Playing club ball in college?
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For those I know who have done it - huge amount of fun and HIGHLY reccomended. The girls coach, they generally play triple headers. No one cares if you miss practice for school.
They even have a national championship. There is a thread on this site about one of the players who was on a team that won it.
Level does vary like any competiiton - in Florida I would say most of the teams are full of players that could have or even have played college and the level of play is very high. The big universities (UF, UCF, USF) are at least high level D2. Many of these teams have several D1 players who transferred back to Florida after a freshman year where they didn't enjoy the college and/or college softball.
As I said, hugely recommended.
They even have a national championship. There is a thread on this site about one of the players who was on a team that won it.
Level does vary like any competiiton - in Florida I would say most of the teams are full of players that could have or even have played college and the level of play is very high. The big universities (UF, UCF, USF) are at least high level D2. Many of these teams have several D1 players who transferred back to Florida after a freshman year where they didn't enjoy the college and/or college softball.
As I said, hugely recommended.
- Jan 22, 2011
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A player I coached 2005 and 2007 played club in college and had a blast. Haven’t talked to her since she graduated college, but her team made the NCSA World Series one year and did well. Her sister is coaching a high school JV team that I am going to watch next week, so I’ll ask her again where she went to college.
My DD is considering playing club in college. My understanding is they practice maybe twice a week, since they are a club there are leadership positions and they run themselves.
Player is now a Naval Aviator.
My DD is considering playing club in college. My understanding is they practice maybe twice a week, since they are a club there are leadership positions and they run themselves.
Player is now a Naval Aviator.
My dd played 2 years of club. I was surprised at the level of ball. It was good. I think they had 35 girls try out for 6 available spots her freshman year. All of the players had a travel background. Several of the girls played college ball somewhere else and transferred for academic reasons and played club.
About half the teams are fully club run. The girls elect a board and the board are the coaches. Other schools would hire a coach.
There are 130 or so universities in the org. They have district games, triple headers on a weekend day. they went to out of state tournies, eventually playing a district playoff, regionals and a 16 team World Series in Georgia. The 16 teams at WS could compete in many JUCO, up to DII conferences.
Different schools do practice different ways. My dd’s school did not practice year round. And when they did it was twice a week.
My dd was in an accelerated engineering program. She wouldn’t have been able to play if it wasnt for club ball. Her third year of school she was already working full time as an engineering intern and was unable to play.
Oh and they even name an All American team. Which is nice.
Edit to add. Yes there was a poster here whose DD played club for Navy. They won the nationals while she was there. I can’t remember who the Dad is. But he was a regular poster on here.
About half the teams are fully club run. The girls elect a board and the board are the coaches. Other schools would hire a coach.
There are 130 or so universities in the org. They have district games, triple headers on a weekend day. they went to out of state tournies, eventually playing a district playoff, regionals and a 16 team World Series in Georgia. The 16 teams at WS could compete in many JUCO, up to DII conferences.
Different schools do practice different ways. My dd’s school did not practice year round. And when they did it was twice a week.
My dd was in an accelerated engineering program. She wouldn’t have been able to play if it wasnt for club ball. Her third year of school she was already working full time as an engineering intern and was unable to play.
Oh and they even name an All American team. Which is nice.
Edit to add. Yes there was a poster here whose DD played club for Navy. They won the nationals while she was there. I can’t remember who the Dad is. But he was a regular poster on here.
My daughter's best softball friend from HS plays club at Johns Hopkins. She was recruited by several D2 and D3 schools for softball and volleyball, but as our valedictorian, she chose academics.
When she spoke to my daughter in October, she was crying over the thought of not playing again. But she realized they have a club team, so she went down to the practices, and she loved it. She's having a great time playing with low pressure but competitive ball. Being a biomedical engineering student at Hopkins requires a lot of work, so the low pressure environment is great for her academics. She also said she plans to play in our local 23U summer league when she gets home.
When she spoke to my daughter in October, she was crying over the thought of not playing again. But she realized they have a club team, so she went down to the practices, and she loved it. She's having a great time playing with low pressure but competitive ball. Being a biomedical engineering student at Hopkins requires a lot of work, so the low pressure environment is great for her academics. She also said she plans to play in our local 23U summer league when she gets home.
Thanks everyone for the great information! Initially my daughter wanted to go to a small liberal arts college for the focus on academics and play D3 ball. As we're getting farther along in the process and seeing that a state college would be about 8-10k a year less, we're thinking it might be wise to go that route, especially since she wants to go to grad school as well. She is not at the D1 skill level, nor does she want softball to be her life (but she also doesn't want to completely give it up either), so maybe club is an option...
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- May 27, 2013
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I know InsidePitch’s dd played club ball while at the Naval Academy. From what I can recall - she had an amazing experience as they had a strong club team. Not sure if he still posts here but might be worth it to send a PM.
Our older DD plays club at USC. Same story as many comments above -- she was salutatorian and a NHS finalist, so she prioritized academics over the couple of offers from she got from small D3 schools. They practice twice weekly, triple headers on Saturdays. They hold tryouts - all the girls seem to be from pretty good travel ball programs. She's studying Biomedical Engineering, so this time commitment is manageable, if still a bit stressful at times. Overall a great experience for her.
My dd played club ball and also studied Biomedical engineering. Seems like a trend in this thread.
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