TB vs. High School

[CoogansBluff]

Ju Just so I am better educated, are there any rules in GA that prevent playing HS and being on a TB team?

No, the Georgia High School Association has no rules preventing participation on a travel/club team at any time. Individual schools and coaches may have their own rules, however.

Also in Georgia, the state legislature is very active in threatening the GHSA over its rules. If the GHSA had a rule curbing travel/club ball participation, I wouldn't be surprised if the legislature (stirred up by parents) didn't try to intervene.

 

[BobInMadison]

I am not 100% sure of the reasoning behind bans.
A girl is allowed to play TB and HS volley ball at the same time.
OTOH, a top notch HS basketball player was once suspended because he was practicing at the local Y, found out there was a 1-day tourney, and joined a team as a pick-up player for the day.

For pitchers it can be an issue. My DD 3 has sometimes had a sore arm for a few days after a tournament. I can imagine how a HS coach would feel about losing a pitcher for a few days after every tournament.

And as for the variations in levels of play, I ran across 5 HS games in the past few days in a very densly populated island. I texted a HS coach in Wisconsin that any coach on this unnamed island would kill to trade teams.

 

[grcsftbll]

No, the Georgia High School Association has no rules preventing participation on a travel/club team at any time. Individual schools and coaches may have their own rules, however.

Also in Georgia, the state legislature is very active in threatening the GHSA over its rules. If the GHSA had a rule curbing travel/club ball participation, I wouldn't be surprised if the legislature (stirred up by parents) didn't try to intervene.

Here's a question for you related to high school ball in GA, if you know. Assuming TB does go pretty dead during HS season, do you happen to know if homeschooled kids can try out for school teams? I have a while before I have to worry about this - mine is 3rd grade currently. But if she's still playing I wonder if I could try her out for local high school teams so she can play during that TB dead time assuming that happens here.

 

[riseball]

I am not 100% sure of the reasoning behind bans.
A girl is allowed to play TB and HS volley ball at the same time.
OTOH, a top notch HS basketball player was once suspended because he was practicing at the local Y, found out there was a 1-day tourney, and joined a team as a pick-up player for the day.

For pitchers it can be an issue. My DD 3 has sometimes had a sore arm for a few days after a tournament. I can imagine how a HS coach would feel about losing a pitcher for a few days after every tournament.

And as for the variations in levels of play, I ran across 5 HS games in the past few days in a very densly populated island. I texted a HS coach in Wisconsin that any coach on this unnamed island would kill to trade teams.

If a pitchers arm is sore for a few days after a tournament, they are doing something wrong. Poor mechanics and/or too many pitches.

 

[grcsftbll]

The first time my DD pitched 2 games in a day, she was limping the next day. It was just muscle soreness in her push leg, because she was unaccustomed to pitching that much. She was really on that day and her mechanics looked great, it was just more than she was used to. Now she routinely pitches that much and isn't sore. Then we had a 7GG recently where she pitched 3.5 games in 2 days, and she had some muscle soreness in her arm, not as much as with the leg (and no soreness in her leg this time) but it was still noticeable. This weekend we have another 7GG and I bet she won't be sore after. It seems like there can be some soreness that's just from muscle fatigue if they pitch more than they're used to for some reason. I guess that is probably less common as they get older though?

 

[JAD]

Here's a question for you related to high school ball in GA, if you know. Assuming TB does go pretty dead during HS season, do you happen to know if homeschooled kids can try out for school teams? I have a while before I have to worry about this - mine is 3rd grade currently. But if she's still playing I wonder if I could try her out for local high school teams so she can play during that TB dead time assuming that happens here.

I am pretty sure a student must be enrolled in classes in order to participate in high school athletics in GA.

 

[grcsftbll]

Bummer. Maybe they'll change the laws in the next few years.

 

[YOCOACH]

I am not 100% sure of the reasoning behind bans.
A girl is allowed to play TB and HS volley ball at the same time.

