My dd told me at age 14 that she wasn’t going to play college ball. She could have. I know this because plenty of coaches told me she could and she played with plenty of girls who did. But it wasn’t what my dd wanted. She wanted an academic life.Actually, she has already set up a profile and e-mailed 10 colleges, during her Fall season. Then was given another assignment of coming up with 30 additional colleges, placed in 3 categories. She literally couldn't think of 30 colleges at this point. She's been honest about her confusion about playing in college. She's always been one that needs self confidence to perform well and this has made her feel bad about herself, like not being sure about playing in college makes her "less than". Not a optimal mind set to play. Anyway, it's fine. She gets it and just might bow out to make room for some other 14 year old that has her life planned out already.
ally,
But she still played travel and HS. She wound up picking a school based on the academic program she wanted. She stopped playing ball, her senior year HS season was going to be her last season of ball.
She went to college, made it into the difficult program she wanted and discovered she missed sports, softball in particular.
She tried out for the club team and that fit her life perfectly. Club was a good fit for her, the team was good , they went to the nationals both years she played. And eventually her class and work load became to great for her to continue playing.
So 5 years after graduating HS she graduated from college with a bachelors and a masters both in engineering. And she had the opportunity to play more ball without quite the same time obligation. It worked out for her. It’s a great fit fir a lot of players.
Playing for a college isn’t the only possible goal for a HS ball player. If it was most HSs wouldn’t be able to field a team.