How many tournaments are too many?

[InsidePitch]

DD is second year 12U and on a new travel team. Our old travel team was bad but they didn't practice until spring and only played 3 or 4 tournaments. I felt this was too little so we moved to a serious A team. She played 3 tournaments in the fall with the new team and started winter workouts in Dec. She will play 10 tournaments and a couple of friendlies in the spring. The schedule includes Pony Nationals for a week and two other hotel tourneys.

I wanted a more serious team but now am wondering if I might burn her or ME out. Those that have been through this age bracket, what are your thoughts on an aggressive schedule vs excessive? Thanks

 

[cwestwjg]

We played with a 10u C class team a couple years that played two tournaments a month. This year we are playing 12u A class as a first year team, group of very strong players. Started practice two nights a week first week of Jan with our first tournament March 5th. They have tournaments scheduled every weekend from now till end of July. This doesn't include two nights a week pitching lessons so we pretty much softball 6 days a week and my kid wants a seventh.

The team carried 13 girls so they can rotate weekends off for the girls and the rest can play every weekend. It's is usally the parents and not he kids that want to take off.

 

[absdad]

Last year was a bit different for us.. DD was on a team last year that only did one tournament a month. She did alot of guest playing, to keep busy. That was nice, as we could pick which weekends worked for us, and there is always several teams needing guest players. This year however, shes on a new team playing alot of tournaments. One weekend off a month, except for july, no weekends off. Starting up in March. It's going to be a bit much I think, but we'll see. Mom and I complain about the drives and the concession foods sometimes, but the reality is we're softball junkies; we love being at the park watching our little diamond diva.

 

[sluggers]

Geez...I hate to tell a nasty little secret, but since you asked:

Softball is a game played by kids. In the greater scheme of things, the importance of softball falls somewhere between the current flavor of the day at Baskin-Robbins and Lindsay Lohan's legal problems. So, keep it in perspective.

She played 3 tournaments in the fall with the new team

That seems to me to be reasonable--depending upon the time commitment to get to and from the tournaments.

started winter workouts in December

That is pretty much standard for areas where you can't play outside.

She will play 10 tournaments and a couple of friendlies in the spring.

I'm not sure what "a couple of friendlies" means--do you mean "friendly weekend tournaments" or do you mean "friendly games"?

In my view, seven tournaments plus a trip to nationals is plenty.

am wondering if I might burn her or ME out.

She won't burn out. Girls at your DD's age love softball--after all, 99% of softball is sitting around with your friends and shooting the breeze. 12YOA girls sitting around talking? Oh, they can only do that 24x7.

On the other hand, you might burn out. So, you (not her) might want to skip a couple of tournaments.

 

[CPSBDad]

I kind of agree with slugger. The girls are resilient. But if you go into a loser bracket it might be mom and dad who burns out, especially if the team does it often.

Last spring 10U DD loved the tournament life. Playing a game she loved, chatting with her friends, and eating seeds. Occasional watermelon and chocolate ( a Pepsi once in a while )--what more could a kid want?

slugger--friendlies usually refer to a weekend day playing a double header with paid ump(s).

 

[fastpitch5]

we're playing a league schedule and only 5 or 6 spring/summer tournies. will also play a fall league and 2 - 3 local tournies. we are a first year 12U team. heck, i even built in time for a non-softball-related summer vacation!!

 

[InsidePitch]

I love Softball, I have all my gear to be comfortable as possible but yes I might be the one who needs to skip some games. The wife claims she will take her but has never been to more than one game over a weekend. I was just thinking 10 plus some one day friendlies in the spring might be a bit much. Seems some of the showcase teams only do 5 or 6 showcases.

 

[3'sDad]

DD's team did 10 tournaments last years as a 12U team. DD also was finishing her LL commitment, where LL All-Stars overlapped travel season by 3-4 weeks, so it was softball every night for 4-5 weeks. this wa tough but DD knew it was only for a finiate amount of time.

This season we have 8 14U tournaments scheduled, with the season finishing at PONY Nationals in NC.

 

[Dusty]

I was wondering the same thing in the fall of '09 when my two dd's went straight from rec to travel. Younger dd's 10u team did 5 fall tournaments and my older dd did 6 fall tourneys and both did 10+ spring and summer tourneys.

Anyone going to a reasonably competitive travel team should expect to do about 10 or more tourneys in the spring and summer; you may get one in March depending on weather, 3 in april and 3 in may during the meat of your schedule and then two or three state tourneys in June than you start to slow down a bit before going to a national tournament.

If your kid loves the game she won't burn out on it and if you enjoy seeing her play a game she loves at a higher level than you thought she was capable of then you won't burn out either. There will be plenty of times when you come home exhausted and sandblasted with infield dirt and feeling like you need to call in sick to work on monday just so you can catch up on your neglected yardwork.

I used to see threads like these and posts like mine on softball message boards and wonder if this was the kind of lifestyle I wanted for my family. You'll never know until you try it.

PS- you really can't compare showcase teams of 16 to 18 year olds to 10u-14u youth travel teams in terms of schedule.

 

[starsnuffer]

A lot of the top 18 gold teams will often play 8-10 weekends in a row in the summer, mostly showcases along with the Nationals and/or Premier. These are top 18 gold players trying to get seen by colleges. It seems a bit much for 12 year olds to emulate the same schedule.

As a coach/manager of a 12u TB team, I try to space our tournaments out with 2 weeks between them (every other week) We still practice for 3-4 hours one day on the "off" weekends, along with practice during the week. It's not always possible to do every other, some times there are back to back, reschedules, cancellations, ect.

We'll do another 5 or so tournaments during the fall season.

Keep today's economy in mind, if your parents are struggling, an easy way for them to save money is to do more local tournaments and limit the travel a bit.

-W