How many TB teams has/did your DD play for?

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Oct 15, 2013
727
63
Seattle, WA
My oldest, now 1st year 18U, has played for three organizations, the first one on two different occasions.

It's complicated. Very complicated., but the short version is below.

Our first club we joined pretty much by default. They were the only club that had a 10U team in town.

After playing on a really fun 10U team and two very good 12U teams, her first year 14U team was pretty bad. They'd lost most of their pitching and the supposed #1 pitcher regressed terribly; she and her mom were team cancers. After the season, the coach and his DD decided they were done with softball. A new HC was brought in from a rival club, and worse, a rival Little League organization. The new coach was bringing 8 of his girls with him. My DD went to the tryouts and she was furious when one of the new girls told her, "You should come play for our team." See, my DD kicked butt and was arguably the best player on her team the last two years. It was "her team" and she was an undisputed leader up to that point. She decided to move on. Four of her former teammates stayed.

My wife and I thought she needed to be pushed a bit and be on a team where she wasn't one of the top players. She got an offer for a 16U team which was made up of mostly second year 14U players like her. We kind of steered her to this team, even though she had other offers. In retrospect, I wonder if DD wanted to play anymore, but was afraid to tell me. During the last half of 14U there had been some signs and slippage in her play.

The new team played 16B and pretty much clobbered everyone. DD was the primary catcher on the team. We liked the coaches as people, but there were a few things they did that seemed unethical in youth sports. They'd bring in guest players and bench their regular players. A new SS was brought in. The starting SS was suddenly an outfielder every inning, every game. A parent questioned the scorekeeper on a triple that was marked as a single. Their DD was benched the next game. Details are a little fuzzy in my memory, but I remember at one point the coach saying everyone was going to be invited back the next season and then we never heard another word about. We kind of got the impression DD had been cut.

The next season, an AC from the original club DD had played for, asked her to tryout for the team. He had been her first ever coach, in coach pitch. His daughter was one of the 8 new girls that had come over from the rival club. Out of respect for him she went to the tryout. All but one of her former teammates were cut from the team, but the one remaining player she was pretty close with and she convinced DD to return. The AC we knew assured us there was no favoritism.

Well, right from the start of the season (first year 16UB), five or six of the girls including the head coach's daughter, started talking about how they were going to leave the team and play A ball the next year, so the team pretty much folded before the first spring tournament. The team played out the season, but we would have left even if hadn't folded. There was definite favoritism; the coach never lived up to his promise to play the nine on Sunday who hit the best on Saturday. It wasn't a completely bad experience. DD made a lot of new friends with girls who had previously been "the enemy". She and four other girls left that team and now play together on DD's third team.

DD's third team she had tried out for three seasons in a row. The first year, she was offered a spot, but the offer came a bit late. She had already accepted another. The second year, she was not offered a spot and then last year it finally worked out and she was offered a spot and accepted. Of course, the 2020 season was wiped out by COVID 19, but after considering whether to play or not this summer, she's back with the team.

Sorry, that's long. There's actually a lot more to it, but those are the basics.

I will say, it was never our intention to team hop, but I'm kind of glad we did. It has broadened DD's softball world (and mine) quite a bit.
 
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Jan 27, 2010
1,871
83
NJ
It didn't seem like so many but DD played on 6. We didn't burn bridges but each move was designed to increase the level of competition. She was friends with the girls she played with but it was never a reason to stay. She was never a starter on any team she joined but always put in the extra effort to earn a starting roster spot.
 
Feb 3, 2016
502
43
Not enough. I wish my DD could play for more teams just because she likes and wants to play more.

Considered not joining a team this Fall and just lend out my assassin for the upcoming year but we made a promise and will fulfill it. We actually found another assassin who works just as hard as our DD so they're teaming up to help each other. Winning!

Cost of the showcases just keeps getting more and more expensive so to hit 1000 plus games will be harder to reach but Quality vs. Quantity is the trade off.


Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 

ez_softball

Life at the diamond...
Apr 14, 2017
158
28
My daughter played for a bunch...

10U and 1st year 12U were rec ball
12U old and 14U young were one team
Joined team at 14U old and left after fall and prior to spring because abusive coach.
14U old and 16U young were same team
Joined team at 16U old and left in the fall because of injury.
That spring/summer played up on an 18U team
18U second year switched to another team but should have stayed on the previous years team.

