Committed, SR Season - What to do???

[nikkilugi]

Just wanted to add - many baseball players (sorry for the comparison) heading into college after senior year typically do not play on a travel or showcase team that last summer prior to college. If they do play, they typically will play for their local Legion team. Their focus is as mentioned above - training in the gym and continuing with hitting/pitching/fielding instruction.

Another thought is can she ask her future college coach what he would like to see her do? He might be fine with just working out in the gym that summer or playing on a local team vs traveling to the top showcases.

I was wondering about this - I'm glad you brought it up. I wondered if other players had asked their future coaches their opinions. I have brought it up to DD and she makes a face. She is ultimately a scaredy cat when it comes to interactions with adults. I'm trying to make her better at it by making her deal with certain things herself but this will be one I think she will shy away from.

 

[Vertigo]

I was wondering about this - I'm glad you brought it up. I wondered if other players had asked their future coaches their opinions. I have brought it up to DD and she makes a face. She is ultimately a scaredy cat when it comes to interactions with adults. I'm trying to make her better at it by making her deal with certain things herself but this will be one I think she will shy away from.

We had a player on our team who just wanted to stay local after her senior year. She reached out to her college coach and asked if that would be ok he was completely fine with it. Granted this was a local D3 team so he was also familiar with some of the local travel teams.

 

[radness]

There are orgs in Richmond and NoVa and even down south in NC but DD doesn't want to travel 2 or more hours for practice.

Bummer if it's too hard for her to sit in the car to go play at the level of competition she should be directly before reaching her goal , college is going to be very hard for her.

and she DOES want to attend practices with her team.

What team?... it disbanded!
From what you described the players that are moving up are far less developed. And that is not even a team that she is familiar with, other than the one player she doesn't like who will be remaining. That's basically a new team that is less talented.

We want her on a competitive team which will push her and will also play the high level talent teams she will see in college, she doesn't want to travel hours to practice with the team. If you were her parent what would you encourage her to do?

For whatever reason she doesn't want to drive in the car to go be with better competitive players.
( that's peculiar in itself since she will be committed to playing D1)

She has to work out training by herself to keep herself at the level she needs to be at when she's going to college. She can still participate with the Lesser caliber team but that is going to drop the standards in front of her and for her.
(Aka less challenging level. When She needs to continue to be challenged and pushed)
No matter what, keep your own standard at the level she wants to actually play at and be willing to make a commitment to that time which includes dedication to that time. Or decide to back pedal a little bit and have to work twice as hard when she gets to college just to get back to where she was and then compete with the other players.

It is what it is
choose what you want
be willing to reap the repercussions/rewards.

 

[nikkilugi]

Bummer if it's too hard for her to sit in the car to go play at the level of competition she should be directly before reaching her goal , college is going to be very hard for her.

What team?... it disbanded!
From what you described the players that are moving up are far less developed. And that is not even a team that she is familiar with, other than the one player she doesn't like who will be remaining. That's basically a new team that is less talented.


For whatever reason she doesn't want to drive in the car to go be with better competitive players.
( that's peculiar in itself since she will be committed to playing D1)

She has to work out training by herself to keep herself at the level she needs to be at when she's going to college. She can still participate with the Lesser caliber team but that is going to drop the standards in front of her and for her.
(Aka less challenging level. When She needs to continue to be challenged and pushed)
No matter what, keep your own standard at the level she wants to actually play at and be willing to make a commitment to that time which includes dedication to that time. Or decide to back pedal a little bit and have to work twice as hard when she gets there just to get back to where she was and then compete with the other players.

It is what it is
choose what you want
be willing to reap the repercussions.

Oh I agree about your travel to practice statements. Honestly she might be saying that because of our past tryout experiences. After 16U and her first year here in VA we did have her tryout for other teams farther away because of the nature of the competition in our area. We drove to NoVa and then down to Greensboro NC. We were slated to go to Charlotte NC as well but I got sick and that was the point I thought - do I really want to be driving 3 (and in the case of Charlotte) 5 hours to get her to practices? Even if they were only once every couple weeks I still just dreaded that thought when her org was a perfectly viable option. Of course then we were still new to the area having only lived here a year and I wanted her to keep developing friendships locally. She did - her 3 best friends were graduating seniors this year. Now I'm wondering if she is projecting from my previous sentiments. I do know she is likely thinking there would be times I wouldn't want to make that drive and she would have to drive alone - which I would never allow because that drive to Richmond is hellacious, lol. I guess I need to talk to her more and make sure she understands I'm all in on whatever she wants to do.

She definitely will be training after her summer break. That is a given and thankfully her hitting coach/facility owner has given her 24/7 access to do that. He is a baseball guy and he definitely thinks she needs to train harder before going off to college so I have him to stay on her because we all know parent don't know s*$t.

 

[radness]

Now I'm wondering if she is projecting from my previous sentiments.

I do know she is likely thinking there would be times I wouldn't want to make that drive and she would have to drive alone - which I would never allow because that drive to Richmond is hellacious, lol. I guess I need to talk to her more and make sure she understands I'm all in on whatever she wants to do.

Sit down and look at a calendar in front of you and her
to be realistic about what this timeframe commitment is.
It's not like an everyday Drive, correct?!

Going to add this to the conversation
*** playing softball in college is not just an academic class schedule
Which btw, can be a class schedule that's spread out all over the clock.
It is not just a softball schedule with a calendar of practices and games.
*** It is also a heck of a lot of traveling and having to arrange what you're doing during that traveling time to make it the best use of time.

 

[radness]

To this day I am still amazed that when I coached at Long Beach State they allowed me to drive the team van. Actually at alumni events I still laugh about that because somebody else thought that would be an okay decision LOL

Absolutely while I was driving the team to get to and from game events we had a great time traveling!
So much so that oftentimes all of the equipment and Luggage went in the other team van with only a few super studious students and the rest of the team piled in the van with me.

Ohhh the stories good times

(Always safe )

 

[_MIA_]

So she
1) wants to play on a competitive team
2) doesn't want to travel too far for practices
3) wants to attend practice with her team.

This sounds like a good time to let her understand that sometimes life is about making concessions, e.g. you cannot have everything Sounds like one of those 3 "wants" may to have to take a backseat

 

[nikkilugi]

So she
1) wants to play on a competitive team
2) doesn't want to travel too far for practices
3) wants to attend practice with her team.

This sounds like a good time to let her understand that sometimes life is about making concessions, e.g. you cannot have everything Sounds like one of those 3 "wants" may to have to take a backseat

Agree. It just really sucks when you live in an area where the options are limited. Being from KC originally we didn't have this problem. There were more than 2 dang competitive orgs/teams in the area. Honestly didn't have to travel far for amazingly competitive tournaments too. Moving here was a little bit of a shock - totally different dynamic.

 

[radness]

Agree. It just really sucks when you live in an area where the options are limited. Being from KC originally we didn't have this problem. There were more than 2 dang competitive orgs/teams in the area. Honestly didn't have to travel far for amazingly competitive tournaments too.

Moving here was a little bit of a shock - totally different dynamic.

Since you have experienced the differences, could you please describe for others to learn of this.

 

[Strike2]

She could pick up this Fall, and I assume there's HS ball in the Spring. For next summer, you could look for a league for college-age players. I know they exist in Florida, Texas, and even Kansas. They have current and incoming college players on their rosters. Unless the school she's going to has weak spots in their existing roster, she probably has some work to do regardless before she'll see the field.