The girls just want to play ball.

[MTR]

It isn't the making of money......well, it is by convincing parents to chase the carrot.

 

[SnocatzDad]

I always thought that a "travel ball lite" (TBL) program would be a great thing. Somewhere in commitment between "rec all-stars" and "full-blown travel ball", where the TBL team would only play maybe 8 - 10 tournaments (40 to 50 games a year?) and still allow time for other sports, activities. Does a limited softball program like this exist?

We set our organization to be what I consider TB-Lite but the goal was to be value added and strip away much that was fluff IMO. We had one uniform (with shorts and pants). Practiced indoors throughout the winter and participated in local Dome leagues. Brought in local college coaches to do clinics. Limited travel in the summer to one or two out of state trips and Nationals. Made sure we played top local competition at all times and avoided trophy hunting.

We ended up winning about 3/4's of our games and never finishing lower than 5th in a major tournament over a two year period. Basically we hovered around as about the 3rd best team in the state for two years while spending about 1/3 the money that the other top 10 teams did. In the end we were a victim of our own success, every kid on the squad with college potential was lured away to clubs that travel more and get more exposure because that is what the parents and players want.

They don't want to hear that the way to get into college is to #1 make yourself the best player you can be, #2 Identify the colleges you really want to go to and contact them, attend camps and clinics there, then attend college showcases that those coaches will attend and let them know when they can see you. If your at a showcase and your a pitcher and you throw 70 mph, you will get noticed by coaches you have never talked to before. If your not a standout pitcher, or god forbid you play another position, your chances of being noticed by a coach you haven't previously contacted are miniscule IMO but there is no limit to the parents willing to spend $2000 on a family trip to Colorado over 4th of July Weekend so that their DD can play 2nd base and be ignored while the college coaches in the stands obsess over every pitcher they can watch that week.

I talked to two of our teams last year about college recruiting, ( btw I made profile sheets for every kid and for 90% I had to pull the information from them usually by asking for it about a dozen times or going around them and finding it on their HS websites) out of 24 kids I had three that could bring themselves to give me a short list of schools they were interested in. One was set on Univ of Texas because she had family history there. I encouraged her to attend a winter camp there, wrote her a letter of recommendation, made sure she was pre-sold prior to going down there, and followed up after the camp. She actually made it onto the watch list there and I ended up getting phone calls from Connie Clark asking for schedules on where she could be seen. Newsflash, in about 90% of the cases, that's how it works. You identify a school, you show interest in them, if your up to snuff they show interest in you. Why would a college coach spend time evaluating players that don't want to attend their college when they have laundry lists full of kids that have shown them (by attending camps and clinics) that they are serious about attending that school.

This a free country and people can choose to spend their money however they want. If you want to spend 5-10K a year chasing a college scholarship because you have the money to spend and it's more about the prestige than it is about the money, god bless you. But I see families with limited finances paying for what I consider frivolous trips hoping their daughter will get seen when they don't even ask their kid to do basic things (like write the coaches at the colleges she's interested in a letter expressing her interest and asking when their might be a camp or clinic she can attend and btw her is my schedule of where I will be playing in case you want to come see me.) About a month ago a team from the Twin Cities flew out to CA to play in a fall showcase. The entire tournament ended up being rained out except for some Friday scrimmages. There are good colleges in this state that run around $6K a year for tuition. That weekend had to cost $1K (airfare, hotel etc..) to play two scrimmages. What kills me is that I think there are parents that look at that situation and say "Wow, cool, I want my daughter to get the chance to do that too." I must just be a tightwad because it almost makes me physically ill thinking about spending that much money and not even getting to play ball or get the kids seen. I don't blame the guys that set it up, they can't control the weather, and clearly this is what people want.

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

We set our organization to be what I consider TB-Lite but the goal was to be value added and strip away much that was fluff IMO. We had one uniform (with shorts and pants). Practiced indoors throughout the winter and participated in local Dome leagues. Brought in local college coaches to do clinics. Limited travel in the summer to one or two out of state trips and Nationals. Made sure we played top local competition at all times and avoided trophy hunting.

We ended up winning about 3/4's of our games and never finishing lower than 5th in a major tournament over a two year period. Basically we hovered around as about the 3rd best team in the state for two years while spending about 1/3 the money that the other top 10 teams did. In the end we were a victim of our own success, every kid on the squad with college potential was lured away to clubs that travel more and get more exposure because that is what the parents and players want.

