I found the 4th hand information about this team very intriguing.
Team folds before a game played?
- Thread starter grmerrill
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We've had a small TB organization fold from a town about 30 minutes away from us. Our TB organization picked up 1 of their teams and the other 4 teams disbanded. Most of those girls and their families are in a panic right now because unless they're a pitcher, a catcher, or a player with a huge stick, they may not find a home due to teams being mostly set.
In areas where there are simply too many teams this happens quite a bit and seemingly at all times of the year. In our area, softball popularity has exploded over the last 8 years or so. That is a good thing, but there is also a downside to it. Anyone who has googled "softball" now thinks they can coach a team. We have multiple teams that startup and disband before a complete season is even played. There are some high level teams in our area, but largely the talent pool is watered down because of this.
The talent pool isn't watered down, the pool has just gotten larger and more kids are wanting to compete at a higher level. Sure there are weaker teams with maybe 2 or 3 good players on it. That may take away from the overall strength of the higher level TB clubs but if they are a good organization with value then it shouldn't be a problem. The problem most are having is that now girls have more options. They don't have to stick with the jerk coach or the over priced org. New teams are being created and some of that is due to the new players coming into more competitive ball but some of the teams are forming because of bad organization ball, and of course some daddy ballers out there trying to keep Susie as the star. What I find interesting about this topic is that we tell our kids to compete, we teach them to compete, but when it is time for coaches and orgs to compete for players you hear a lot of whining over new teams pulling talent away. Improve your product, improve your packaging, be competitive on pricing, and the true competitors will find your team. A lot of complaints about the new coaches that don't know anything and are horrible, how exactly did they get your player? It's almost as if people are upset because these kids are not forced into a few selections.
Not aimed at anyone in particular just thinking out loud.
The way I see it, the more Google-trained coaches who are willing to form teams, the more kids who get to play travel ball. The more travel players you have playing year-round, the better the talent pool. The only reason things might appear to be watered down is that if you've got 10 teams instead of 5, it's harder for any 1 team to corner the market and get all the good players. But the overall skill level rises because you've got 100 kids playing year-round instead of 60, IMO. And some of the 40 that used to be shut out will start passing some of the original 60.
Exactly! AND the kids that are playing lower level ball or want a better competing team at the same level will graduate up to better teams. Increasing the overall number of better players available for top shelf teams in the older age groups.
One downside to this model is you end up with some parents who think their DD is "all that and a bag of chips" because she does so well against the other 9 teams in their local tournaments.
Just happened to my older DD's 14u team. She's a '00 freshman in HS playing on a mostly '01 14u team. Effective 2/28, she had to "go dark" on her TB team to play for her HS team. Head coach was well aware this was coming up, has 2 other pitchers, one just as effective as my DD, other one not so much. They were going to ride out the "darkness" with the 2 pitchers plus use a pick-up player whenever they could. At least that was the plan until the co-lead pitcher got injured and has to sit 3+ months. He disbanded the team to give everyone else the opportunity to play wherever they could, rec or TB. So we'll be hunting to join a team when the HS season is over, or at least pick-up until the August tryouts begin. The tough part: the team recently changed affiliations and we had recently paid $350 each to get those jerseys/pants/bags/helmets. She got to wear her new helmet for about a month.
True, but That all comes out in the wash, eventually. When I took my rec all stars to their first utrip World Series, it was an incredible blast for them. They made a good run in the losers bracket, and made some great memories. They didn't even know what triple crown, surf city, or PGF was, let alone care. Just don't tell them there are better teams than those nine. Lol.
What a bummer. I feel for this team, and coach, because I know what it's like to have it happen.. We are riding Out the dark period now, after losing our co-p1 2001 pitcher, and of course, our HS girl. It's tough, I'm not going to lie, but we are hanging in there. There is a level for every team in our area, but if you are stacked with showcasing 01's, that would be especially tough. All of our college bound girls will be late pickups, so it's not as critical.
