Is Travel Ball the best way?

[MadBandit22]

your stats (roster size = 15, pitchers get 10% of the scholarships) would indicate that there are only 1.5 pitchers on each roster. That's not normal.

They definitely have more P. It seems like many schools only use one or two.

 

[marriard]

• $100-$200K for four year college education
• 1167 operating college level softball programs
• • 286 DI, 264 DII, 408 DIII, 239 NAIA
  • Avg Roster Size is 15
• 17,500 Players total
• • 12 Scholarships/team DI
  • 7.2 Scholarship/team DII
  • 10 scholarships/team NAIA
  • 0 for DIII >>> 11,500, competing for 7432 potential scholarships from 813 schools
  • 7432 Divided equally between Frosh?soh/JR/SR .....1858 scholarships per year
  • Of the 1858 scholarships per year: 40% outfield, 40% infield, 10% catchers, 10% pitchers
• 3432 DI Scholarhips
• 1901 DII Scholarsips
• 2390 NAIA Scholarships
• Total Potential: 7432

The Questions you need to ask:

1. Is your daughter 1 of the best 2000 players of her age in the entire country?
2. If your daughter is a pitcher/catcher, is she 1 of the best 200 her age in the entire country?

Not sure where you got these numbers, but some are wrong or out of context.

First you didn't include JUCO. 24 scholarships per team max, 3 divisions + 2-3 others (Cali has one, there is a small school religious on the east coast etc)

NAIA also has jv teams which also have some money. I know a couple of schools with 50 girls on 2 teams.

I think I got to 35,000 roster spots last time I tried to figure it out.

Average roster is closer to 20.

Scholarships are not full, so you are unlikely to be competing for a full ride but a partial. And they dont go evenly to players. Pitchers generally get more. Also academic money play a big part. If a player can get academic money that can free up athletic money for someone else. And so on

Rosters are genrally underclassman heavy. By that I mean attrition happens over the 4 years so the incoming class is not replacing just seniors but also attrition over the year. Injuries, leaving the program, stopping playing softball, etc etc.

 

[MadBandit22]

Not sure where you got these numbers, but some are wrong or out of context.

First you didn't include JUCO. 24 scholarships per team max, 3 divisions + 2-3 others (Cali has one, there is a small school religious on the east coast etc)

NAIA also has jv teams which also have some money. I know a couple of schools with 50 girls on 2 teams.

I think I got to 35,000 roster spots last time I tried to figure it out.

Average roster is closer to 20.

Scholarships are not full, so you are unlikely to be competing for a full ride but a partial. And they dont go evenly to players. Pitchers generally get more. Also academic money play a big part. If a player can get academic money that can free up athletic money for someone else. And so on

Rosters are genrally underclassman heavy. By that I mean attrition happens over the 4 years so the incoming class is not replacing just seniors but also attrition over the year. Injuries, leaving the program, stopping playing softball, etc etc.

My understanding was also that pitchers are more coveted than position players.

 

[Gbucz]

HS ball is great for stats and news articles but the competition is typically low and the season is at the same time as college - coaches will not see her! TB with college showcasing is a way to get her seen but she must tell the coaches she is there and when. As another responded those 200 girl camps are useless. Find the skills ones that her college coaches will be at. They will get a small window to meet them in drills and be able to show her enthusiasm and coachability.

The real key is her reaching out to them. My DD was a late bloomer and ‘came out of nowhere’ in her HS years. Too many mediocre TB teams. Once she got lessons from Hillhouse her game became top notch. With the new change in NCAA recruiting she would have been fine. Unfortunately, back then, schools signed all their pitcher slots in 8th grade! When she was a hot commodity in her Soph/Jr. year it was too late.

It does come down to her willingness to do the extra. She has to want it as it is her future not yours. My DD ended up with a top D3 and was happy to have a college life while making NCAA regionals 3 of her 4 years and Super regionals 1 year. Of her 7 TB friends going to mid to low level D1’s only 4 made it graduation still on the team. None of them had the college life she did, only two still want to play and none of them had post season play. Factor that in as well.

