Bad experience in travel ball.

DD was on a 16u travel team this summer that at 1st seemed like a great fit for us. It is a 16u A level showcase team that played a lot of local showcases with a few out of town trips. She was 1 of 2 pitchers when tournament play started and shared circle time pretty evenly. DD ended up having surgery to remove her gallbladder which had her out for 3 weeks. When she came back from surgery the 3rd pitcher was back from a broken ankle and all of a sudden DD was not getting any circle time. We played a showcase where she got a minimal amount of playing time and was even put in right field which is not a natural position for her. I'm not the kind of parent that complains about my DD's playing time and I told her to talk to the coach if she was upset. She did and the next tournament she sat in the dugout the whole game without even playing her secondary position. We have decided we will not be returning to this team but the problem I am having now is that she doesn't want to play at all this fall. I am sure it is because of this experience she had with this team. Her confidence seems to have taken a hit. This was a team playing at a high level and when she played she was comparable to the other girls. She is going to be a sophomore and I feel that this next year is important for recruiting because she has always expressed a desire to play in college. Should I let her take the fall off and focus on school ball and finding a new team in the spring or encourage her to find a new team this fall that will be a better fit for her. At a crossroads and not knowing what to do. Any advice appreciated.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We have decided we will not be returning to this team but the problem I am having now is that she doesn't want to play at all this fall. I am sure it is because of this experience she had with this team.

Click to expand...

I'm not so sure.

She has been around softball enough to know what is going on. She knows if she doesn't play in the fall, she isn't going to play college ball. So, she may be saying, "I don't want to play in college."

Your DD has reached the age where she knows how good she is compared to the other kids. She knows the amount of work required to be "good". She knows how much sacrifice is required to be "good".

She also knows a very difficult truth which perhaps you don't: A kid can have the talent, do all the work and make all the sacrifices and still not be successful in college. Sometimes the kid gets hurt. Sometimes the coach finds a better player. Sometimes relatives die. Sometimes the kid find a SO.

She has played softball for a long time. So, it is completely *LOGICAL* for her to say, "I'm not going to spend the next 3 years of HS and 4 years of college playing softball this way. Life is too short."

I had two DDs who playing sports in college. So, read this carefully: When it comes to women's sports, only kids completely in love with the sport should bother playing in college. There is a tremendous amount of work and little reward,

She may have decided that she doesn't love the sport.

I think you have to sit her down and say, "If you don't play in the fall, you aren't playing in college. Is that OK with you?"

Good advice, she has always been the one to push herself and want to play at a higher level. I also told her it is ok to not play in college and just enjoy what high school has to offer. I also explained to her that there are many teams out there that would be a better fit for her. I guess just some major decisions to make.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Maybe she just needs a break. If she is a good player (especially a pitcher) she can take the fall off and be fine. Teams will be looking for good pitchers in the summer. My DD2 had to take the fall off during her sophomore year of HS due to a stress fracture. She came back for school ball and then travel ball refreshed and better than ever.

Sent from my LG-H820 using Tapatalk

sluggers said:

I'm not so sure.

She has been around softball enough to know what is going on. She knows if she doesn't play in the fall, she isn't going to play college ball. So, she may be saying, "I don't want to play in college."

Your DD has reached the age where she knows how good she is compared to the other kids. She knows the amount of work required to be "good". She knows how much sacrifice is required to be "good".

She also knows a very difficult truth which perhaps you don't: A kid can have the talent, do all the work and make all the sacrifices and still not be successful in college. Sometimes the kid gets hurt. Sometimes the coach finds a better player. Sometimes relatives die. Sometimes the kid find a SO.

She has played softball for a long time. So, it is completely *LOGICAL* for her to say, "I'm not going to spend the next 3 years of HS and 4 years of college playing softball this way. Life is too short."

I had two DDs who playing sports in college. So, read this carefully: When it comes to women's sports, only kids completely in love with the sport should bother playing in college. There is a tremendous amount of work and little reward,

She may have decided that she doesn't love the sport.

I think you have to sit her down and say, "If you don't play in the fall, you aren't playing in college. Is that OK with you?"

Click to expand...

Good advice from Sluggers as usual, but I disagree that taking the fall off means that she won't be able to play in college. Ok, maybe D1 or D2 scholarship prospects would be diminished by not playing this fall, but if she finds she misses it badly and comes back at with renewed passion, her college softball prospects will be determined by her work ethic and physical skills IMO.

She has always been a hard worker and said if she takes the fall off she wants to focus on lessons and working on improving on some mechanics so she won't be completely taking off.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

sluggers said:

When it comes to women's sports, only kids completely in love with the sport should bother playing in college. There is a tremendous amount of work and little reward,

Click to expand...

Not just women's sports. Men's sports as well. My DS is completely obsessed about his sport (rowing at a D-III school) and for him college sports has been a godsend. I've known other people who wound up quitting their college sports because the time commitment wasn't worth it any more.

There are plenty of multi-sport athletes who play other sports and still get recruited. I know one player in particular who did not play fall ball because she played tennis. She refused to pick up a softball or a bat during tennis season. She got a D1 softball scholarship to a top-ranked school. She is also a pitcher by the way... Granted, she is a phenomenal athlete, but an athlete does not need to play year around to be successful and get recruited. Regardless of what your TB coach tells you it is just not true. I have seen plenty of girls take the fall off during a "critical" recruiting year and it had absolutely no impact on their recruiting. Oh my gosh you might miss the Fall Spectacular Ultra Platinum Gold Diamond Showcase with 300 college coaches attending. That could have been the one where she hit three homeruns in one game and got noticed by all the big schools. The problem might be getting on a good team if you are not going to play year around (because they will demand that softball is her priority) but as others have said, a good pitcher will be in high demand in the spring.

..........

Never happy with not playing at all, DD would not be back.

16 YO DD has been working on OF since 8U on our own, she likes trips out there now that the players hit them out there.

Last game routine fly ball to her in RF, pitcher yelled "please Sally!"

I think it is OK to stop playing for a team and reset a little bit, especially pitching.

I do not know if I would want to take 6 months off, but a few months seems OK to me.

If she can pitch, Teams will want her.