We're one of those states that bans playing TB and HS ball at the same time and HS sports in general are huge around our area. Then again, so is TB. The problem arises when the HS coach thinks that the only sport that matters is the one they are coaching. So they start "conditioning" or "Captain's" practices two seasons before they actually play. In other words, HS Volleyball, which is played in the Fall around here starts those practices in the Spring. Basketball? Well they start in the Summer. The players of many of these HS teams are banned from playing the other sports...especially TB and if the players don't like it, then they can easily be replaced. Also, if they want to have a chance at starting on the HS team, they better be at every "captain's" practice or else...

So now you have the poor kids having to make a decision about a sport and/or sports they like to play for school pride versus one that they are trying to get a chance to play in college. So one of 4 things happen. 1) More often than not, the girls forego TB team practice in conflicts with the HS team practices. 2) The kids don't tell the HS coach they're playing TB. 3) A combination of both. Or 4) The kid doesn't play the HS sport. So who suffers in this situation? Everyone on both teams. Oh, and by the way, those same HS coaches that are so worried about outside injuries seem to have no problem with a girl breaking their ankle as long as it's the sport they coach and the kid's playing for them. It doesn't matter to them if that same player is the #1 pitcher on the TB SB team just going into the important year of college showcasing.

That said, I also see those same choices being forced on TB players by their organizations and team coaches. Either the player makes a full-time commitment to the TB team or they can go play for someone else. Usually these are the higher level organizations that are known for getting their players AS's to colleges. In todays world of competitive sports, there's really no choice at all if they want to play this sport for a top 50 D1 college (as an example only) except to acquiesce unless they want to go to a "lesser" organization. That said, I see this trend working it's way down to the "lesser" organizational levels as well.

IMO sports in general, no matter the level of play, are quickly getting out of hand if not already there.

 

[BobInMadison]

The first time my DD pitched 2 games in a day, she was limping the next day. It was just muscle soreness in her push leg, because she was unaccustomed to pitching that much. She was really on that day and her mechanics looked great, it was just more than she was used to. Now she routinely pitches that much and isn't sore. Then we had a 7GG recently where she pitched 3.5 games in 2 days, and she had some muscle soreness in her arm, not as much as with the leg (and no soreness in her leg this time) but it was still noticeable. This weekend we have another 7GG and I bet she won't be sore after. It seems like there can be some soreness that's just from muscle fatigue if they pitch more than they're used to for some reason. I guess that is probably less common as they get older though?

This was a case of a 12u girl pitching more innings than she had ever pitched before.
The team played 4 game that weekend. She started all 4 and completed 3. Not a lot for older girls, but it was a lot for her.
She had some rec ball the next week, which limits the innings pitched. If she had been a HS pitcher, no way could she have pitched a game Monday or Tuesday.

It's not just the pitchers. The wife of a guy I used to work with pretty much destroyed her body by catching every game of a long weekend tournament before she was able to handle it. Really did a number on her knees and throwing arm. She could never catch again after that. The coach was her father, which created its own set of issues.
Or, just fielding. DD 3 hurt her wrist playing up in a 12u rec game. She was pitching, a solid rocket was hit back to her, and catching the ball strained her wrist. She had a 10u tournament that weekend. 8 games of using her wrist fielding and her wrist was swollen. She had to be taken off the TB team, and it took about 6 weeks to recover. Had she not played that tourney afterwards, her wrist probably would've been fine.

Young bodies often need time to heal. Trying to play a TB schedule and a HS schedule at the same time can be too much for a lot of girls.

I think riseball needs to realize his DD is a truly exceptional athlete, very well trained with a lot of natural ability. What works for her might not work for everyone. Although I agree with him that safety of the players may NOT be the primary reason for the exclusion rules.

 

[Mom_Coach_Fan]

I am pretty sure a student must be enrolled in classes in order to participate in high school athletics in GA.

Agree - we have a few home schoolers on our TB team now (1st year 14u). One player was able to play MS ball with a private school. Just a thought.