TB vs. High School

[riseball]

How do HS sports generate revenue...?

Do not confuse the generation of revenue with the ability to be self sustaining, which granted High School Sports and most College Sports are not. But, if you happen to be in the business of managing and conducting HS sporting events it is an awesome gig. You get paid regardless if anyone shows up to watch or the quality of the play is poor. All that matters is bodies on the field. More bodies = more $$$. So of course you will want to be the only game in town.

 

[chinamigarden]

If you cannot handle playing both TB and HS ball at the same time, you are probably doomed if considering playing in college. There is more than enough time for both. Just comes down to your priorities. Most states have these rules under the guise of safety, preventing over use injuries, blah, blah, blah. It is really about keeping the sport relevant so the state association can make money.

Yes college ball requires a lot of time. But it's hard to compare when the students are in class 12 hours a week when HS kids are there for 30. That makes the extra time difficult for most.

 

[chinamigarden]

There are no state rules that restrict high school ball and TB.


That the coach feels he can dictate what a girl can do in her off time. Can he also restrict her from playing soccer? Band activities?

And everyone knows a travel coach would never try to keep a kid from playing a different sport or band. Oh wait that happens all the time

 

[chinamigarden]

Never understood the rationale behind banning practice with TB teams to avoid an injury such as was experienced by your DD. It makes no sense. Do not practice with your TB team because you might get hurt, but you can stay home and ride your bike, go to the skateboard park, sky dive, etc... At face value it seems much more about control and ego than the welfare of the player.

2 sets of coaches both with different goals. If you're the HS coach and your ace pitcher is throwing 2 hours of batting practice on Sunday and you need her to throw a game on Monday and Wednesday. You might sorry about injury.

 

[riseball]

Yes college ball requires a lot of time. But it's hard to compare when the students are in class 12 hours a week when HS kids are there for 30. That makes the extra time difficult for most.

Granted there is more classroom time in High School, but if they have time for Facebook, Snap Chat, Instagram, Twitter, and the Kardashians they have time for TB also. Just depends on how you want to spend your time. Nothing wrong with deciding that you do not want to play HS and TB in the same season. That is up to the individual. But, please do not tell me you can't. Just stand up to your decision and say you won't.

 

[bmakj]

I know in NJ, homeschooled kids can play for the public school of the district they live in. my grades 6 DD plays FH for a local club team with a girl that is homeshooled, they are already talking about playing MS FH together.

As far as HS bvs TB, one of my issues is lots talk about how poor quality HS ball is compared to travel, well how about being part of the solution? it will never improve if all good players opt out. I can definitely see the reasoning for no TB during HS season, in our area the girls are practicing or scrimmaging or have a game every weekday, plus Sat AM once games start. these girls do need to have a life too, and they also have their academics. I think sometimes the obsession with being the best, only playing for/against the best is a little much. These are kids. let them play HS ball, with kids they see every day, and do TB in fall and after HS season is over. chances are 20 yrs from now they will not remember their tournament results from TB, but will cherish the memories of their teamates, irregardless of how good or bad the team was.

this obsession with always playing higher and higher levels is going to kill the sport (and others) in the long run. it will lose interest at the grass roots level, might take some time, but then it will start to decline. PLAY the game, don't make it a job, or make it seem if you are not playing super select premium titanium platinum gold AAAAAAAAA TB, well there is no point, and you have no chance at college ball. why is their interest in college softball? because there are lots of DDs and DWs out there with fond memories of their playing days, and their are loads of little girls out there dreaming. without those two groups, the only ones watching are family members, and that is not enough to sustain the sport.. When those fond memories belong to much smaller population, and the little girls are disillusioned because it is too much a business, softball will dissappear from public landscape of sports programming, money dries up, people lose interest, schollies eliminated. It is not like FB or Baseball or Basketball, where the kids playing are dreaming of $$$$, this does not exist in SB, so appeal has to come from grassroots level.

 

[riseball]

2 sets of coaches both with different goals. If you're the HS coach and your ace pitcher is throwing 2 hours of batting practice on Sunday and you need her to throw a game on Monday and Wednesday. You might sorry about injury.

If you are a HS coach you certainly do not want her throwing 2 hours of BP on a Sunday. FWIW - Any coach that would ask a pitcher to throw 2 hours of BP, regardless of the season should be run out of town on a rail.

My TB team does not do tournaments during the HS season, but we certainly could. We do hold regular workouts focused on individual skills to work on whatever they are not getting in their HS practices. I have several HS coaches that are thrilled that their pitchers are spending about an hour on Saturday or Sunday with me working on their skills. We start each weekend session with the same two questions - When did you last pitch in a game? And when is your next game? Then based on their response we tailor what we do and how much. Some HS coaches take issue with my weekend bullpen sessions and unfortunately those pitchers typically decline throughout the HS season. But it is their team and their rules, and the player has decided that is what they want to do.

As to injuries, for a multitude of reasons High School softball is more dangerous than TB. So the whole "you might get hurt" just does not wash with me. Over the years I have had more than one college bound Senior skip their last season of HS ball to spend their time preparing to make the jump to the next level. None have said they regretted the decision.

 

[PA SB Dad]

IME, more players have come back to me injured following the HS season than are injured playing for me during the spring. Maybe I have been lucky, but I've not lost a single player in the spring with Saturday afternoon practice and Sunday scrimmages. What has happened to me is not getting a healthy pitcher back and she misses most of May and June.

 

[Rambler34]

I wish we had the option of doing both but I don't see that working at our school time wise. My DD has played (At least put a uniform on for the varsity) 29 games between JV and varsity and has around 14 or 15 left depending on how they do in their last three tourneys. She will wind up playing 45 games or so in 2.5 months.

At least our HC is one of the ones that knows softball and and puts a lot of effort into coaching the girls. It helps that he has coached at a high level of TB for years and runs our HS practices very well.

 

[slugger3]

There are so many A level athletes not playing hs ball in my area for a variety of reasons. The level of hs ball vs A/Gold ball is dramatically different. Many teams don't even have a real pitcher. Politics. 6 days a week times 3-5 hours a day practice/games (that's insane when you add lessons, in school gym and weights etc). There are tournies every weekend within an hr drive featuring dozens of true A level teams from many states.

The biggest reason is what they are being told by the college coaches. I met with a Top 25 D 1 coach recently. They said (paraphrase) " I don't recruit out of hs ball because the level of competition is so inferior to select ball. How can I even come watch hs games when Im in season myself playing games. Its dead season for recruiting to boot. I want to know what select team you play for and I want to watch you play the best competition."

If that's the mentality of the majority of the coaches out there in top programs then what are the top athletes going to do? Ive spoken with hundreds of college programs and they almost all say the same thing.

I understand there may be exceptions to BIG areas in CA or TX.

This right here^^^^^

The colleges coaches that my DD has been communicating with, said just this. Not arrogantly, just plainly and as a matter of fact.
In our region, with the competition level where it is in HS, your HS stats are only an indicator to them.
Playing fast pitch in our area on a High School team vs. a Travel Ball team is subjective.

In HS, around here, it doesn't matter what your batting avg. is, how many HRs you hit, how far you can hit the ball, stolen bases, what your slugging and fielding percentage is....

...They want to know what those stats are playing on, and against travel ball teams.

One coach said, stats that are objective at the HS and TB level such as, home to first time, bases running times, vertical, and power/weight lifting strengths, are relative at all levels of play.