They don't want to hear that the way to get into college is to #1 make yourself the best player you can be, #2 Identify the colleges you really want to go to and contact them, attend camps and clinics there, then attend college showcases that those coaches will attend and let them know when they can see you. If your at a showcase and your a pitcher and you throw 70 mph, you will get noticed by coaches you have never talked to before. If your not a standout pitcher, or god forbid you play another position, your chances of being noticed by a coach you haven't previously contacted are miniscule IMO but there is no limit to the parents willing to spend $2000 on a family trip to Colorado over 4th of July Weekend so that their DD can play 2nd base and be ignored while the college coaches in the stands obsess over every pitcher they can watch that week.

I talked to two of our teams last year about college recruiting, ( btw I made profile sheets for every kid and for 90% I had to pull the information from them usually by asking for it about a dozen times or going around them and finding it on their HS websites) out of 24 kids I had three that could bring themselves to give me a short list of schools they were interested in. One was set on Univ of Texas because she had family history there. I encouraged her to attend a winter camp there, wrote her a letter of recommendation, made sure she was pre-sold prior to going down there, and followed up after the camp. She actually made it onto the watch list there and I ended up getting phone calls from Connie Clark asking for schedules on where she could be seen. Newsflash, in about 90% of the cases, that's how it works. You identify a school, you show interest in them, if your up to snuff they show interest in you. Why would a college coach spend time evaluating players that don't want to attend their college when they have laundry lists full of kids that have shown them (by attending camps and clinics) that they are serious about attending that school.

This a free country and people can choose to spend their money however they want. If you want to spend 5-10K a year chasing a college scholarship because you have the money to spend and it's more about the prestige than it is about the money, god bless you. But I see families with limited finances paying for what I consider frivolous trips hoping their daughter will get seen when they don't even ask their kid to do basic things (like write the coaches at the colleges she's interested in a letter expressing her interest and asking when their might be a camp or clinic she can attend and btw her is my schedule of where I will be playing in case you want to come see me.) About a month ago a team from the Twin Cities flew out to CA to play in a fall showcase. The entire tournament ended up being rained out except for some Friday scrimmages. There are good colleges in this state that run around $6K a year for tuition. That weekend had to cost $1K (airfare, hotel etc..) to play two scrimmages. What kills me is that I think there are parents that look at that situation and say "Wow, cool, I want my daughter to get the chance to do that too." I must just be a tightwad because it almost makes me physically ill thinking about spending that much money and not even getting to play ball or get the kids seen. I don't blame the guys that set it up, they can't control the weather, and clearly this is what people want.

Thanks for sharing your experience, great insight into the reality of travel ball. For my DDs situation, we are just looking into how she can play fastpitch at a higher level (10U travel ball?) without having to commit to the sport 100% throughout the year. She has many other interests and I don't want to put her in a situation where she cannot pursure those other activities that she loves to do. I thought a travel ball lite program might be something that we and other families would be interested in to possibly achieve "the best of both worlds".

 

[PAcoach]

Thanks for sharing your experience, great insight into the reality of travel ball. For my DDs situation, we are just looking into how she can play fastpitch at a higher level (10U travel ball?) without having to commit to the sport 100% throughout the year. She has many other interests and I don't want to put her in a situation where she cannot pursure those other activities that she loves to do. I thought a travel ball lite program might be something that we and other families would be interested in to possibly achieve "the best of both worlds".

Can you find a team that will allow you to achieve those goals you have?

In our program, we encoarage our players to be well rounded, participate in other activities, band, drama, other sports and to strive for high academic honors. Colleges do look for this as well.
Really if you think about it, why should our kids have to make a choice now? We should allow them to take advantage of all opportuities at this age. They'll have to make bigger choices later in life, right?

I hope you can find a team that your dd can also chase after her other dreams

 

[BrianMonk]

Regarding TBL, I like the idea of playng primarily in the summer. How much practice do you do in the Fall? Because of the weather in SoCal you can play pretty much year-round but for TBL you could limit play to Summer and a few tourney's in fall and have the rest of the year for other activities such as spring soccer, basketball, etc.. I think parents and players would be receptive to this limited schedue if it afforded them time for other pursuits?

