Taking High School Sophomore Season Off vs. Recruitment

[GOINGDEEP]

Amy makes good points as far as college is concerned, and that was part of the OP's original question.

The reason is the varsity the team will be stacked with seniors and she doesn't want to spend another year at JV. She feels that spending another year at JV will negatively effect her game because of slow play and lack of game intensity.

For these reasons one would need to soul search if that is a valid reason to skip. Most important is how many of her teammates has she voiced this option to, or has she "showed" with attitude she doesn't feel JV? If she wants to play another sport or dig deep into her studies, THAT should be the reason, not because of JV.

No one is even going to know that she didn't play, as a sophomore.

Amy is correct on most colleges not caring. The people who will notice are the players/parents/coaches/classmates of the HS team. The reason for the "resentment" is girls who stay put in the hours/days of conditioning, do the fundraising, days of practice, long days of school and playing games until 7-8-9-10 at night. Those are also bonding times for any team.

Hard decisions ahead dad, good luck.

 

[SBFAMILY]

Amy is right. Most won't even look at high school stats since they are worthless. The top ten batting averages in our local paper could't even make our high school team. They would rather see you run track and play on a good travel team, if your high school team is not competitive.

 

[splinterpicker]

My dd and I look at high school as an oppurtunity for reps, conditioning, game situation, and just practice before the summer season starts. I know some kids that dropped out of high school ball for what ever reason or another. Most have regret because they are starting the summer season behind. They are not in game shape or practice shape. To many look at what they are not getting out of high school ball instead what they can get.

 

[fusionmom]

Our "high school" softball team (which is a term I use loosely as South Dakota does not sanction softball, but attaches it as a club sport,,,don't get me started) has more state championship and runner-up trophies than any other sport in our school and has been around for a shorter period of time. A lot of the girls on that team play travel ball during the summer, but during the HS season they are playing for their school, for their pride in their team, their community, and to get to play alongside girls that they are many times playing against during the travel season. They enjoy wearing their school colors and working as a team and, as splinterpicker says, they use it to keep in shape during the off season.

 

[Pdiddy]

this is the ugly truth, but it's the truth. We had a girl last year, sophomore, quit the team for about the same reasons you describe. Now the word on the street is she's coming back next year after all these seniors move on. And let me be brutally honest, NOBODY WANTS HER BACK. Not the current players, not the parents, not one of the AC coaches. I'm telling ya when that subject comes up or her name, people get pretty vocal on how they feel about her quitting because she wasn't playing varsity. Everyone knows she felt she was too good for JV and it wasn't worth her time for the commitment like the other JV players have done.

LOL....you didn't mention the HC's opinion, which is the only one that counts I believe....unless Mumford has some lynch mob type thingy going if y'all don't agree with the way that gart durn HC is a runnin things....GO VOLS!


jk....BTW we need a Tenn HS Districts update....or did I miss it?

 

[GOINGDEEP]

HC retiring.

I'm walking out the door for first region game. We placed 2nd in district playoffs, ADESDAD on here DD placed 1st. We both play tonight 1st round against 2 other schools. I'll post results when I get home.

 

[RJY]

Let me clarify this a little....

DD wants Varsity so bad she can taste it. She's having a hard time understanding, after being named No. 2 catcher, why she wouldn't be pulled up for the tourny at the end and she thinks she's going to get put on JV again next year because nothing should be changing as far as player personnel goes. I can't argue with her logic because the HC is extremely hard to figure out. DD thinks she may be in a situation where she's been told something just to string her along.

Now I know that some of you might be thinking, this kid is an attitude problem waiting to happen but nothing could be further from the truth. She's truly the heart and soul of her team and the outright team leader. She's one of the most competitive athletes I know, male or female. These feelings she's having have been shared with no one but me and her mother. She's the kind of kid that lays it all on the line for the team every game so I can see why she's a little confused and beaten down right now. I might be considering taking a year off if I were in her shoes as well although I'm encouraging quite the opposite.

I guess she'll have to wait to see what happens because a LOT can change between now and next February. Either way, the only way I see it is she has to play.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

RJY, check your messages. Sending you a personal article your DD might like to read.

 

[3'sDad]

Let me add a bit of a different twist, in the abstract:

The DD is a very good catcher, perhaps or poerhaps not better than the upper class starter. DD would like to play and play varsity but she gets lots of reps at JV and could play varsity if the player abover her gets hurt, has a 'tude, etc - been known to occur in high school.

If the DD isn't on the roster, the #3 cathcer becomes #1 and the heir apparent to the position upon DD's return.

Second: while very one of our DD's is the best player since sliced white bread was invented, if and when they play at the collegiate level, every player on the college roster was the best in their school/district/county/conference.....someone will play someone will cheer & keep score. Learning how to deal with this adversity now , while parental support is available close at hand, is invaluable.

PS: Much is made of high school coaching on the internet forums - good, bad or indifferent.......coaching doesn't always get better at the next level. Coaches that can recruit well field respectable teams and keep their employment, they may not be good coaches or very good human beings. Recruiting is a sales pitch from the car salesman - coaching is dealing with the mechanic when the car needs general service or a major mechanical repair.

 

[smddad]

I think that your DD is right. I would encourage her to play another HS sport.

I do enjoy, like, and support HS softball, but it does nothing to get you recruited, in a majority of the states.

I was going to say the same thing. Have her join track to say..."work on her speed". I know top level softball players that do not play school ball at all. They run track. It does not have a negative effect.

A good friend of mine has a daughter that elected to not play school ball as a soph this year. She was not going to be stuck at JV again. As a pitcher it did nothing for her, but let her think that throwing heat down the middle can win games. The team is STACKED with upper class-men top quality pitching. She decided to work more on her training and has been doing hitting and pitching clinics instead. Her arm is staying rested for summer ball and she has improved immensely. She was already a pretty good player.

Good luck to you...