NPF issues

CoachJD said:

Nearly every other sport I can think of has their youth sport season running concurrently with the pro sport season. Boys find a way to watch baseball games even if they're playing all the time. I don't think that's a real issue (I would argue that turning youth softball into a full-time summer job for kids is a problem for other reasons).

But you do touch on something I find interesting: Girls don't seem to want to watch, especially on television. I agree that the girls who play for me who really love the sport all have favorite baseball players, but they don't go out of their way to watch softball. Why is that? Is it just because baseball is more established?

Niche sports can be successful. Niche sports can grow. I strongly disagree with so many here who don't seem to think that's the case.

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I think it depends on the age, tbh. 2 years ago, my kid had the attention span of a fruit fly.

This past year? She would pull up the dvr and play the games that went on during the week and is actually paying attention to the different plays.

I think the most disheartening thing about the sport is it's not regularly on tv like baseball or basketball where if you flip the channel you stop and watch. It makes it much harder for girls to watch a game and have a favorite player in that way. I think we are lucky that we live in Texas and receive the Longhorn Network which shows ALL of the different games for each sport for the school, instead of just the ones they think are going to get the most attention from viewers.

Rick M said:

I wish this weren't true, but it is. Every February when ESPN starts to show NCAA softball games, I make a big deal and tell my daughter "there's softball on TV this afternoon when you get home from school!" I made her some diagrams to chart pitches and we talk about everyone's approach. She lasts three innings, tops.

As far as niche sports, someone mentioned professional cornhole being on ESPN. I've seen pro darts being advertised on BBC America in recent weeks. It's beyond frustrating when it seems there's an audience for just about anything but no pro softball. Maybe the Olympics will make a difference, but for all the success and popularity the women's soccer team had in the early 2000's it never translated into a successful pro soccer league for women either (WPS folded in 2012, NWSL has been around since 2013).

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DD loves watching college softball on TV and has for years. We watch game after game together. Honestly I love it too because it gives me some quality time to spend with her watching and talking about something we both love. But it is true that few of her high school friends could be bothered. A few girls from her travel team would watch with her, but that is about it. Coincidentally, the girls that watch college softball with her are the same ones that are currently playing college softball. As far as pro softball, we will watch those games when we have a chance, but we don't make it a point to watch. She watches college softball because she loves the University of Florida. Her two best friends follow Auburn and Alabama, so there is some SEC trash talking going on among the three of them. Plus she has visited UF and has met many of the current players (they were all very nice to her). So she has somewhat of a connection with them. They will watch pro softball if certain players are on, but there is no "team connection". That's the missing element at least for them. If there was a specific team they could follow and root for, they may become bigger fans. But there just isn't much for them to cheer for at this point.

Just a thought as Im not a TV guy, but I hear people saying, look...darts and cornhole are on Tv, why cant softball. I think these niche sports on TV isn't because there
are millions of viewers...its because its probably very easy to televise and cheap to do so as opposed to a team game with many players, announcers, camera angles, sound guys...yada yada.
A lot of the time, announcers are back at the station, not even at the event for these things.
Plus, I believe these things are space fillers for ESPN.

Again, just kinda guessing here at some stuff...because I am pretty certain cornhole isn't on ESPN because of popularity or money it brings in.

Rick M said:

I wish this weren't true, but it is. Every February when ESPN starts to show NCAA softball games, I make a big deal and tell my daughter "there's softball on TV this afternoon when you get home from school!" I made her some diagrams to chart pitches and we talk about everyone's approach. She lasts three innings, tops.

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And this is no disrespect or anything towards you...rather an observation and question. Could this be why some girls don't wanna watch?

Do they get enough softball lessons/teaching/work at home and school to where kids don't wanna involve themselves with the watching or attending games because its more like "work" than
just having fun and watching a game with dad or mom?

Again, just trying to figure some things out. I don't know if a lot of parents try to give lessons or teach softball while watching or not.

Yesterday I was at a individual college showcase that was attended by some of my players . As the coaches were measuring catcher pop times I noticed the young lady receiving the throws at second as an SEC standout at Florida and Mizzou and former NPF Rookie Of The Year. She also played pro ball in Japan which is the absolute pinnacle of elite fastpitch for U.S. players. Despite her obvious abilities and signature "bun" she was virtually unknown by the players and parents in attendance. Even when I asked a few if they knew who it was they did not recognize her, and when I mentioned her name they had no idea. The NPF can market all they want but the bottom line is that Womens Fastpitch s a tiny niche market that cannot sustain league operations. All most folks know about the game is what they see on ESPN with the WCWS. Beyond those two weeks there is very little outside interest in the sport.