 

[uncdrew]

My DD much to my Chagrin wants to go to Florida. I’m trying for UConn or Penn State. Maybe North Carolina.

Go Heels!

 

[IRONMAN]

Scholarships are not full, so you are unlikely to be competing for a full ride but a partial.

Average roster is closer to 20.

Scholarships are not full, so you are unlikely to be competing for a full ride but a partial. And they dont go evenly to players. Pitchers generally get more. Also academic money play a big part. If a player can get academic money that can free up athletic money for someone else. And so on

Rosters are genrally underclassman heavy. By that I mean attrition happens over the 4 years so the incoming class is not replacing just seniors but also attrition over the year. Injuries, leaving the program, stopping playing softball, etc etc.

This is the kind of facts all of this board should be paying attention to. If you are looking to have your DD go to college on a "full scholarship", she (and you) have picked the wrong sport. Football and Basketball are the only 2 sports that cover a "full ride", which includes tuition, room+board, meals and books. The life of a softball player trying to earn a scholarship is a very poor ROI, but the memory's will last a lifetime if they are good memories.

The overwhelming majority of college financial aid for softball, baseball, lacrosse, volleyball, etc (all partial scholarship sports) only cover tuition. Some tack on books, but very few of them cover room+board and meal plans - even the P5 schools. They way the funds are allocated to athletes are totally up to the head coach. Some schools like Tennessee, Bama, Oklahoma have grants that are available to supplement the financial aid given. Pitchers and catchers and "tip of the spear athletes" usually get a higher percentage, but even they usually have to supplement with academic money (HOPE, grants) and loans.

18-25 players are the norm now, and not even all of the D1/D2 schools have fully funded allotment of scholarships available. Dansby Swanson (played for Vanderbilt and now the Braves) took out 75K in loans to play for Corbin, and he was a "tip of the sword spear" coming out of HS. I know for a fact that there are ZERO players on Tennessee or Georgia's current roster that have more than 75% scholarship. They all rely on academic, HOPE, and grants to make up the difference. There are big advantages given to student athletes, in some cases of P5 and upper mid-tier D1's, such as academic counseling for the athletic dept and tutors for free, books (in some cases), meals when with the team.

What am I trying to say here? Make sure your kids are having a good time, and not playing because "you want them to be a D1 softball player". Write letters, go to camps and play at the highest level of TB your family can afford and have fun with. My DD is heading off to play her last TB tournament next week in Myrtle Beach (thank the Lord we didn't go out to Huntington Beach this year), it's over before you know it.

btw - Newtown Rock Gold is another pretty good "National" team from the NE.

 

[Eric F]

My understanding was also that pitchers are more coveted than position players.

For sure. Pitching is the one position where you can't take an athletic ballplayer and teach her how to be competent in short amount of time.

 

[_MIA_]

For sure. Pitching is the one position where you can't take an athletic ballplayer and teach her how to be competent in s amount of time.

This is probably true, but I am willing to bet there are not many catchers and SS (at least at P5 schools) , especially catchers, who didn't play there at least a decent amount of time in their TB years. Then again you said competent so I guess it depends on where you are setting the bar..

You probably see more converted IF/OF catching in MiLB/MLB since they have the luxury of time..something which colleges don't really have.

 

[MNDad]

This is probably true, but I am willing to bet there are not many catchers and SS (at least at P5 schools) , especially catchers, who didn't play there at least a decent amount of time in their TB years. Then again you said competent so I guess it depends on where you are setting the bar..

You probably see more converted IF/OF catching in MiLB/MLB since they have the luxury of time..something which colleges don't really have.

Surprisingly there's several coaches who look for hitters with the idea they can turn them into catchers later.

 

[_MIA_]

Surprisingly there's several coaches who look for hitters with the idea they can turn them into catchers later.

That is surprising..I would think they would just put them at 1B. Does that usually work out?