High School Softball- why do it?

[Sparky Guy]

I understand all the reasons for not playing HS ball, but the one that really bugs me is "don't like the coach."

It is a valid reason for not playing on a team. If it were travel ball the player has the choice of not playing for a coach they don't like. The same goes for college too. There are many players every year who change teams or stop playing for that reason. It happens in the real work world too. People leave jobs because they don't like the boss or the work environment. If it makes you miserable and you can get away from it, go for it!

 

[nobrainhamster]

Left out of every thread on subject.

High School ball is pretty much a non-factor with respect to recruiting. College Coaches view it as nothing more than rec-ball with an abundance of team spirit.

DI schools, I could not agree with you more. DII, NAIA, Juco, different story. We had 2 kids recruited (pitcher from my team and SS from other school) from a DII school - Quincy University. (4 hours away). Both were recruited and spoke to the assistant coach after the HS game. Both were Juniors at the time. Doesn't happen a lot, but it does.

This gets left out if most every thread in this subject.
My DD had zero desire to play on any team in TB except the one I started with another coach in our town. We took girls who wanted to play ball outside of the useless rec league in town.
Most if them weren't good enough to compete outside if C tournaments, but they wanted to compete.
We had 3 girls who were serious enough to be good enough to compete with anybody, but they wanted to play with and help their friends get better.
After a few years of playing together and adding gitks as sine dropped out, we became a very good B team that could play with alot who called themselves elite.
Still my daughter didn't want to move to another team just to get noticed and recruited. While all of this was happening, out girls formed the foundation of a better high school team than our town had seen in years.
We contacted college coaches and managed to get some to come watch the school play, and took advantage of coaches being at games to watch players from other teams.
That, along with videos allowed my DD to be offered from several schools even one low level D1. The ones that interested her were a DII and an NAIA that was planning to move up in a year.
It wouldn't have happened if she had not played school ball.
It's incorrect to say high school ball is irrelevant to recruiting in all cases.

You hit the nail on the head.

 

[Cannonball]

If a player doesn't see the importance of playing for their high school team, don't play. Simple enough. Perhaps in your community things like all conference, all region, all state are done in TB. Maybe TB is covered in the local newspapers. Perhaps your community identifies with TB teams. If not, maybe that is a reason to play. Per the coaching in no way can a HS coach know as much as a TB coach. For sure they can't get on the phone and call schools from upper D-I schools to lower NAIA schools and have those coaches know who they are. Impossible.

 

[canyonjoe]

This game is supposed to be fun. If you think it will be fun to play in High School play if not find something else to do.

 

[WHEREAMI]

So what you're saying is it's OK for a travel player to dumb her game down to the lowest level player on the team or endure what they know is poor coaching? I know it's a team sport and all of that. But there comes a point when a player needs to decide if what's best for the team isn't in their best interests with improving as a player. Too many times I've seen players weeks to recover from poor coaching in HS as they hit the travel season. With how compressed the summer season is for HS kids they can't afford the two weeks.

I said nothing about "dumbing her game down!" I had rather play with my five travel girls, than to have to show girls how to catch and throw, at this age. And the reason I think a girl should play, is for school pride. Nothing more. Unless a ring is something she has a hunger for.

 

[CoachJD]

It is a valid reason for not playing on a team. If it were travel ball the player has the choice of not playing for a coach they don't like. The same goes for college too. There are many players every year who change teams or stop playing for that reason. It happens in the real work world too. People leave jobs because they don't like the boss or the work environment. If it makes you miserable and you can get away from it, go for it!

Yeah, sometimes you can. But there are countless situations where you have to deal with someone above you who's not the easiest to deal with.

A person is incredibly lucky if, at the first sign they might not love their boss 100%, they can jump ship. I'd argue that 99.9999% of people are not so privileged, so learning to get along with those who don't immediately click with is a worthwhile skill to learn.

Even the part about the coach being bad isn't a great reason to quit. We've all had bosses who were pretty clearly dumber, less skilled, etc. than us.

All I'm saying is learning to deal with these situations is beneficial to a teenager because just about everybody is going to have to deal with these types of situations as an adult. There are plenty of great coach-related reasons to not want to play, but "The coach has us warm up with wrist flicks and clearly has no clue" or something is a pretty bad reason.

EDIT: I want to stress, again, that if a coach is making the experience miserable because he/she is abusive, by all means get away from that situation. My sister quit her HS team because of a situation where she and others got in trouble. The school had cameras that showed my sister not actually doing what she was accused of doing. The school itself did not punish her, but the coach chose to even though the coach admitted my sister had done nothing wrong. In that situation? Sure. Quit. But if you just don't like that the coach has you warm up with wrist flicks or something? I guess I just think there's a benefit to learning to deal with a situation that isn't great.

 

[#10]

One of the things I like about HS ball is the dynamic of playing with girls older/younger. As a freshman, DD had to prove herself to the upperclassmen as the varsity starter at catcher, which ultimately helped her gain respect and confidence. When she's a senior, I hope she takes the young ones under her wing to inspire and motivate them like the seniors did with her when she was a freshman.

 

[Sparky Guy]

I said nothing about "dumbing her game down!" I had rather play with my five travel girls, than to have to show girls how to catch and throw, at this age. And the reason I think a girl should play, is for school pride. Nothing more. Unless a ring is something she has a hunger for.

At some point they will have to dumb down their game. Do you think they'll throw a ball at 100% to Suzie if they know Suzie is one of the girls who may catch it with her glove or possibly her face. There will be times when they will hesitate because they don't know if Suzie will be in the right place for a throw or be ready for it. There will be times when the travel girls will have to stop or hesitate waiting for the inexperienced players to try and catch up. It may not be every play, but there will be times.

