Too Many Teams

[CMMom1740]

Before posting this, I took a quick glance at the 16U portion of the local bulletin board. Since this past Sunday (8/11), no less than 8 teams have posted looking for an "A-level" or "Elite" pitcher or pitchers (plural). And only a couple of those are teams that I recognize and know to be legit A-level teams. I think the problem is that there just aren't enough A-level pitchers to go around. One excellent and two or three "meh" pitchers do not an elite A-level team make. It's like in Mean Girls: Coach, stop trying to make "A-level" happen!

Since I posted this post this morning, there are 5 more posts on the 16U portion looking for pitchers.

 

[grcsftbll]

Related to the everyone needs an elite pitcher thing...why aren't coaches just honest about their level of play? I saw one team claiming to be a top 10 in the state recently. No idea how they came up with that, by what metric, but I really doubt it. Or the coaches who say they're going to "continue playing 'A' ball" or "will keep playing at the highest level." Then you go check their Game Changer record and you just have to laugh. There's not even a hint of honesty. Give me a B team with a coach that owns it. Let the developing girls develop and be OK with it if your kid isn't on an "elite" team. Everyone thinks they have an A team and an A player. It doesn't mean much when they say that anymore.

 

[MadBandit22]

Now that the silly season of tryouts is wrapping up, it's time for the local coaches out there to switch gears from posting their tryout info online to posting rants about how there are too many teams and that the talent pool is too diluted. There are raging discussions on three local TB message boards that I follow at the moment.

I'm struggling to understand the problem here. I think it's great that there are so many teams, and so many opportunities for girls to play softball at whatever level they are able to compete. The biggest gripe I hear from coaches is this 'dilution' of talent, but I can't get my head around why this is an issue.

I live in PA but DD plays for a team in NJ. Last season there were 10 A-level teams in NJ at the 12U level. In reality, the top four or five were way ahead of the rest. To me, that represents a problem of concentration, not dilution. If four teams have such a surplus of talent at 1-9, and four pitchers who dominate, what good does that do anyone? These are the coaches that are complaining that they have to travel out of state just to play a competitive game.

The funniest thing is the coaches that are starting new teams, and then complaining that there are too many teams out there and that they can't fill a roster. Well, boo-hoo Nobody is flocking to your Triple Diamond Elite Premiere Select Ladybugs even though you're a 12-time runner up for NFCA coach of the year. Oh, and your daughter is a pitcher.

Sorry, that's my rant for the day. If someone has a cogent argument for why there should be fewer softball teams in the world, I'm all ears.

It’s simple really. More teams means less quality teams. Instead of having 8-9 real good players and a few reserves now most teams have 3-5 girls that are really good and everyone else is average.
More does not mean better in this case. Like you mentioned parents of girls that aren’t skilled enough to make A level and good B level teams start their own teams. The new teams formed are usually nothing more than rec caliber teams.
More opportunities yes, more good opportunities certainly not. Just makes things more difficult like trying to book quality high level play tournaments.
Personally I would rather lose a game 2-1, 3-2, 1-0 to a good team than dismantle a poor team 20-0. You learn more about your team from a close loss/game than a blowout victory.

 

[Rick M]

It’s simple really. More teams means less quality teams. Instead of having 8-9 real good players and a few reserves now most teams have 3-5 girls that are really good and everyone else is average.

Even for the really good teams, being one of those that have 8-9 really good players is a mixed blessing. Who are you going to play that will give you those 2-1 games?

When you said 3-5 girls who are really good and the rest are average, it made me think of MLB. Most teams have a handful of top talent hitting in the 3-4-5 spots, and a top pitcher or two. The rest of the team hovers around the league average, if you're lucky. And you know what? The whole league is competitive: the very best team will win 25% more games than the worst team.

 

[_MIA_]

Even for the really good teams, being one of those that have 8-9 really good players is a mixed blessing. Who are you going to play that will give you those 2-1 games?

There were two teams in 10U who were clearly the best teams in the state (OK) this summer and they played almost (maybe more) half of their games out of state. When they played in state there was maybe another 2 or 3 teams which would give them a close game maybe 25% of the time. If they played in the same tournament 90% of the time they faced each other in the championship.

 

[Rick M]

There were two teams in 10U who were clearly the best teams in the state (OK) this summer and they played almost (maybe more) half of their games out of state. When they played in state there was maybe another 2 or 3 teams which would give them a close game maybe 25% of the time. If they played in the same tournament 90% of the time they faced each other in the championship.

I've seen this a lot as well. I guess this is where the "travel" in travel ball really comes into play. I'm sure every state (or region) has a similar dynamic, where the best players congregate on three or four teams and you have to go to the next nearest region to find a similar team.

As I said in my original post, it's the coaches that complain about this state of affairs that crack me up, since they're the ones most responsible for stacking their teams to the point that they can't find anyone who can play on the same field as them (in the case of 10U, it's probably just dumb luck). I can understand, from their perspective, that they're just trying to field the best team possible. But it's building these few super teams that hurts the sport more than "too many teams" giving everyone the opportunity to play.

 

[let it be fun]

Even for the really good teams, being one of those that have 8-9 really good players is a mixed blessing. Who are you going to play that will give you those 2-1 games?

When you said 3-5 girls who are really good and the rest are average, it made me think of MLB. Most teams have a handful of top talent hitting in the 3-4-5 spots, and a top pitcher or two. The rest of the team hovers around the league average, if you're lucky. And you know what? The whole league is competitive: the very best team will win 25% more games than the worst team.

The teams are watered down compared to several years ago. Is that good or is that bad? Instead of having 15 legitimate A teams there might be 3-4 and the other 10-11 are B+ or B teams. Those really good teams are the A teams. There are too many teams calling themselves A. The B division has some legitimate B teams and a bunch of C teams.

 

[Cougars]

The problem I see with many of these posts, is the "solution" to things being watered down seems to be telling 50% (or more) of the girls playing TB to "go home", so that the higher level teams possibly get better. My daughters play on a "C" team. The 'watered down' solution would be for them to disband, have the best 3 or 4 players find a "B" team and the other 8 or 9 give up playing. Do the same with most of the other "C" teams they played and you could put together 4 or 5 decent "B" teams. You'd also have 180 girls quit playing softball. How is that good for the sport?

The reality is, the large majority of TB teams don't care about the elite levels of the sport. They are just teams full of girls that love playing softball.

 

[NBECoach]

Our town has a Rec ball program which while still active is nowhere near as strong as it was even 10 years ago. However to my surprise, I came across a few players in Rec ball program that have more talent/potential than some local TB players, yet they have no interest in it. They tell me they are happy with 1 game and 1 practice a week for 6 weeks and then they are done with softball. They do not want to play tournaments out of town every weekend. And even more refreshing, the parents support this decision. They enjoy their summer vacations, camping, etc. While I wish they would play TB and develop into players for HS, I understand their priorities and respect their choice.

Agree with the comment about available pitching determines the number of teams. It's almost like a really decent pitcher can have her pick of TB teams.

 

[_MIA_]

The 'watered down' solution would be for them to disband, have the best 3 or 4 players find a "B" team and the other 8 or 9 give up playing.

Nobody is saying to give up ball alltogether..maybe just TB until the kid has progressed to a point where they are really ready. The rec leagues would benefit and the parents whose kids probably are not ready for TB would benefit by not having to spend 1000+ dollars per year.