First Travel Ball Tryout

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#10

Jun 24, 2011
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Maybe. Maybe not. AC's DD on my DD current 14U team is also a catcher. My DD earned the #1 C job over the AC's DD by being an undeniably better player in that position. That said, there are certainly plenty of examples that confirm your point. My advice...Proceed with caution, but don't make it an automatic deal-breaker.

All that said, it sounds like this is the only TB option available in the OP's area. It's either this or back to rec.

EDIT: At 10U - and even 12U - if players aren't playing multiple positions, the coaches are doing it wrong. This is the time to build all-around ballplayers with a complete set of fundamental skills.

Do you coach on the team as well? If not, you have found a rare coaching staff, and I congratulate you for having your DD in a very good place! I agree with your sentiment in theory, as well as what you added in your edit, but I can cite a half dozen examples from our travel ball journey with "name brand" SoCal squads that validate my cynicism.

On the flip side, maybe all the adversity helped build character. Within three months of joining a non daddyball/buddyball team, DD verballed with a pretty good D1 mid-major.
 
Last edited:
May 24, 2013
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So Cal
Do you coach on the team as well? If not, you have found a rare coaching staff, and I congratulate you for having your DD in a very good place! I agree with your sentiment in theory, as well as what you added in your edit, but I can cite a half dozen examples from our travel ball journey with "name brand" SoCal squads that validate my cynicism.

On the flip side, maybe all the adversity helped build character. Within three months of joining a non daddyball/buddyball team, DD verballed with a pretty good D1 mid-major.

I am not a coach on my DD's current team. I have seen examples on both sides. Unfortunately, more on the daddy-ball side, as you have.

We are very happy with the coaches of my DD's team. IMO, they do an excellent job managing playing time for the whole team. They also do a good job with balancing keeping everyone competing for their spot, and giving players the game reps they need to develop and display their skills.
 
Apr 30, 2018
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Well, so much for tryouts today. DD was showing off with a friend at school today seeing who could jump to the 4th rung of the monkey bars. DD made a jump for the 4th bar and caught it briefly before her hands slipped off sending her flipping around and landing directly on her right shoulder. Doesn't seem to be limiting her range of motion, but it is tender. Team is having open practices thru January so we will try again next week assuming her shoulder is better. I'm hoping it is just a bit bruised, but she says the pain is deep inside the shoulder which is what has me concerned.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
Jun 12, 2015
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In 2nd year 10U, our first player to hit a ball over the fence was the tiniest little thing on our team. There is a bias though, true enough.

As a coach's wife I would say look at individual coaches before you write them off just for having a daughter on the team. There are positives and negatives to it, and to the coach NOT having a daughter on the team. We've had both. Not all parent coaches are daddy/mommy ball coaches. DD's going into her 5th year of travel so we've had all kinds of coaches, and the blatant daddy ball coaches have been in the minority and have mostly been assistant coaches, not head coaches. My DD has to earn her position twice as hard as other girls, is more likely to get passed over for praise, etc., just so DH can avoid even the appearance of daddy ball. You have to be careful with blanket judgments because you can miss out on some really great teams. One our worst seasons was with a coach with no daughter on the team (they can be great too - just pointing out they can also present problems).
 
Dec 5, 2017
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Haha, what #10 said, then go back and read post #10:p. Of course me and #10 say this in jest.........right #10?? I'm not even going to speak for my DD, I couldn't imagine MY life without TB!! I have met so many great people and made friends with some of the coolest people that I know will be lifelong friends, had some of the best weekends with some of these people, but most of all I got to spend so much quality time with my daughter!

TB can be ugly, it's definitely expensive, and man.......so time consuming, it seemed for the longest time for us there was never any middle ground, just extreme highs and even worse lows. Getting into a solid organization with solid, connected coaches is THE key to success! Trust your gut, if your gut says heck no, run away! Having said this, I'd do it all over again, just with many less mistakes!

OP, good luck with your decision, if it works out hang on, it's a crazy ride you'll never forget!

It also sucks for the other kids in your family if they aren't into sports. This past summer I felt like I never did anything with my 12yo son and felt terrible about it. We talked about it and I promised him we would go fishing more this year and get the kayaks out more as well. It's a difficult balancing act to say the least, especially if you are involved in the coaching side of it.
 
Feb 26, 2018
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It's certainly a juggling act for us with our DS playing travel lacrosse in the spring/summer and the height of softball season for my DD at the same time. Luckily when it's football season in the fall, not much softball gets in the way besides a few random tournaments.
 
Jun 12, 2015
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It also sucks for the other kids in your family if they aren't into sports. This past summer I felt like I never did anything with my 12yo son and felt terrible about it. We talked about it and I promised him we would go fishing more this year and get the kayaks out more as well. It's a difficult balancing act to say the least, especially if you are involved in the coaching side of it.

We're lucky in that our 14 year old daughter really enjoys the tournaments. She's made it her "thing" to help out with all the younger siblings. She has a cult following of under-10 kids from the past couple of years. Kids whose siblings played with my other daughter 2 years ago will seek her out at tournaments. She is constantly running kids to the playground, keeping an eye on them, etc. Just over the past 6 months or so she's also started getting into the games. But she does seem to be an exception. Very few of the older siblings seem to want to come to tournaments. Though it does seem that the younger ones often find ways to enjoy themselves.
 

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