About 90%+ of the travel ball teams (12u and under) in Illinois are what Bishop described. They'll highlight in tryouts that they won't travel over an hour or so for tournaments other than once or twice a year. The longer travel is typically for an ASA northern national, USSSA World Series (in midwest) or NSA B World Series in East Peoria or NW Indiana (most popular). A few teams try and qualify for USA/ASA Nationals from the Chicago area but you can really count those teams with your fingers, some years on 1 hand.

Playing B is a big selling point here partially due to the lower cost but also due to potential wins.

A small/medium size town starts a team where they get majority of their players, supplement a few more girls from the surrounding towns and viola, they register in B and enter tournaments. Many programs do this year after year. Not much in the way of rec. all-stars (few tournaments in comparison to B tournaments) it's mainly B tournaments and those fill up fast.

14U is mixed and at 16U there are fewer teams but many of those are more serious regarding travel and competition - same at 18U.

In the fall, many teams practice, a few don't. They may play a double header or two and possibly a tournament or two. Overall costs are minimal as finding a field to practice or play a double header is fairly easy and low (or no) cost.

Winter practices vary but typically once a week Jan-Mar and once the weather turns semi-reasonable, practices pick up a little. Many teams use a local school gym so costs are minimal if not free. Some will pay for a batting cage area. Hitting coaches are not common, pitching coaches are common but that is usually not a team cost but an individual cost to the player/parent.

Most teams have kids that play multiple sports so they either schedule around those activities or kids just miss pratice. There simply aren't enough able willing bodies to focus exclusively on softball outside of the Chicago area.

 

[mkral]

I think the excessive starting costs are a good thing. The last thing you need is to have parents be "surprised" about how expensive it is and quit halfway through the season. If you hit them hard at the start you thin the herd.

I don't think "excessive" is needed at all. If the parents are informed as to what is expected and what the game plan is for tournaments and travel then they can decide if it is in their budget, but if it is all going to be "excessive" then you will lose some of your best players simply because their parents will not be able to afford to play. If you want to just look good and spend a ton of money doing that, well that is your choice. IMHO I would rather make sure we can get all of the talent we can even if they are not well off. If that means they need to do laundry in a hotel a few times a year so be it. $4.00 for laundry in a hotel is a lot cheaper then 3 more sets of uniforms. A simple printed jersey and a pair of shorts does not make my kids any worse players then yours. In fact our girls love to beat the teams with matching bags, sweats, helmets, etc.
I learned a life time ago when I was racing that it was not what I got the car to the track with, it was what I put on the track that made the difference!!

 

[Bishop]

SnocatzDad - Excellent monograph. I agree with your points. It seems to me a lot of parents don't want to hear that there is more to recruitment than getting on the highest reputation, biggest schedule, highest exposure team possible and let nature take its course.

SoCalSoftballDad - Easy solution. Move to Illinois. Brians org has at least 3 - 4 10u teams of varying commitment levels. My org has 2 10u teams. One of them would have to be a good fit your family. Oh, it's 7 degrees and 3 inches of snow out there now. You are OK with that right? Seriously. The best advice I can think of is figure out what you would consider as a perfect team and start talking to coaches in your area. In our area fastpitch is a pretty small community and everyone knows everyone. Get the word out with some coaches about what you are looking for and more than likely someone will point you in the right direction.

Brian - agree with everything except the cost of B ball being a motivator. Costs are the same from what I remember a couple years ago. I'd say the biggest motivator is potential wins. Hopefully what the ASA is doing in our age group this year will shake things up a bit and change the heavy B class flooding. But then there's a certain dignity to being the weakest A team in the state, which according to our state tourny finish, we are

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

SoCalSoftballDad - Easy solution. Move to Illinois. Brians org has at least 3 - 4 10u teams of varying commitment levels. My org has 2 10u teams. One of them would have to be a good fit your family. Oh, it's 7 degrees and 3 inches of snow out there now. You are OK with that right? Seriously. The best advice I can think of is figure out what you would consider as a perfect team and start talking to coaches in your area. In our area fastpitch is a pretty small community and everyone knows everyone. Get the word out with some coaches about what you are looking for and more than likely someone will point you in the right direction.

Good suggestion to ask around and see if what we are looking for already exists? If not, another option (gulp!) is to create your own team with families that have like-minded objectives for the season. That is a whole other thread!