Again, as for "School Spirit" there are situations where it does not shine above what a player perceives as a bad situation. Can't use a blanket statement there.

BTW:
My DD had a great HS career her last 3 years. Won a state title. The team did something no other team in the history of the state did in any sport. Coach was invited to the 1st Olympic team tryouts when she was younger. Coach played in the same program my DD and 2 of her other teammates did when she was younger. Coach knew the game thoroughly. The team had all high-caliber TB players with one or two exceptions. The team was the equivalent of a strong travel team. I have a large stack of newspaper articles about her and her team.

Been coaching for 15 years without a DD on the team for multiple organizations who rank well locally one that is nationally recognized. I've talked to several of my players who were so disheartened over the thought of playing for the HS team it upset them because the situation was so bad. And these were kids you'd love to have play for you.

 

[flipper14]

I'm just wondering- why does a kid choose to play HS softball?
Is it because it's the highest level of competition you're going to find in that season (spring for us)?
Is it because it's fun and you get to play ball with your friends?

Is it because it's better for you to be playing ball on a team than not playing ball?

Is there satisfaction gained by representing your town/school on the field?

DD is probably done with HS softball, and I want to make sure She won't be shooting herself in the foot. I know that what she does in it's place will matter to college coaches, just want to make sure she's not biting off her nose to spite her face.

I've posted this story on several other threads but I'll never post it enough on high school-related threads, especially those critical of the high school experience.

I worked with a Big Ten program in an administrative role and started coaching at a private high school (about 650 kids) in a suburban area of a large city. We had 2-3 travel kids in the program, and that was B-level travel at best. The first team I coached had a very small roster (12) and no lower level programs. I tried to get girls to play all winter long but I couldn't sell water in the Sahara so we had five fewer girls on the first day of practice than we did at our first introductory meeting. By year two we had thirty-plus kids but the lower level team was an incredible struggle because we really only had two serviceable pitchers in the entire program.

My third year coaching we had an A-level travel player enter school as a freshman. She went on to play for one of the best known travel programs in the country the next year and now plays DI softball.

As a coach, I was thrilled. I never understand high school coaches who don't want their kids to play travel ball. Regardless, while being excited, I was also very anxious about it. At the point she entered the program we still had more than half of the roster who didn't play travel ball at all. She'd literally play with girls who are now playing at Michigan and Oregon, and then during the school season play with girls who at the very first practice of the year didn't know what hand the glove went on, let alone how to hit or throw.

This player could have really been a problem if she thought she was better than everyone else and didn't invest in her teammates. Instead, she did everything possible to lead. It was remarkable how much this one girl, even as a freshman, changed our program in one year and how little it had to do with her vast abilities.

The other girls learned how to practice, how to compete, how to dress, how to act. I had attempted to teach all of those things but until they could actually see it at practice every day it really didn't resonate. We still weren't very good but we did get better and on the days when the ball didn't find our non-travel players we could be very competitive.

This isn't to say that this young lady wouldn't get frustrated. She did get frustrated but it was never in a way that disparaged her teammates or herself. Instead, she encouraged, she taught, and she made everyone around her better, including me. She had been coached by coaches far better than I and I was able to bounce ideas off of her and she really became a coach on the field, while doing it in an understated manner.

For the person who said "my daughter is playing right field and is a travel pitcher so she can't get anything out of high school ball," that's disappointing to hear. Your daughter has the opportunity to bring her gifts and abilities to practice every day and make those around her better. I've seen first hand what a transformative impact that can be for an entire program.

 

[Bob516]

I've posted this story on several other threads but I'll never post it enough on high school-related threads, especially those critical of the high school experience.

I worked with a Big Ten program in an administrative role and started coaching at a private high school (about 650 kids) in a suburban area of a large city. We had 2-3 travel kids in the program, and that was B-level travel at best. The first team I coached had a very small roster (12) and no lower level programs. I tried to get girls to play all winter long but I couldn't sell water in the Sahara so we had five fewer girls on the first day of practice than we did at our first introductory meeting. By year two we had thirty-plus kids but the lower level team was an incredible struggle because we really only had two serviceable pitchers in the entire program.

My third year coaching we had an A-level travel player enter school as a freshman. She went on to play for one of the best known travel programs in the country the next year and now plays DI softball.

As a coach, I was thrilled. I never understand high school coaches who don't want their kids to play travel ball. Regardless, while being excited, I was also very anxious about it. At the point she entered the program we still had more than half of the roster who didn't play travel ball at all. She'd literally play with girls who are now playing at Michigan and Oregon, and then during the school season play with girls who at the very first practice of the year didn't know what hand the glove went on, let alone how to hit or throw.

This player could have really been a problem if she thought she was better than everyone else and didn't invest in her teammates. Instead, she did everything possible to lead. It was remarkable how much this one girl, even as a freshman, changed our program in one year and how little it had to do with her vast abilities.

The other girls learned how to practice, how to compete, how to dress, how to act. I had attempted to teach all of those things but until they could actually see it at practice every day it really didn't resonate. We still weren't very good but we did get better and on the days when the ball didn't find our non-travel players we could be very competitive.

This isn't to say that this young lady wouldn't get frustrated. She did get frustrated but it was never in a way that disparaged her teammates or herself. Instead, she encouraged, she taught, and she made everyone around her better, including me. She had been coached by coaches far better than I and I was able to bounce ideas off of her and she really became a coach on the field, while doing it in an understated manner.

For the person who said "my daughter is playing right field and is a travel pitcher so she can't get anything out of high school ball," that's disappointing to hear. Your daughter has the opportunity to bring her gifts and abilities to practice every day and make those around her better. I've seen first hand what a transformative impact that can be for an entire program.

Thanks flipper14 that is great to hear.