Has travel ball hurt your local rec programs?

[tbennett]

Rec fastpitch has nearly disappeared in my area. From what i see everyone has a TB player now even if they cant make a team. DD didnt make a team so i will start my own is the mind set. No established TB player will jump ship to go play for the no organization lonely team so coach recruits from the rec leagues. I have personally witnessed 4 startup teams in two season because someones kid didnt make our team. What we ended up with is 12+ "TB" teams within a 50 mile radius. We had 12U girls trying out who couldn't throw, catch, hit even run. Learn in the rec leagues if you have a stand out player dominating the league then take them to a TB tryout. If you have a player who loves the game but doesnt care to go play TB and isnt TB material keep them in rec. Shoot i talked to a kid at a tryout once who didnt even want to play softball but mom was making her tryout because mom played college ball. This is definitely a rant because TB should be for serious ball players who are putting in the work no matter the age.

Rec is dying because anyone can start a TB team at any time. The authorities (USSSA,ASA,Etc) will never say no to the $, so why not right?? Plenty of players just too many dang TB Teams.

 

[Drakemir]

Around here it started about 4-5 years ago. The end of the rec ball season always ended at the Cinderella world series locally. Well, 4-5 years ago they decided that to make it fair that you were allowed no more than 2 travel players on your all star team. The area I was from had travel teams but it was rather limited, but we still had 3-4 players on the teams that we sent. Unfortunately they decided this AFTER Round Robin play on saturday - to enforce elimination play on Sunday. After that a large group of parents at the 04 level pulled out to form travel teams which created a ripple effect with girls leaving earlier and earlier. Even though our local league was solid with development - with the limited 2-3 months you play you just dont get the same gains as playing a travel schedule. If you want to your DD to play at a higher level you have to make that jump as soon as she is "ready" otherwise they fall so far behind. My DD is just starting school ball and the difference between the girls trying out who only have been playing rec through out the years and the TP players is like light and day.

I am still on our Rec League Board of Directors and to combat this we have had to start scheduling games with other local leagues, and have combined the 14u and 16u age groups into one group of girls for rec play. We have also allowed limited travel teams which allow "tournament teams" that can play a larger all star schedule trying to keep girls in the league. There is almost zero pitching above the 12u level. Also looking at it there is a huge concern with asking for too much to play the league - and a upswing on things like travel volleyball (which is just silly when the girls cant even jump high enough to reach the top of the nets imho) So for every girl that signs up we actually lose money instead of breaking even.

 

[Elk Grove Hurricane]

Rec fastpitch has nearly disappeared in my area. From what i see everyone has a TB player now even if they cant make a team. DD didnt make a team so i will start my own is the mind set. No established TB player will jump ship to go play for the no organization lonely team so coach recruits from the rec leagues. I have personally witnessed 4 startup teams in two season because someones kid didnt make our team. What we ended up with is 12+ "TB" teams within a 50 mile radius. We had 12U girls trying out who couldn't throw, catch, hit even run. Learn in the rec leagues if you have a stand out player dominating the league then take them to a TB tryout. If you have a player who loves the game but doesnt care to go play TB and isnt TB material keep them in rec. Shoot i talked to a kid at a tryout once who didnt even want to play softball but mom was making her tryout because mom played college ball. This is definitely a rant because TB should be for serious ball players who are putting in the work no matter the age.

Rec is dying because anyone can start a TB team at any time. The authorities (USSSA,ASA,Etc) will never say no to the $, so why not right?? Plenty of players just too many dang TB Teams.

I agree with the spirit of your post, but not necessarily the particulars. What we see here are organizations starting new teams around here. Bustos just started one, the Batbusters have multiple teams, the Firecrackers have a few, Ohana has one, Dirtdogs seem to be losing steam but Nuggets and Wolfpack are moving in. This is in addition to the organizations that are local originals (for lack of a better term). I have seen quite a few organizations start over the past years as well, but rarely do you see a stand-alone team. Thus, i think it's more an organizational desire to make more money than a USA, USSSA, PGF issue. The organizations are the ones you see going to rec All Star tryouts and recruiting players spots on their teams, etc.

