Travel ball

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Jan 20, 2016
67
6
At what age or division is good to start looking into Travel ball for my daughter? I have gotten different feedback. Some people are saying don't rush it. Some say by no later than 2nd season of 10U. Would love to get your opinion. Thank you!


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May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
IMO, it totally depends on the kid - skill level, motivation to do the work that TB requires, etc. - and the family's ability/willingness to adapt to the change in lifestyle. For us, the time was right when DD was a second-year 10U. For others, the "right" time might be earlier or later.
 
Jun 29, 2013
589
18
Adding to what EricF said, also look at your local rec. program. The talent in ours declined a ton over the past few years, very few players with talent are still in it at 12u. and the pitching is weak. A few years ago, everyone locally would say 12U, but now 10U is the new 12U for the jump to travel.
 
Oct 3, 2011
3,478
113
Right Here For Now
Pure and simple....If your DD has to hold back the power of her throws to whatever base on defense because she's afraid the other players won't catch it, she's been warned about throwing too hard to the other girls by league officials and/or coaching staff or she's been hammering the ball from mediocre or sub-par pitching, it may be time to move to TB. The caveat is if she's a pitcher or a catcher. Then she may be better off playing both and getting the reps and game experience at both.

Relatively speaking though, most transition no later than first year 12U (11) and many before that.
 
May 16, 2016
1,024
113
Illinois
My daughter started part time travel ball during her 7u season playing on a 8u team. The 8u team played in 4 tournaments and played about 12 games vs other local towns that had 8u teams. She also played in the rec league which was about 12 games. Played 12 games in the fall also. For total of about 50 games.

This year she is an 8u player playing on a 10u TB team. I would not change anything we have done so far. Another year of rec ball would have been a complete waste of time for her. We do our fair share of practicing on our own time, which I believe is crucial for a good player. Every family is different. Good luck with your decision.
 
Jan 27, 2010
1,871
83
NJ
Go play Baseball and move her to TB at late 12 or early 14U. The most talented MI's and hitters I've seen came out of baseball. Oh and it's not baseball that makes the difference, it's the demands put on baseball players that aren't put on 8-10 year old girls.
 
Jun 12, 2015
3,848
83
Totally agree it depends on the kid. We did all stars in first year 8U, when DD played rec. She loved it. She was significantly ahead of most of the other rec players. We did one more season of rec in the fall of 2nd year 8U and she was so bored. We went to travel in the last spring of our 8U year. It was the right decision for her, 100%. I think if a girl is way ahead of the other rec players and understands the game and wants to be competitive, that's when you move them. For some that's 8U, or 10U, or even later than that. No right answer IMO.

My older DD played baseball. There's as much variety in the coaches and what they expect of the players as there is in softball.
 
Last edited:
Aug 10, 2016
686
63
Georgia
I keep asking DD if she wants to do travel and I think she is scared she's not good enough or won't like the coaches. She's been with the same 3 coaches in rec since T-ball and she's comfortable with it. Right now our rec league is still pretty competitive in 12U so she's not bored yet. I feel like her All-Star team could probably beat at least some B TB teams. I really want her to move up by 14U but it's up to her. We do see a bit of a drop off in 14U in our league.
She's been asked to pick-up a few times but she's always been busy when asked so she hasn't really gotten to experience it yet.

Speaking of playing baseball though for a SB player - we had a girl last season who had only played baseball and we had to keep stressing to her that she couldn't hold onto the ball as long before going to 1st with it. She did the typical baseball move with it but there's not enough time to do that in SB! Luckily her throws were normally pretty spot-on but it was close sometimes. Her hitting wasn't really better than any normal SB players either.
 
Jun 12, 2015
3,848
83
Softball is so much faster paced than baseball. That's a big part of why I like it so much better! I was very sad when my older one switched from softball to baseball.
 

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