Is H.S. ball worth the time?

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

obbay

Banned
Aug 21, 2008
2,199
0
Boston, MA
Marriard and Slugger- thank you for the blast of fresh air, You have removed the last of my pre-college delusions!:Db

Vic- it looks like the answer to the big question is “it all depends”. Like you, i live in an area where softball takes a back seat to EVERY other sport. The HS team typically underperforms, the coach means well but he is one of those guys you either love or hate. Few TB players and even fewer, if any graduating seniors go on to attempt college softball.this year DD was not on the team but intends to go for a walk-on position at her school (not a strong D2 that has no softball money and has a history of not recruiting) only one other player is looking to play ball in college. Good athlete, good catcher, poor hitter. Going to a fairly strong D2 program where she too will have to try out in the fall .

The ride has definitely been a rollercoaster with the last two years being particularly challenging due to health issues. At the end of the day, i just want DD to be in a happy place and have a happy life. I think her plans will bring her to the happy place, but she has tied softball in with those plans. So we’ll see.
 
Jan 31, 2015
249
43
Thanks for sharing and best wishes for your DD!

Marriard and Slugger- thank you for the blast of fresh air, You have removed the last of my pre-college delusions!:Db

Vic- it looks like the answer to the big question is “it all depends”. Like you, i live in an area where softball takes a back seat to EVERY other sport. The HS team typically underperforms, the coach means well but he is one of those guys you either love or hate. Few TB players and even fewer, if any graduating seniors go on to attempt college softball.this year DD was not on the team but intends to go for a walk-on position at her school (not a strong D2 that has no softball money and has a history of not recruiting) only one other player is looking to play ball in college. Good athlete, good catcher, poor hitter. Going to a fairly strong D2 program where she too will have to try out in the fall .

The ride has definitely been a rollercoaster with the last two years being particularly challenging due to health issues. At the end of the day, i just want DD to be in a happy place and have a happy life. I think her plans will bring her to the happy place, but she has tied softball in with those plans. So we’ll see.
 
Jun 11, 2012
741
63
Vic- it looks like the answer to the big question is “it all depends”. Like you, i live in an area where softball takes a back seat to EVERY other sport. The HS team typically underperforms, the coach means well but he is one of those guys you either love or hate. Few TB players and even fewer, if any graduating seniors go on to attempt college softball.this year DD was not on the team but intends to go for a walk-on position at her school (not a strong D2 that has no softball money and has a history of not recruiting) only one other player is looking to play ball in college. Good athlete, good catcher, poor hitter. Going to a fairly strong D2 program where she too will have to try out in the fall .

.

It’s funny how different softball can be just an hour away from you. There is so much more competitive softball in the South Division than up by you. Our small town team has 10 club players on it and 4 of our 5 graduating seniors are playing in college.
Good luck to your daughter, I hope she’s able to walk on, I know this has been a tough year for her
 
Nov 18, 2013
2,255
113
With the state playoffs going on right now, I wondered about something. I feel like the pressure to win and the anxiety associated with the pressure of HS playoff games to be much greater than any travel game DD has ever played in. With that thought in mind, do college coaches put any stock into how a player performs in these situations? If you're an underclassman and you perform in one of these situations and that gets you some media attention, is there any chance college coaches are paying enough attention for this to matter? For example, I saw an uncommitted freshman pitcher throw a no-hitter last night in what would be equal to a Sweet Sixteen game. She's received some well deserved attention for it. Are the colleges that are interested in her paying attention?

As a HS freshman DD’s #8 seed HS team upset the #1 seed 2-1 on a 1-hitter. They had a player committed to the U of M and shortly after is when they began recruiting DD. She had an unofficial visit later that year with the head coach, the pitching coach and the player from the HS team she beat that spring. So I’d say yes, colleges definitely pay attention to HS games of players they’re interested in and others.
 

WARRIORMIKE

Pro-Staff Everything
Oct 5, 2009
2,815
48
At the Jewel in San Diego
As I slowly mature in this world we call "life" I am finding out a few things that suck. Getting old sucks. Not doing the things I wish I should of done back in the days. Sucks. Point is, let your dd grow up some and have HER make the decision of playing HS or not. We don't live in a perfect world. Not everything is sunshine and rainbows. D1's like that you are playing HS and representing your team. Don't let your dd have any regrets
 

obbay

Banned
Aug 21, 2008
2,199
0
Boston, MA
. It’s funny how different softball can be just an hour away from you.

No kidding!
Maybe its the town ? Other towns in our league have better fields. Softball is the ONLY team sport that has no HS field. All Others, including winter sports (except for hockey) have relatively new, well maintained facilities.
 
Aug 24, 2011
161
0
So to your specific questions:
College coaches at all levels don't care about high school achievements UNLESS they are at the highest level in the state. i.e. several prospective coaches watched my DD play in our district and state finals this season because it was streamed and they could. My DD's team is not without drama - but the team is full of very, very talented travel players. I am sorry your HS softball sucks.

However you got a lot of advice and answers to questions you SHOULD be asking - which you are just willfully ignoring from people who have been there multiple times with their DD's, their teams and lots of players. We see red flags because we see this all the time - your obsession with D1 is disturbing, your thought that D1 or even a scholarship is the end-goal is not a good way of thinking about it, your reliance on a coach to get your through a plan, your comments on how it has been presented to you... I know it is very familiar to me and I suspect it is for others as well. And your dismissal of others achievements at great and even not great high school programs is unfair and insulting to those who have had the fortune and opportunity to achieve.

A lot of college sports is sold on "*school pride*, fluffy accolades, camaraderie, etc" and it is in many ways closer to a high school team environment than travel. As a player you have to be prepared for that or you will get chewed up and spat out. The college coach may not care about your DD's high school experience, but there are still things your DD could possibly learn even in a poor environment. It isn't just skills and talent that makes a player in college but also the personality and ability to handle situations you cannot avoid.

There is good advice in this thread and others like it. I hope you take it and opens your mind a little about what the real goal of playing sports is. I hope your DD is awesome and reaches all her goals. It is worth stepping back and assessing objectively some of the red flags people have raised and keeping your eyes open as your DD's journey moves along.

This times 1,000!!
 

Cannonball

Ex "Expert"
Feb 25, 2009
4,855
113
Just as an FYI, I attended a sectional championship game this week where I counted 5 college coaches that I know in attendance. Two were NAIA. One was D-II and two were D-I. They all sat together beyond the center field fence. For me, that seemed odd since I've mostly seen college coaches sit behind the plate. I was out there with my dd's puppy so I was able to talk to a couple of them. All were local team/coaches.
 
Nov 3, 2012
480
16
No kidding!
Maybe its the town ? Other towns in our league have better fields. Softball is the ONLY team sport that has no HS field. All Others, including winter sports (except for hockey) have relatively new, well maintained facilities.

Ive heard of title IX violations/lawsuits due to situation where girls intentionally get treated unequally. Maybe somebody should put buzz into the ADs ear.
 
Nov 18, 2013
2,255
113
Ive heard of title IX violations/lawsuits due to situation where girls intentionally get treated unequally. Maybe somebody should put buzz into the ADs ear.

The OCR will look at the HS athletics programs as a whole and not just softball vs baseball. In complaint I filed the gymnastics team has a state of the art facility so they overlooked many of the inequities in softball vs baseball. I found it more of an excuse than anything, but that was their logic.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
42,831
Messages
679,490
Members
21,445
Latest member
Bmac81802
Top