Honest question

[vicimus]

I think I acknowledged that. The question though was, why not?

Because TB is at a *NATIONAL* level and HS ball is at the local and at best state level where softball is not even close to the #1 sport at least in most states and has rec-level players who play multiple sports. TB separates the *serious* players from the casual players. DD ended up joining a TB team 2 states away (2.5 hrs o/w trip to practice!), since there aren't really any *national-level* TB clubs in our state where lacrosse and field hockey rules HS sports; DD HS team was actually ranked #1 in the nation and field hockey was #1 in the state.

FWIW, DD was the only TB player on her varsity HS team and was literally responsible for > 50% of put-outs her sophomore year from the mound! That's how much of a joke HS softball is in our state!

 

[marriard]

I think I acknowledged that. The question though was, why not?

HS - even at its peak is not set up to make it easy for college coaches to find players.

Not only is high school is a one season sport, but it is also not a national level competition nor is it in a place where you can see a huge amount of prospects easily. Showcases - where there is a MASSIVE amount of talent (even across a lot of teams) mean that in one weekend a coach can see as many prospects as they want from multiple regions all over 72 hours. You can only see 1 HS game a night... and that might mean you spending a whole day on 1 player.

The NCAA also doesn't help by limiting how many days you are allowed to be out there recruiting... You can't afford to waste one day on one prospect.

And while there is a top set of HS's with all the talent and great coaching (normally coaches who are also in travel); for many HS softball teams, the coaches are not necessarily even involved in softball outside of HS. When you have situations where a teacher who is coaching HS softball because they have priority over a person who actually is involved in softball year round or you have 6 girls who have never seen a softball on the team and so on.

Travel is full of people dedicated to softball year round; and in HS ages the players are generally there because they want to be.

There are other reasons as well.

It is not the greatest system in the world, but it is still much closer to what is needed to roster up 3,000 or so college softball teams than HS could ever provide.

 

[clarity]

I guess my point was, if travel ball took a bit of a back seat to high school, and emphasis was redirected to building high school programs, the level of competition there would increase, not to mention the rivalries among the schools when they might play towns and cities in their own counties. If towns don't have large soft ball programs, how are girls suddenly available to fill travel teams? I'm saying, couldn't the entire premise be flipped so that high school wasn't dismissed and looked down upon and was made to be more competitive?

My daughter played travel ball with the focus being to get better for high school ball.

Also, our state high school athletic association is built to prevent the very kind of paradigm shift you are proposing.

 

[GoRight]

My DD’s high school had a team that was mostly filled with kids who were just there for the social aspect. I don’t think they had the student interest to build a true competitive program, even if they tried. On her travel team, the majority of players were in touch with college coaches.


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[Strike2]

If it's true that so few girls actually get to play college softball, is it not then logical to think that these showcases are being put on simply to give those few girls a stage?

A comparatively small number go on to play college ball because that's what they chose. Yeah, if you want to play Division I, you need to show some ability that stands out. However, there are many levels of college ball. Similarly, there are different levels of showcases. A few will attract P5 coaches, but many others will get mainly JUCO and NAIA coaches.

If you're a competent 18U player, graduate from HS, and have the motivation, there's a spot somewhere for you. In fact, I may be overstating what's required. I know players who simply aren't that good that are currently on a JUCO roster. Every single player from DD's team, who wanted to, is playing some level of college ball. What separates them from all the others is that they didn't stop trying.

 

[Strike2]

My DD’s high school had a team that was mostly filled with kids who were just there for the social aspect. I don’t think they had the student interest to build a true competitive program, even if they tried. On her travel team, the majority of players were in touch with college coaches.


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Funny...DD's HS was just the opposite. You had to be a pretty good player just to make the team. The typical starting lineup was an "all-star" group of TB players from well-known teams.

 

[mmeece]

others aren't playing due to the "team atmosphere.

for the most part TB players play TB because they want to play and compete against a higher level player

These 2 are huge reasons. My dd just hated that there were maybe 2 or 3 other girls on her HS teams who actually wanted to be there and compete. You just can't get the highest level of competition at most levels of HS ball.

 

[EC22]

As difficult as it is, it comes down to joining a team that aligns with DD's goals and abilities, objectively. High School for many is a poor experience that diminishes the player's skill and attitude.

 

[Greatdaytobeawildcat]

This year our MS team has the potential to have 10 8th graders from three solid TB teams, with 2 legitimate A pitchers. If they all choose to play, and can keep from killing each other (there's a reason they play on different teams), they would be unbeatable, and most if not all of their games will be blowout wins. Which kind of begs the question...why play? (the only real reason is that most of them are on TB teams with high schoolers, who will be blacked out from TB until the season is over, so its "something to do").

It will be fascinating to see what happens to them in HS, including how many keep playing softball at all, how many play TB and opt out of HS, or the opposite.

 

[Rolling Hard]

If you attend an 18u showcase, almost every girl on the field who wants to play in college will find a place to play. If a girl is good enough to make an A level team at 18u then the odds are very high that there is a place for her to play somewhere between D1 and D3, NAIA, and Juco. Compare that to HS games, where mid-sized to small schools are lucky to have 2-3 girls who even want to play in college. I know that in our area it's hard enough to get girls to play HS ball during the season and would be impossible to field serious fall and summer teams.

Why do we have 14U showcases? Asking for a friend. Just talked to a dad about his DDs 14U TB team. Their team traveled from So Cal to Texas and Ohio for showcases last month. That an estimated $7500 in a month. Stop the madness.