I really don’t understand why it is assumed that because you love to play softball you also want to watch other people play softball. Neither of dd’s are interested in it. At all. One played against a bunch of top 25 teams the last two springs, the other has been to numerous camps and met a lot of current p5 players. Seems like watching some games would be interesting to them. It isn’t.

Before softball, I spent October, November and December waterfowl and archery deer hunting. The rest of my year was getting my equipment ready and scouting. I love the outdoors. The two guys I hunted with were equally obsessed. They watched hunting shows on Outdoor network constantly. They knew all the celebrities in the world of hunting. I can’t sit through a hunting show. I tried. I am just not interested in watching someone else do it.

We aren’t all the same. “Loving the game” isn’t achieved by dragging softball players to college softball games or to professional baseball games or making players watch college softball on tv and quizzing them later. (Something that happened to one of my dd’s)

Last spring our hs team was supposed to travel to Rosemont and play on the Chicago Bandits field. Players: could not have cared less. Parents: “geez I’m going to have to take time off work and drive over there”. Me: “Cool, I want to eat at Harrry Carays.” It got cancelled. I was the only one that was disappointed and it had nothing to do with the game.

Edited to add: Riseball, I was typing while you were posting so my post isn’t a response to yours. But it’s kind of what I was talking about. It doesn’t surprise me at all that the softball nerd dads all know who’s who but the players don’t.

We have some former professional baseball players on this site.

Question for them: did you know players who were not interested in watching baseball games?

Westwind said:

I really don’t understand why it is assumed that because you love to play softball you also want to watch other people play softball. Neither of dd’s are interested in it. At all. One played against a bunch of top 25 teams the last two springs, the other has been to numerous camps and met a lot of current p5 players. Seems like watching some games would be interesting to them. It isn’t.

Before softball, I spent October, November and December waterfowl and archery deer hunting. The rest of my year was getting my equipment ready and scouting. I love the outdoors. The two guys I hunted with were equally obsessed. They watched hunting shows on Outdoor network constantly. They knew all the celebrities in the world of hunting. I can’t sit through a hunting show. I tried. I am just not interested in watching someone else do it.

We aren’t all the same. “Loving the game” isn’t achieved by some meathead coach dragging softball players to college softball games or to professional baseball games or making players watch college softball on tv and quizzing them later.

Last spring our hs team was supposed to travel to Rosemont and play on the Chicago Bandits field. Players: could not have cared less. Parents: “geez I’m going to have to take time off work and drive over there”. Me: “Cool, I want to eat at Harrry Carays.” It got cancelled. I was the only one that was disappointed and it had nothing to do with the game.

Edited to add: Riseball, I was typing while you were posting so my post isn’t a response to yours. But it’s kind of what I was talking about. It doesn’t surprise me at all that the softball nerd dads all know who’s who but the players don’t.

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When DD was 14 we heard that there was an NPF game a little over an hour away from our house. I asked DD If she wanted to go. She said "sure". I brought it up at travel ball practice later that week and said if anyone else was interested, I'm sure we could work out transportation arrangements. One other player was interested. The rest were not. The four of us attended the game (two players, DW, and myself), and we had a great time. DD knew several of the players on the field by looking at them. I didn't although I recognized the names when she stated who they were. Overall I have mixed feelings about the topic. My entire family loves college softball. We will probably continue watching college softball long after DD's playing career is over. I would really like to enjoy watching pro softball just as much, but I'm just not interested in the same way.

The only televised sport I am interested in is softball and I can’t wait for the season to start.

Anyone who has raised a teenager knows how enjoyable it is to have a mutual interest with their kid!

I have no interest in NPF either. It seems “beer league”. It seems like has beens trying to live out glory days. I feel guilt about that emotion. I know no one loves the game more than those women.

CoreSoftball20 said:

And this is no disrespect or anything towards you...rather an observation and question. Could this be why some girls don't wanna watch?

Do they get enough softball lessons/teaching/work at home and school to where kids don't wanna involve themselves with the watching or attending games because its more like "work" than
just having fun and watching a game with dad or mom?

Again, just trying to figure some things out. I don't know if a lot of parents try to give lessons or teach softball while watching or not.

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No offense taken. I'm the polar opposite of a stern taskmaster, just trying to keep DD engaged enough to not spend more time looking at her phone than at the game! I'm just as happy to turn on the TV and share a bowl of chips, the only problem is that by inning four, I'm sitting in front of the TV eating chips by myself.

I did have our whole rec team over one afternoon a few years ago to watch a college game on TV before the rec season started. The idea was just to make sure everyone understood the rules. They made it about an hour before dispersing, but I felt like watching the game prompted them to ask some good questions. That was a first-year 10U team, and nine of the thirteen girls are still playing at 14U. So they love the sport, just don't care much for watching other people play it.