Travel Ball is Killing Rec Ball
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I think travel makes it very hard for girls who want to keep their commitment to other things in their lives to compete. Because the travel teams practice more, they often create a shortage of practice fields for the rec teams, so girls who exclusively play rec get behind other girls. Some high school coaches also coach travel ball, so they either have potential players on their team or they've met them along the way at tournaments and such, and girls who only play rec are not only behind in skills, they are behind in reputation. Because of that, there has been a blooming of travel teams. Because of that, there has also come an explosion of tournaments, which make money and are needed to give all these new, expensive travel teams places and times to play. Because of that, it's hard for rec teams to schedule umps, because those guys are already umping a whole weekend and may not think an evening or two during the week is worth it.
If you want to blame rec for this, you could say it was when P&Rs started sponsoring travel teams. They started to give a priority to the travel teams, because they were working harder and were more prestigious, and in the process siphoned off the best girls and coaches from rec teams. But that also spawned the travel organizations, who then siphoned from them. So in the end, you can say that the P&Rs are responsible, but i think it's a stretch.
- May 29, 2015
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Define “best”.
If you are talking about Xs and Os, mechanical player development, can create a pitcher ... no, and those coaches probably shouldn’t be in rec ball.
If you are talking about instilling a love of the game, providing kids with emotional and life skill support, can teach the basics of the game that encourage appropriately skilled kids to continue to advance ... rec ball NEEDS those people.
Just like players, there are appropriate levels for coaches. The problems occur when the coach is mismatched with the level, in either direction..
- May 29, 2015
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Water is wet. I do not understand your point. You should play more games in travel ball than rec.
- May 29, 2015
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I agree with everything you say, but I see one issue: do you know why your daughter had no legitimate pitching to face in rec? Because 20 other mediocre-leveled kids’ parents did the same thing. I am not saying you have any obligation to stay. I’m saying that you highlighted part of the problem, not the solution.
Very good point. Rec ball cannibalized itself and invaded travel ball. Hence the reason I say most travel ball is just expensive rec. It’s a Bloomingdales‘ tag on Walmart merchandise.
I forced my kid to play rec till 2nd year of 14s. During that time she would pitch 4 innings and strike eveyone out. Not that she was that great it was a talent mismatch.
Coach should have pitched her 1-2 innings at most but our #2 couldn't even throw strikes.
Then the email came from the director that my kid should not pitch at all due to skill.
Whatever that means.
So even when you try to play rec you have critical parents who now regret that their kids didnt see better pitching now that they can't make their HS teams.
Coach should have pitched her 1-2 innings at most but our #2 couldn't even throw strikes.
Then the email came from the director that my kid should not pitch at all due to skill.
Whatever that means.
So even when you try to play rec you have critical parents who now regret that their kids didnt see better pitching now that they can't make their HS teams.
- Jun 11, 2015
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95% of travel ball is rec ball.
I dunno. 15 girls at $3,000 per is $45,000 in revenue. Tourney fees might be $5,000. Uniforms $3,000. Field and facilities rentals? Does it leave that much profit? I assume the coaches have other revenue or coach multiple teams.
Held our rec clinic last night for rec girls. 82 girls signed up for the rec program. 10 showed up,
My older daughter (2nd year 10U) practiced with them. She's in her third year of travel ball. She's a decent player, but no where near the top of our current team, bottom third, probably. And it was so incredibly obvious that she had more skill than any of the girls there from the extra practices and games she's played in for the last few years. The fluidity of fielding a grounder, and the footwork going to first, catching fly balls with two hands, crow hoping (or behind stepping) to make the throw from the outfield, and firing her hips during batting. Like I said, she's not a GREAT player, just decent. But she'd dominate in a game with the girls she just practiced with. And she pitches, she's the third pitcher on her team. She'd be the #1 in the league if she played rec still.
Like @The Man In Blue said, my daughter is "part of the problem" or "one of the symptoms." If girls like her played rec instead of travel, it would raise the level of the ball for everyone. But I can't make her go to games where she's going to be the best by a long shot and not able to improve her skills at all.
My older daughter (2nd year 10U) practiced with them. She's in her third year of travel ball. She's a decent player, but no where near the top of our current team, bottom third, probably. And it was so incredibly obvious that she had more skill than any of the girls there from the extra practices and games she's played in for the last few years. The fluidity of fielding a grounder, and the footwork going to first, catching fly balls with two hands, crow hoping (or behind stepping) to make the throw from the outfield, and firing her hips during batting. Like I said, she's not a GREAT player, just decent. But she'd dominate in a game with the girls she just practiced with. And she pitches, she's the third pitcher on her team. She'd be the #1 in the league if she played rec still.
Like @The Man In Blue said, my daughter is "part of the problem" or "one of the symptoms." If girls like her played rec instead of travel, it would raise the level of the ball for everyone. But I can't make her go to games where she's going to be the best by a long shot and not able to improve her skills at all.
- May 29, 2015
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Sometimes it can be a fine line between target practice and developmental reps. What one person sees, somebody sees differently. I applaud your effort!
One thought I have had in recent years is that rec ball should adopt slow pitch rules to help combat this pitching disparity. No, I am not talking about beer-league slow pitch with pitches having to hit a rug/mat ... I am talking about something like NFHS slow pitch where a pitch has to have a perceptible arc, but the strike zone is still the traditional strike zone.
