an all-star situation, where the best can see a higher level while also benefiting the rec league as a whole.

All that said, this is probably not what the OP is talking about. I don't know that there is a universal meaning to 'select' team.

Our Little League also had a program where the girls who were chosen for the LL All-star team were given the opportunity to play on our rec travel team to get them more experience playing in tournaments so that they were better prepared for the following year's LL All-star tourney. The girls were required to play rec, but could enter travel tourneys or play scrimmages against other travel teams when they didn't have rec games. Funny thing was, our All-star team actually won a couple of travel team tourneys (B-level) and would beat the local travel teams (many in our area, so it waters each team down) so that they stopped wanted to scrimmage us. It was tough for those coaches to explain to their parents how a group of "Rec" players all from the same school district could beat them while they pulled girls from three different counties and paid over $1000 to be a part of their team. It also helped that when we entered those tourneys, that the other teams would easily write us off and think, oh, they're just rec - they'll be easy to beat. Well, as it came to be, not all girls with the talent to play on decent travel teams decide to do so, and we had a quite a few rec players from our age group who could easily make any of the local travel teams. Actually, some of them were asked to leave rec and play travel, but our group decided to stick together for 4 years (minus 1-2 players), which was not commonplace for the other Little Leagues in our area. We now have witnessed many of the other local LL develop a program like ours, so some of them do now have core teams who play travel and stick together year after year.

Sunday Select teams were non-Little League teams (mostly township leagues or youth associations) who made a team out of the best girls in their leagues. They would have their own league where they'd play other select teams on Sundays.

 

[colin]

i think a competitive league would be more fun than tournaments every weekend.

 

[CoogansBluff]

It's been a few years now, but I remember some 10U all-star teams that were pretty strong. We were in metro ATL, and a couple of programs had 10-12 teams from which to pick all-stars. I had a second-year 10U travel team that would struggle to beat them, because we were formed from only 4 teams, and even though we were more experienced, we didn't have the same talent base to begin with. There was one program in particular that didn't allow travel teams out of their parks. As a result, parents often were naive about the existence of travel and didn't get their kids into it as soon as others. That park had great all-star teams.

 

[Jdaddy]

In SoCal it goes like this:

ASA Rec league (B or C) fall/spring
All-Stars (summer)
Tournament team (either fall league and/or a few winter tournaments between rec seasons)
Select (new, see JJ's comments above)
Travel ball (mostly A and Gold teams)

Somebody mentioned 6u travel ball? I think if you are hitting off a tee, "travel" should not be in the same sentence! I do remember our local rec league having a 6u all star team that went 15-0 in 3 tournaments. I was shaking my head but apparently the families and players had a good time, so what do I know?

Lastly, as I look back at the only year I was the head coach for 8u all stars, 6 years later, 10 of the 12 players are still playing softball. That's a pretty good ratio still playing in spite of me coaching them...

The 6U is actually coach pitch if you can believe it. I just shake my head when I see them advertised.

 

[CoogansBluff]

i think a competitive league would be more fun than tournaments every weekend.

I would love for travel ball to be more league and less tournament. Lots of kids (and parents) get burned out, not by the total number of games in a year, but the number of games in a given day. It's really insane to play 5 games in a day, or 8 in a weekend. But that's the only option. It nearly ruined if for my daughter, but she survived. It shouldn't be a sport of attrition, but sometimes I think that's what it is.

 

[JAD]

I would love for travel ball to be more league and less tournament. Lots of kids (and parents) get burned out, not by the total number of games in a year, but the number of games in a given day. It's really insane to play 5 games in a day, or 8 in a weekend. But that's the only option. It nearly ruined if for my daughter, but she survived. It shouldn't be a sport of attrition, but sometimes I think that's what it is.

The beauty of TB is there are options....

 

[Vertigo]

i think a competitive league would be more fun than tournaments every weekend.

At this point, having done both (Little League Rec and now travel), I think each has it's own positives and negatives, as well as unique experiences. I must say, to date the best experience I (as a coach and parent) had was making it to the Little League state tourney with the group of girls I mentioned in my above post. We were a small team (size-wise) with only one pitcher, but those girls had the biggest hearts I have ever seen. Great core group of parents, too. That's the one thing about LL that I miss now - the parents are your neighbors or your daughter's school mate's parents. You sort of have a history together and a common bond. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my travel parents now, but it's a lot of fun to be with a group who you've know since your daughter was 5 years old.

I do totally enjoy playing in travel tourneys almost every weekend (starting in spring). Would I much rather be at a rec game vs. a travel tourney? No. Would I much rather be at a Little League Championship District game vs a travel tourney? Absolutely. Again, just my opinion based on previous experiences.

 

[grcsftbll]

I would love for travel ball to be more league and less tournament. Lots of kids (and parents) get burned out, not by the total number of games in a year, but the number of games in a given day. It's really insane to play 5 games in a day, or 8 in a weekend. But that's the only option. It nearly ruined if for my daughter, but she survived. It shouldn't be a sport of attrition, but sometimes I think that's what it is.

We love tournaments. Setting up camp at the park and playing all day is awesome. My DD is usually bummed when we lose our 2nd bracket game or whatever and have to go home. She always wants to know how many games are guaranteed and if it's a 3GG she's disappointed. I agree, though, that for some people it does not work out in the long run and a lot of kids do burn out. It would be nice if there were more options between full travel and rec for kids in my area. We'd still want to do tournaments though.