 

[Bob516]

Rec ball seems to be doing fine in my area, as long as a girl is not looking to push herself to seriously improve. While DD1 was playing TB, her twin was playing rec ball and it was more of a fun thing to do with friends, than any serious chance for competition. Shortly after DD2 got the pitching bug, and started taking lessons twice a week, she became a dominant pitcher in the local rec ball. After a month she realized rec ball was going to be boring, it lacked much of a challenge for her once she took her pitching seriously.

Still plenty of rec ball around here, but it loses its appeal very quickly when a girl is really looking for a challenge.

 

[BuckeyeBW]

Here in SE Michigan rec is still going but it is awful. My DD is in 11u and we made the jump when she was 8 to a 9u team that played 10u. We played little league and I had no idea they even had travel ball at 10u. My daughter was so bored with little league she wanted to quit. Some friends of mine had daughters that were in travel and told me to give her a shot at it. I asked my daughter if she wanted to try it and she was on board. Anyway, there are so many teams in our area it is really watered down. I would say there are 2-B organizations, 4-C organizations, and 5-D organizations. We have our organization and 2 others that I would classify as A organizations and there is a huge gap between us and the B organizations. After that there are local rec programs that mostly have around 2 teams per city and they play each other in and a tournament at the end of the year. I work at a high school and have gone to watch some students play rec ball and it was awful, it was more like slow pitch.

 

[JAD]

Maybe it is just me, but I would not recommend spending the time or money on TB until 10U or even 12U. Encourage your DD to try as many sports as she can while she is young and stick with the ones she enjoys. There is a lot of time to be "dedicated" to one sport full time when she is 16U and 18U.

 

[Agbracing]

I think a lot depends on how the rec league is ran. Many people leave our local league due to policy’s and politics. When you cherry pick the best players for one or two teams and the rest of teams are full of beginners and bad players then no one learns anything. Then play three times a week and no time to practice is not a recipe for success. Rec should be balanced so teams are close skill level to each other. Every kid pitch team should have one decent pitcher and catcher. Then first baseman and so on down the list. Keep it competitive and more kids would stay in rec.

 

[Cyder517]

Softball in itself in my part of the northeast, is a dying sport. Soccer, field hockey and lacrosse are drawing bigger crowds. VB is becoming popular. Many town travel teams require their girls to participate in rec as well, just so they can field a team. Sitting through my dd’s last season of rec was downright painful! Rec is such a short season, I don’t know how girls are supposed to develop or get any better.


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[Il softball fan]

Bringing this thread back up to the top to add my two cents. Illinois metro east side of St Louis here. We are in a downward trend in our area right now. 4-5 years ago, when dd was playing 14U the organization she played in had 4 teams at just the 14u age, two at 12u, two at 16U. I believe that org is now down to one at each age. Our local high school had enough for a varsity, and JV team, with girls still on the bench. Fast forward to this year.....DD is a senior in HS. We have 5 HS seniors that will be starting players. 10 girls TOTAL showed up to play for the high school. Obviously not enough for a JV team at all. I believe they have picked up two more girls, for a total of 12 now. Next year they are looking at not even having softball as a high school sport with five graduating. So sad. There has never been an issue with fielding a softball team in this area. I hear that our neighboring high school is also on the same boat, and the two schools may have to look at combining teams to even have one.

So, not sure the solution at all. The local rec leagues are basically non existent after 12u ages. How do we get kids to stay interested in softball?? Two of last years high school players went to the soccer team, and two decided to run track.

ETA: talked to an AC yesterday and they have talked to girls in both junior high schools that feed into our high school. They only came up with ONE 8th grader that had planned on playing at the high school level next year.

 

[Phathead]

Our area rec is pushing the point of collapse.
IMO's
1. Travel parents get to pick what they perceive as better fit for their child skills in TB.
2. Apply #1 to coaching.
3. 1 and 2 equals choice. Rec is draft and locked in for season.