Wanting to play travel ball instead of high school season

[NBECoach]

Our area couldnt disagree more with your comments.
There is no compairison to what dd plays in travel to h.s.
She doesnt need to inflate her hitting stats against weak pitching and defenses. Spend her time gently throwing to not injury the first baseman.
Point is to not step backwards on the way. If a varsity letter is important to you do that.
Eldest pitcher did well in h.s. but colleges didnt care much for those high school stats. They wanted to see her against travel talent.

I am a HS coach and am afraid I have to agree with Bullseye. Some of the opposition in the conference are terrible. Whereas, you can almost schedule games vs. decent competition in TB. While stats are pretty much meaningless altogether, they really get inflated vs. those terrible conference teams. TB rules here. Someone in this thread said he tells his players to leave if they don't want to be there. If we did that we wouldn't have more than 1 team. Sad to say TB rules. They are just better overall teams.

 

[CoachJD]

I’ve seen many HS coaches who could (some do) successfully coach TB. I’ve seen a few TB coaches who would struggle (some have) with HS ball.

HS coaches don’t have the liberty of picking pre-trained, skilled players. The player either lives in your district or they don’t. Some HS have great feeder organizations in their district.

Many TB coaches have standout DD on their teams. That may account for their reputation as a great coach. That shouldn’t mean that their HS coach shouldn’t be listened to.

From my limited experience being around TB (not caoching it), the coaches don't do a whole lot of actual coaching of skills. It seems that it's expected players either know how to do things or that they're learning elsewhere.

I have no doubt that outside of the very highest levels, coaching (the actual coaching part, not dealing with some of the other challenges) TB is significantly easier.

 

[BT3100]

From my limited experience being around TB (not caoching it), the coaches don't do a whole lot of actual coaching of skills. It seems that it's expected players either know how to do things or that they're learning elsewhere.

I have no doubt that outside of the very highest levels, coaching (the actual coaching part, not dealing with some of the other challenges) TB is significantly easier.

I guess it depends on the coach and maybe even the player. DD says she learns from HS coach and my buddies daughter who also plays on same HS team says she doesn't learn anything.
DD is on a top tier 18u travel team and his daughter is on a "c" team. I guess it depends on who the coach works with or what the kids try to get out of it.

 

[torpedo #8]

If y'all don't want to play HS ball, then don't. There are players out there that choose that route. If my DD did that, I would tell her that you need to get involved in something else on campus.

I bet if you asked many of the 16u/18u travel coaches they would say that they like the break during the spring months so they can get mentally and physically recharged. When April comes rolling around they are chomping at the bit to get their players together. Lots of those same coaches coach HS or MS ball as well.

Good luck in convincing 100's players to quit their HS team so they can play TB. Families need a break from travel too. They need to recharge their vacation days for the summer run. Like BT3100 said HS ball can teach players stuff that TB doesn't. For all the crappy stuff that happens in HS there is enough of the good stuff to help off set. HS ball you practice or play just about every day which actually can help prepare for the daily grind of college bound players. For the better players there are teaching opportunities with the younger players. How about freshman getting to play against stud Seniors? Otherwise they would be playing against other 14U or 16U players in TB.

You are actually right don't play. Guess what? A lot are not because like everyone else has said the talent level is not good at all. You may have 3 teams out of 20 that are competitive. How many college coaches really look at their HS team? They always ask what is the name of your TB team. I don't know where you live but it is not that many high caliber pitchers in high school, so that's false. Yes, you get the practice everyday, but how many bad habits are they developing from coaches that have no clue on how to coach? Many girls play softball in high school to help their resume when they apply for colleges because it's easy to make the team. I agree with the recharge and the cost but high school softball is waaaay on the back burner in sports. When the girls finally get to TB for the season, coaches have to reprogram their player back to basics because of the high school set back.

 

[Vertigo]

DD probably doesn‘t learn much in regards to how to play the game from her HS coach, but what she has learned is how to use her TB experience to be a leader and great teammate. She will often assist the coaches with things to work on during practices and will often stay late after practice to work on individual skills with the non-TB players.

Her school team is about half TB players, but all players are athletes, so they enjoy working with dd to learn to play the game as best as they can.

 

[torpedo #8]

You are actu

High school ball is real softball... no time limits... no team hopping... every game matters... it's a short, but grueling schedule...

If you read college player bios... they all recount their high school athletic achievements... All Region... All State... many times their "travel ball club" isn't even mentioned.

The OP is totally missing the point of playing school ball... My DD didn't really get it her freshman year, but when her varsity jacket arrived, and we started talking about where her all region patch should go... she started to see the light...

I agree with the time limits and team hopping, yes real softball in that aspect. But the competition is totally different. TB coaches have to fix their players when they come back because the caliber of players are not the same. The mistakes they are able to get a way with in HS hurts them when they return.

 

[_MIA_]

By the time a kid reaches HS if they are good they should know what they need to be doing mechanically (fielding, hitting, throwing, etc ) so I don’t buy the whole “playing weaker competition is going to erode their skills” thing. It is on them to continue to do what they know they are supposed to do.

 

[radness]

By the time a kid reaches HS if they are good they should know what they need to be doing mechanically (fielding, hitting, throwing, etc ) so I don’t buy the whole “playing weaker competition is going to erode their skills” thing. It is on them to continue to do what they know they are supposed to do.

Its not just weaker players.
Its the entire dynamic that sometime is beyond a coaches control.

Like players not showing up for games.
Half the team Gpa becomming ineligible.
Literally players not wanting to try and throwing the ball all over.
Even logistics issues getting players to games. Not even fielding a team because team cant get there.
Other team shows up and one high school doesnt.
Can you imagine the majority of teams in a league like this?

Have to think beyond the realm of average issues and go to the
Oh dang thats bad catagory.

And Pattar you quit (was it) your college team. There were reasons for that right?!
You commented "its on them to do what they need to do."
Agree!
Then it should be ok to make a decision thats best for them to reach goals!
Which may be not playing high school.


Not that i'm surprised at people talking up high school, but do think people should consider sometimes there are better options than a problematic situation.

 

[MNDad]

When girls get to college they’ll have coaches they won’t agree with. The coaches make questionable decisions. Some of the competition isn’t very good. There’s drama, politics and everything else girls experience in HS ball. Some can transfer to a better team. Most go to a lower level or wash out completely.

HS ball does so much to prepare a player for the real world there’s no downside in letting them play.

 

[_MIA_]

And Pattar you quit (was it) your college team. There were reasons for that right?!

I quit because I was a head case who managed to make playing games unbearable for
myself..not because I thought playing would make me worse, which is what I was commenting on .
When I quit I just stopped showing up. To show you what I was dealing with, my coach had a player come check
on me to make sure "he didn't hang himself with his cleat shoelaces.." his words.