Too many or Too few??

[LTBlazers]

These USSSA "B" teams will register as an "A" ASA team.

In Illinois if your playing class A in any other org. you get moved to A
Granted teams fall thru the cracks but I do not think the number that do is very large
We have a pretty even amount of Open, A and B Tournaments.
Class C has about 4-6

If we feel a team should move down, we contact them, most request not to move down, so we will point them to tournaments that that should be competitive in.

what is really bad here, is that there are certain organizations that will only let teams reg as class A.
I do not see whats so great about being A if your record is 4-40

 

[Coachmom]

I've got to think the quality of town rec leagues must be very different in CA.

Around here in KC, if my DD tried to play 14U rec ball, I'm pretty sure she'd hurt someone. She throws and hits too hard; she experienced that with the freshman rec ball girls who went out for HS softball with her. DD loves softball, but knows that the most important part of college for her will be academics..

I am in the LA South Bay District for ASA B Level Rec Ball. We have quite a few leagues that go all the way through high school for summer rec ball. I was on our Board of Directors for the last 4 years, recently quit. I have seen many great players leave the league for that high level travel experience only to get totally burned out and disillusioned with softball because these were girls that really just wanted to play with friends, have fun and not have it be an intense training ritual 2-5 days a week. Always missing outside activities and what not. These are decent players with a lot of athletic ability but simply want to focus on other things more than softball skills.

Attached is bracket for last summers 14U ASA B (rec) District tournament teams entered.
TournamentASA | Southern California ASA

Attached is the Bracket for our 16U B District Tournament
TournamentASA | Southern California ASA

All I'm saying is if you're playing softball for fun there are options outside of the travel ball realm. Travel ball teams are focused on getting that college scholarship and thus the training is intense and geared in that direction. It can burn many decent players out who are not interested in playing in college.
This is my opinion only.

 

[nicelag]

It's amazing what people will overlook to be on a winning team. To me winning is a byproduct of many other factors. I don't want my daughter to be on a good team where she is not going to play or grow. You end up a year older and a table full of trophies heavier, but not much better in the long run. In my opinion from 10-12U too many parents get caught up in organization names if for no other reason than to say my DD plays for so in so.

It is more important to shop coaches at these levels! Until you hit the recruitment stage team names are irrelevant for the most part. If you are coaching one of those no name teams who's players are constantly getting sucked up by the big organizations then you are probably doing your job and making your players better. Congrats. Anyone can get good players to win, but can you coach? I always tell the coaches in my league that if you are not looking to draft any of your current players in next years draft then you probably didn't do your job.

Another option is to find a good rec league, take the money you would spend on monthly dues in travel, and get some quality hitting or fielding coaches to bring your game up. Bottom line is there is a travel team for every player, but I tell my DD that there is no substitute for hard work. Do you want someone to tell you where you have to go, or be able to decide where want to go?

It's also amazing how many parents are the first to complain and leave a league or team due to "daddy ball" only to start a team on their own and play "daddy ball".

So, back to the original question or too many or too few? The answer is yes!

 

[Elk Grove Hurricane]

Wow, timely question. I'll only answer it based on what I see locally: Yes, but not for the same reasons as most think. My belief is that the model for developing talent (rely on rec leagues to get the players ready through at least 8U or 10U) isn't going to support the number of travel teams that have popped up. This isn't sustainable as the rec numbers are declining rapidly, and they just can't keep up with the demand. The issues facing the rec league are real, and reversing the declining enrollment is going to take some time, thus we really do have too many travel teams for the amount of talent out there.

Another reason for me is that there are just too many alphabet soup organizations for travel. Do we really need ASA, PGF, Triple Crown, USSSA, NSA, and whatever other organization I forgot in this list? I honestly don't even know what some of them offer yet, and I try to know all of this.