How we got started...

[AndyS]

The other moment I have and especially more now, is how the heck did we get here? Unlike perhaps many on this forum I knew NOTHING about softball or how it even worked when I signed up my DD for her first league. We had no idea there was select or travel softball much less the different levels of travel. We were as happy as pigs in mud playing "rec" and then one day some guy at the local park said you really ought to look at getting her on a travel team. Fast forward and BLAM! next thing you know you are sitting in Colorado looking at the most amazing fields with mountains in the background and your DD is warming up against some team from California while college coaches are grabbing flyers. And you think how the hell did this happen? But I love it.

Curious as to how others got started?

 

[dgfred]

Your love and dedication for her... and her attitude and effort.

 

[rdbass]

Curious as to how others got started?

I blame my DD.

 

[coach james]

Dd1 was 7. She got a flyer at school to sign up at the local rec league. Did one yr of 8u coach slow pitch. Then straight into 12u fastpitch at 8 yrs old. It was supposed to be 10u, but lack of players forced a merge up to 12u... did that for 2 seasons when she was asked to play tb. Fast forward 7 years and a 5th place finish in the northern nationals, she now only plays HS ball.
Dd2 has been in the dugout since she was in diapers. Currently a 10u player, who can literally get balls to the fence consistantly. Way better player than big sis was at that age... tb teams are begging for her, but she's very content to just play rec with her friends. She has zero intrest in traveling...

 

[dgfred]

My daughter played from age 6 and never wanted to play travel ball either. She also played basketball and tennis but was best at softball. All those years of coaching her softball and basketball... and dang it if she ended up getting a tennis scholarship.

 

[Coachmom]

Growing up in Las Vegas NV I played softball in school in the 70's but it was nothing like it is in SoCal. We didn't wear helmets or cleats or sliders. We wore gym shoes and shorts. Our pitcher threw slingshot not windmill. No one cared about girls softball except the players.
When I moved to California, got married, had kids, my son played little league baseball so my DD played baseball too until some friends told me about our local ASA softball league. I had no idea about ASA fastpitch softball until then. Then I became a crazy 8U softball mom who coached. I knew nothing about coaching kids softball but I bought a lot of books and videos and learned.
I had no idea about Allstars until the end of the first season coaching I got a call from the Board of Directors asking who I was going to nominate for the Allstar team from my 8U. I didn't even nominate my own kid because I didn't think she was good enough.
She got so offended that she started taking it seriously and practicing to be a pitcher. She wanted to be on the Allstar team the next year. SHe made it the next year as a 2nd year 8U.
SO we got heavily involved in our local league and I continued to coach. I became the Allstar coach for our 10U Gold team in DD's 2nd year of 10's. I still had never heard of travel softball until a couple of players I knew from the 12U division decided to move away from the league and go travel. I followed their success for a while and by the time DD was in 12U we were of course sick of the rec ball politics and drama over allstar selections that we took a serious look at what travel ball was all about.
Took DD to a few tryouts at the end of her first year 12U season and was AMAZED at the difference in the level of playing ability on those teams compared to rec. I thought OMG DD is way behind!!
Anyway she made a mid level team that fall and took some lumps but learned a lot.
The rest of our journey is pretty much documented on my vimeo website in the team videos posted there. But it has been a lot of fun, and effort, heartache and money. I would not trade it for the world.

 

[RetiredCoach]

In fourth grade my oldest DD signed up for rec ball and the rest is history! She loved the sport, decided to become a pitcher, and she's been playing ever since. Her younger sister got caught up in the momentum, became a pitcher, too, and has been doing it ever since.

 

[CoogansBluff]

Don't remember exactly why I came here, but I remember my first post. I was coaching a 12U team, and had a player that had been on the team from the start (3 seasons back), and she had fallen way behind the other players. I wanted to know how I should break the news that she didn't make the team this year. That was almost 4 years ago. Still think about that kid from time to time, and wonder if I did the right thing.

PS -- Sorry, I thought the question was how we got started on this forum. As for softball, my daughter tried lots of things, but softball (age 7) was the first one where I looked at what she was doing and thought I could help. So I started coaching, later formed a travel team. DD was just along for the ride the first 4 years, but once I stopped coaching, and she turned a little corner and became halfway good at it, she took it as her own. Now, I just sit back and watch and talk about it with you guys.

 

[BobInMadison]

It was a complete shock to me.

I used to be the worst softball player in the world. That is, one year in college some friends of mine dragged me into a non-competitive co-ed slow pitch softball league, and I was the WORST player. Once they let me pitch in a scrimmage, and not one pitch was near the plate. The runner scored the game-winning run, so I have an infinite ERA and a perfect 0-1 W-L record. I really was awful at softball.

DD #1's BFF's parents met playing co-ed softball in college, and her BFF's mother played HS softball. So, one time DD #1 wanted to play volleyball while her BFF had been playing softball. So, they both signed up for both. I sometimes drove them from a rec league VB game to a rec league SB game.

Turns out both girls were talented at softball.

DD #1 played for a few years, and rose quickly. Here are the teams she was on:

7th grade: Fall: 12U rec league. Spring: 12U rec league, NOT invited to try out for the all-star team.
8th grade: Fall: 12U rec league. Spring: 14U rec league. Summer: played on the rec league 14U all-star team (deep pine and OF).
9th grade: Fall: 16U tournament team (OF) AND 14U rec league (3B). Quit softball during the winter. Came back: Spring: HS freshman team, 3B, led the team in hits, HR and stolen bases.
Hung up her cleats after that.

She went from 12U rec league to 16U TB in one year, and was completely burned out by the experience.

In the meantime, DD #1 would drag all her siblings to help her practice. DD #3 was the most enthusiastic, and really got into it.

So far:

4th grade: Fall 10U rec, spring 10U rec, doesn't get invited to all-star tryouts.
5th grade: Fall 12U rec, spring plays up 12U rec, gets invited to 10U and 12U all-star tryouts. Summer: 10U all-star team starter.
6th grade: Fall 12U rec, spring 12U rec, summer 12U TB and starter for 12U all-star team.
7th grade: Fall 12U rec, signed up for 12U rec and 12U TB for spring and summer. Rumor has it she was the first girl picked in rec league out of 60 12U players. (Some coaches said they wanted her for the #1 pick, and she wound up on the team with the guy who drew the #1 pick)

In the meantime, I am a complete klutz. It is really hard for me to help DD #3, esp. in pitching, without getting hurt. She makes me wear a mask to catch her, and then laughs when I jump out of the way of her pitches. She laughs harder when I jump INTO one of her pitches.

 

[Jojo]

Son's league never called me about his team, when I finally called them they said they didn't have enough coaches, if I wanted him to play I'd have to coach. --Call me crazy.

Boys transitioned to girls.