Softball scholarships a pricey pursuit for elite travel teams | Tampa Bay Times
Softball scholarships a pricey pursuit for elite travel teams
Bob PutnamBob Putnam, Times Staff Writer
Friday, August 11, 2017 11:17am
ATLANTA — Alex Hare can make acrobatic moves to corral grounders from every direction. She can slap a softball into the gap or smack one over the fence. She displays speed, power and range, all the tools necessary to make it as a shortstop at the college level.
The Mitchell High junior hones her skills through countless hours of lessons on every aspect of the game, from pitching to hitting to fielding to agility. She shows them off at showcases, tournaments and camps.
The price tag for that much softball consumption is steep.
Her parents, hoping to write off some expenses on their taxes, calculated everything they spent on the sport from 2014-15.
The cost: $14,000 a year.
"It's a lot of money," said Hare's mother, Heather. "We tried to find a tax loophole, maybe something for educational purposes, but there was no chance."
Travel expenses make the biggest dent.
In the offseason, Alex plays for the Florida Firecrackers, a 16-under club team based in Tampa Bay that goes on a summer-long trek of tournaments across the country.
The Firecrackers spent weekends in Alabama and Georgia (twice) as well as a nine-day stay in Colorado. Alex's family estimates the trips cost $6,000 in airfare, hotel rooms and rental cars.
"It was $3,000 for the Colorado trip alone," Heather said.
It's a total familiar to many other families. The price tag to play on an elite travel team often is at least $10,000 to $12,000 annually.
"Those are probably conservative numbers, too," said Dan Romanello, whose daughter Danielle played high school softball at Canterbury, travel softball with the Gold Coast Hurricanes in Plantation and is starting her freshman season at Florida.
Families are willing to pay because the competition is better.
So is the exposure.
College coaches, most of whom have limited recruiting budgets, attend showcase events to watch hundreds of teams — and thousands of prospects — in one setting. Alex, an Alabama State commit, got her offer after playing in a Naples event last year.
Still, some experts wonder if it is money well spent.
"The sport has been taken over by travel softball and many parents are panning for gold," said Tom Farrey, executive director of the Aspen Sports Institute, a think tank that deals with societal problems in sports. "There are a lot of benefits besides a college scholarship on the travel circuit. There is a sense of achievement for the child, time spent with parents on the road and the development of skills and friends.
"But, boy, there is an awful lot of delusionment with the return on investment that is buoying the sport, especially on the travel side of softball."
Destinations for college coaches
The ultimate pursuit — for many players and parents — is a college scholarship, a rare commodity. Fully-funded Division I-A softball programs offer 12 scholarships. Teams carry about 20-25 players. Scholarships are scarcer in lower divisions.
"You can easily do the math and figure out there are hardly any full rides," USF coach Ken Eriksen said. "I would say if a player has a half-scholarship that's a very good deal."
The average softball scholarship at the I-A level is $15,296 per year, according to an analysis by FloSoftball.
Alex has her yearly $19,396 out-of-state tuition covered, typical of most partial scholarships. But she still has to pay for room-and-board and books.
The amount out of pocket: $7,022 a year, according to Alabama State's website.
A good chunk of that cost can be offset through academic aid.
Because there are so few scholarships, competition is fierce. Players send videos and emails in hopes of enhancing interest. But to really build an athletic resume, prospects join travel teams.
And there is no shortage of showcases.
Click link above to read the rest. Had to shorten to 10,000 characters.
Softball scholarships a pricey pursuit for elite travel teams
Bob PutnamBob Putnam, Times Staff Writer
Friday, August 11, 2017 11:17am
ATLANTA — Alex Hare can make acrobatic moves to corral grounders from every direction. She can slap a softball into the gap or smack one over the fence. She displays speed, power and range, all the tools necessary to make it as a shortstop at the college level.
The Mitchell High junior hones her skills through countless hours of lessons on every aspect of the game, from pitching to hitting to fielding to agility. She shows them off at showcases, tournaments and camps.
The price tag for that much softball consumption is steep.
Her parents, hoping to write off some expenses on their taxes, calculated everything they spent on the sport from 2014-15.
The cost: $14,000 a year.
"It's a lot of money," said Hare's mother, Heather. "We tried to find a tax loophole, maybe something for educational purposes, but there was no chance."
Travel expenses make the biggest dent.
In the offseason, Alex plays for the Florida Firecrackers, a 16-under club team based in Tampa Bay that goes on a summer-long trek of tournaments across the country.
The Firecrackers spent weekends in Alabama and Georgia (twice) as well as a nine-day stay in Colorado. Alex's family estimates the trips cost $6,000 in airfare, hotel rooms and rental cars.
"It was $3,000 for the Colorado trip alone," Heather said.
It's a total familiar to many other families. The price tag to play on an elite travel team often is at least $10,000 to $12,000 annually.
"Those are probably conservative numbers, too," said Dan Romanello, whose daughter Danielle played high school softball at Canterbury, travel softball with the Gold Coast Hurricanes in Plantation and is starting her freshman season at Florida.
Families are willing to pay because the competition is better.
So is the exposure.
College coaches, most of whom have limited recruiting budgets, attend showcase events to watch hundreds of teams — and thousands of prospects — in one setting. Alex, an Alabama State commit, got her offer after playing in a Naples event last year.
Still, some experts wonder if it is money well spent.
"The sport has been taken over by travel softball and many parents are panning for gold," said Tom Farrey, executive director of the Aspen Sports Institute, a think tank that deals with societal problems in sports. "There are a lot of benefits besides a college scholarship on the travel circuit. There is a sense of achievement for the child, time spent with parents on the road and the development of skills and friends.
"But, boy, there is an awful lot of delusionment with the return on investment that is buoying the sport, especially on the travel side of softball."
Destinations for college coaches
The ultimate pursuit — for many players and parents — is a college scholarship, a rare commodity. Fully-funded Division I-A softball programs offer 12 scholarships. Teams carry about 20-25 players. Scholarships are scarcer in lower divisions.
"You can easily do the math and figure out there are hardly any full rides," USF coach Ken Eriksen said. "I would say if a player has a half-scholarship that's a very good deal."
The average softball scholarship at the I-A level is $15,296 per year, according to an analysis by FloSoftball.
Alex has her yearly $19,396 out-of-state tuition covered, typical of most partial scholarships. But she still has to pay for room-and-board and books.
The amount out of pocket: $7,022 a year, according to Alabama State's website.
A good chunk of that cost can be offset through academic aid.
Because there are so few scholarships, competition is fierce. Players send videos and emails in hopes of enhancing interest. But to really build an athletic resume, prospects join travel teams.
And there is no shortage of showcases.
Click link above to read the rest. Had to shorten to 10,000 characters.