That doesn't include picking up for numerous team over the years... that would probably add another 5-6 teams. LOL
 
Jun 9, 2011
27
3
One CYO Team 5-8 grade

One travel league (city travel): One team 8u-16u

One club (tournament) organization, between teams due to her age (she was playing 18u at age 14, team aged out and then started 16u and back up now playing 23u)

One High School Team

One College Team (current)

Recommend not moving around and leaving organizations/coaches too much. Select wisely in the beginning and take responsibility to help make the organization the best it can be. Hard enough to play on a couple teams consistently without moving around all the time.

Enjoy every second of the journey.
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
8U-10U: Rec ball. Made All-Star team in her first season, and as much as we denied it at the time, a path towards TB was set.
10U-12U: First TB team. Mid-level team with excellent developmental coaching. It was fun to watch my DD's skill level explode, and become a high-level player.
14U: 9 players stayed together for 2 years, and had a steady progression from a mid-level team to a competitor at PGF Premier Nationals. We are still sad about this team folding.
16U (Fall, first year): High-level, PGF Premier competitor every year. Excellent players. Strong recruiting program. Not at all a fit for my DD, and it broke her love of the game. She resigned from the team, and was very close to quitting the game completely.
16U: (Summer-Fall): Current team. DD is among the top 2 best on the team for skill level and experience. Overall, the team is pretty mediocre - especially pitching - but they're showing signs of improvement. Most importantly, DD is having fun, and loves the game again.

TL/DR: 6 years of TB. 4 teams.
 
May 21, 2018
567
93
Well.... you asked for it! Here comes the worlds longest post!

Both daughters played rec locally before any kind of organized ball. Rec in our area is pretty low level compared to what I read here. My wife coached and needed help. I ended up coaching and enjoyed it. Coached off and on after that.

Dd#1
Started playing “tb“ as a first year 14u. Was a team of mostly kids from our small town. Coach was a recent college grad/former player. It was a good start but dd wanted more than a few tournaments a summer and the head coach mentioned above was a drama queen that fund raised like we were going to Colorado.

Tried out for a nice little B team coached by a dad coach we still hang out with. She learned a lot and so did we. That was a young 14u team and she aged out so she was forced to move on to Team #3.

Team #3 was a low level A team with non parent coaches, good practices and she got better. That lasted two years, the team was kind of falling apart, the head coaches college age dd coached the second year and it caused some strange chemistry.

DD then tried out for team #4, a very well coached team that she really enjoyed playing for. Finished out 18’s with those guys and I later coached with that group of coaches. Great experience for dd. Dd went on to play two years at a mid major D1 before a career ending injury.

——————————————————————————————-

Dd#2

Dd #2 started out with a little small org 10u A level team that was very well coached by non-parent coaches. “Well begun is halfway done” is what I think of when I think of that team. They ran great practices 2x per week and dd really did well there. After the first year of 12u the head coach retired and that team folded. That coach said things that I quote to this day. We were really lucky to have been on that team.

Dd played her second year of 12’s on a 12A team coached by a grandpa coach and three other dad coaches- one of which was me. We had talent coming out of our ears and no one was going to out practice us. We won 90 some games and if we had known what we were doing we would have won more, lol. I knew one of the dad coaches from my work. He was Mr. Drama everywhere he went and that never has changed. So... despite winning a lot of games, it was the most miserable year our family spent of travel ball. That team folded at the end of that year.

DD2 then tried out for a local team that was all older kids but was still 14’s. That coach was pretty good and liked to play up in local tournaments. It was DD’s 8th grade year and playing against 18u teams locally was a huge confidence boost and made her ready to play against those same players in high school. The assistant coach on that team was awesome and we are friends to this day- in fact he hunts deer on my farm. Yet that was a strange year. It seemed like a lot of position players were not playing where they should. A player that was really good that dd played with on a previous team wasn’t playing much. Dd got better though and she started playing 3rd which was mind blowing for her after playing middle infield. It really made her a better player. Team pretty much imploded after nationals due to injuries and pitching parent drama at nationals.

