Any off-season ideas??
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Very few of us on here have the luxury of having a nationally ranked HS softball team. The majority of us on here who have kids that will or are playing at the collegiate level were seen and were offered monies due to travel ball, not HS ball. Sure, HS ball is community oriented, offering accolades in the local paper and/or state and even maybe national recognition....however almost everyone receiving news clips and state and national recognition are travel ball players and would never get those accolades if it were not for travel ball.
Thanks to travel ball, my dd has a decision to make concerning which college she will attend to play softball, offering athletic scholarship money. Thanks to travel ball, her college education will be quite affordable, and the "real" money we spent over the years in travel ball will be recovered 5 to 8 fold depending on her decision. Not a bad deal.......
I have to admit, I am a bit jealous after reading SCDad's post. I am sure DD would be very interested in that. Unfortunately, softball is not a priority in our school district. DD is in 8th at a school that doesn't even have a junior high program. If she want to play softball, travel ball is currently her only choice.
Many girls on our team play other sports. DD just finished up her basketball season. For those that have the time, we have offered to do weekly hitting and pitching days in my garage. Small setup but allows for tee drills, soft toss, and short distance pitching (25 feet). Some weeks we will have 3 or 4 players. Other weeks we will have 9 or 10. On a personal level, DDs basketball coach did P90x with the team prior to the season, and DD loved it. We are considering getting it for home use. (If anyone has a copy they wish to sell, let me know.
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Many girls on our team play other sports. DD just finished up her basketball season. For those that have the time, we have offered to do weekly hitting and pitching days in my garage. Small setup but allows for tee drills, soft toss, and short distance pitching (25 feet). Some weeks we will have 3 or 4 players. Other weeks we will have 9 or 10. On a personal level, DDs basketball coach did P90x with the team prior to the season, and DD loved it. We are considering getting it for home use. (If anyone has a copy they wish to sell, let me know.
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- Jul 26, 2010
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That works out great if you're in an area that has a ton of nationally ranked school programs. It sucks if you're the only national ranked program and have to wait for May to play any challenging games like the rest of the world.
-W
National HS rankings are a joke because there is no basis to compare teams from different areas of the country.
- Jun 22, 2008
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Don't worry, no one has a "nationally ranked" HS team of any type of sport.
Very true.
There are three publications who put out national rankings. Maxpreps, USA Today, and Student Sports.
They are not a joke. We go to TN to play great teams. We run the state. There is a science behind it. Our players go to D1 schools.
My DD has colleges offering because of what she does in high school. We don't play anymore in summer. Why? ... what is the use ... we focus all of our energy playing for the high school coach, and getting in the newspaper. Getting respect by travel players who know who we are, and have not seen us in a while. Getting respect from very powerful folks in our community. None of that happens in travel. Respect comes from giving people directly around you glory. Travel folks, who don't get it, are selfish.
Because she hits home runs against signed D1 pitchers (on the high school fields).
Yes we wait until May. The press is waiting. Glory is directly ahead. Unlike travel where nobody knows, well except for college recruiters. The high school game is tops.
Big org. travel folks know this. There is an ongoing battle between the big orgs. and high school softball. That is why the travel folks insist on cutting down high school, why I say? I know why. My goal here always is to promote the high school game. Take back the innocents, and youth, and purity of the game. And not say ... we can do for you ... if you as a parent just dig a little deeper in your back pocket. That is where this is heading folks.
In the end, high school softball will survive and prosper. In part because of folks like me, but mostly because that is what the communities in the USA want for the daughters.
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MaxPreps puts out 2 lists - Xcellent 25 (poll of MP writers) and their computer rankings (based on incomplete results entered into their system). USA Today/NFCA Top 25 is a poll of state reps. Student Sports FAB 50 "is an extension of a national rankings program that in previous seasons has been part of ESPN, Rivals.com and Fox Sports." There is obviously a human element in it too because they chose Red Mountain (AZ) to be #1 based on them winning their 4th consecutive state title.
There is no "science" behind national rankings done by polls of people that have only seen the teams in their area (i.e. Xcellent 25 and USA Today/NFCA). The computer rankings are based on incomplete data and make assumptions to compare teams from different areas with no common opponents. The "science" to compile national rankings is along the lines of alchemy, astrology and dowsing.
Let's look at the disparity between these polls for 2 schools - Boiling Springs (SC) and Santiago (Corona, CA).
MaxPreps Xcellent 25 - BS-15, S-19
MaxPreps Computer - BS-n/a, S-1
USA Today/NFCA 25 - BS-23, S-Other
Student Sports FAB 50 - BS-Other, S-2
The polls tend to favor teams with better overall records, which favors teams that don't face strong competition throughout their season. For example, USA Today/NFCA ranked a strong Division 2 team that failed to reach their Champ game, Mission Viejo (26-2), #7 and the Division 1 champion, Santiago (30-5), didn't receive enough votes to make the top 25.
Science? LMFAO
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