So there we were again... looking for another team. This time it was a kind of a mid major regional exposure team. She was a second year 14 but that team was full. She ended up on the org heads 16u team which was mostly older players. She played 2nd and hit in the 2 and 3 hole on that team. The schedule was grueling and she went to camps constantly. It was hard and she had a blast but... the schedule was pretty brutal. I got recruited to assistant coach on that team. It wa really fun and I learned a ton. Dd was getting looks... but then the recruiting rules changed. Colleges were committing 14’s like crazy but we were on a 16u team with players that were already committed. She was getting looked at but it seemed like the feeding frenzy that summer happened at 14’s.

The next year was the same coach, new group of players- again mostly committed. The coach still had us going to tons of camps. We were still having fun but she started to worry about not being committed. That was a mistake we made- the recruiting became the goal instead of playing and enjoying playing. That fed into what would later become burnout. Dd was frustrated because she wasn’t interested in the schools that were showing interest in her. And with that team it seemed like it was the same old schools, over and over.

So... this time we made the change. Dd was interested in a Midwest P5 less than two hours away. It was her second choice. It may have been a mistake but the team she played for played in the south a lot and we didn’t see this school. We went to camps there but they would lose interest when they couldn’t seem to see her play. So... she changed teams. The new team was a bigger name team that had connections with the school she was interested in. This was Team #5 for those of you keeping score at home! It was pretty good- but dd was starting to show signs of true burnout. She was doing well and one day we left a tournament five hours from home and she says “I don’t think I want to play college softball”. She was tired and she saw what her older sister was going through with her back injury. We knew we had a problem. I called the org head. I told him the story. He without hesitation told me she had to have a break- which wasn’t easy because we were within a few weeks of going to Colorado for the third time.

She ended up taking the rest of that summer off. She worked, loved making money and worked out with the workouts being “for her” not “for softball”. She wanted to play “locally” with no travel and “for fun”. She ended up going to the same local team my older dd played for. Team 6, y’all.

It was hard. She was having fun but we were blowing everyone we played out of the water that fall because we were playing local and there was no competition. She missed playing good teams. She went to a camp at the P5 I mentioned above, and they showed interest in her.

That winter, her old team called her back. Is it Team 7 if you already played for them, lol! The org head told us he could help her get where she was wanting to get to. She left a team I was coaching. I was able to replace her but it meant I wouldn’t be able to watch her play.

She kicked rear even though the team was kind of a sh#&show. Now the Midwest P5 was giving her the cold shoulder but strangely enough her original #1 choice heard she was still not committed. Even stranger, we heard this from one of her former coaches, from a different org that we stayed on good terms with (of course).

After considerable wrangling, in the summer after her senior year, she ended up at the school she wanted to go to since she was 14u. It’s 7 hours away. She’s having a blast. She loves the coaching staff. What a ride.

I have little doubt that some consider us team hoppers. I completely see value in teams staying together but it just doesn’t seem to happen any more.

All that being said, no matter what happens, I have absolutely 100% believe dd will graduate from her current school. With or without softball, she is where she wants to be. I can hear it in her voice and see it on her face. It has all been worth it.

Great post. Thanks for taking the time to type all that out.
 
Dec 11, 2010
4,713
113
It’s kind of a conglomeration of a couple posts I have thought about making over the last few years.

I couldn’t really post dd#2- 7 teams without explaining it lol
 
Jul 31, 2015
761
93
8u-12U - rec and rec all-stars. What a blast!

14U first year - made the jump to national-level competition from rec and whoa it was too much. Pitched 15% of the innings. Good team and good coaches. DD wasn’t quite ready for that level of play.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND GOING TO A 14B TEAM FROM REC BEFORE ATTEMPTING 14A.

14U second year, 16U first year - was part of a 25 member 14A and then 16A regional-caliber-who-pretends-they’re-national-caliber team. Hardly pitched or hit. Misery. Left halfway through the last season and picked up with a top, nationally-ranked team an hour away and got much more playing time, even as their #3 pitcher.

16U second year and 18U - nationally-ranked team decides to merge with a local up and coming org. The whole thing blows up after one season but DD stays with the up and comer. Is now one of two top pitchers on that team which itself is now nationally-ranked. Practices are 10 mins away from home. Having a blast.

3.5 teams in 6 years. First and last were the best.

Did I mention that I HIGHLY RECOMMEND GOING TO A 14B TEAM FROM REC BEFORE ATTEMPTING 14A?
 
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