Travel Ball is Killing Rec Ball

[whack]

Spent all afternoon at the field for a double header in 58* weather. Won both. Good day. DD hit another HR had a overall decent day at the plate. She also threw a girl out stealing third and gunned a girl down at first on a short hit. Her talking to her pitcher. That girl throws hard. Other team was scared to death of her. DD loves catching her. Just a rec day.

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[justanotherguy]

Personally Whack, I'd say let her start filling in on some travel teams for weekends here and there. Keep playing rec, but let her see higher level pitching from both a catching and batting standpoint. That is, if she wants to. Sounds like she could enjoy it.

 

[whack]

Personally Whack, I'd say let her start filling in on some travel teams for weekends here and there. Keep playing rec, but let her see higher level pitching from both a catching and batting standpoint. That is, if she wants to. Sounds like she could enjoy it.

Oh she’d love it. That girl pitching is a Tb player. She has 3 on her team. They pitch for us but not Tb.


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[Traps71]

My DD plays 12U travel ball for a small organization here in the mid-Atlantic. We have a good "A" level team that tends to do very well in local and regional tournaments. Most of the other teams in our organization are "B" level or, at the younger ages, "C" level. Although the travel organization is officially separate from the local Little League, it is affiliated and essentially all of the managers and coaches who coach travel also manage and coach in the LL (and all the girls playing for it, I believe, are drawn from the LL). The girls playing for our travel organization MUST play in the LL as well and in the spring (our competitive LL season), LL commitments trump travel commitments. This requirement, while it multiplies the commitment and makes my life insane (esp. during the spring season), has helped raise the level of play in the LL. By extension, it has also improved the level of play at the local High Schools, who are ultimately fed by the LL.

For our LL, teams at the Majors level are chosen by draft so that travel players are spread out. We field 5 LL Majors teams and each have, probably, 5 to 6 travel players of varying ability. This typically makes for more competitive LL games and certainly helps with the All-Star teams in the summer. Also helps younger or more REC-only girls improve their skills during the course of the season. Our travel organization was formed, probably about 15 years or so ago now, expressly to prevent more talented/competitive girls from leaving the LL while also raising the overall level of play in the LL. Our travel club is "serious" but it is not travel for travel's sake. I think things will change at 14U (as girls are no longer eligible to play LL), but perhaps this blended approach is a way to reconcile some of the concerns raised in this thread, at least from 8U-12U. My DD has really enjoyed both experiences with LL and travel (playing with friends, playing for your community, etc.) As crazy as it has been, I am not sure I would have wanted to have to make the choice at these younger ages.

 

[whack]

Sounds like a great system especially at the younger ages. Well done.


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[Medicmerk]

Our local high school has one of the best teams in Southern California and probably top 10 in the state and when the freshmen girls show up to try out for the team they are separated by TB and Rec players. TB is automatically on the team and what ever scraps are left is what the rec girls tryout for. My DD is 11 and an above average player. My solution is pretty simple. Rec in the Spring and travel in the short Fall season. We’re fortunate enough to have a pretty good rec league in the spring with solid competition and I’ve found that the fall season for TB is about 90 % friendlies. Best of both worlds till she gets a little older.

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[whack]

Our local high school has one of the best teams in Southern California and probably top 10 in the state and when the freshmen girls show up to try out for the team they are separated by TB and Rec players. TB is automatically on the team and what ever scraps are left is what the rec girls tryout for. My DD is 11 and an above average player. My solution is pretty simple. Rec in the Spring and travel in the short Fall season. We’re fortunate enough to have a pretty good rec league in the spring with solid competition and I’ve found that the fall season for TB is about 90 % friendlies. Best of both worlds till she gets a little older.

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Honestly that’s dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of for a coach to do. Wow.


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[Medicmerk]

Honestly that’s dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of for a coach to do. Wow.


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May be dumb but that’s what they do.

 

[J.Galt]

Just wait until HS ball when rec-only or HS-only players face a senior pitcher committed to a top D-1 program.


If this is a pervasive attitude within your rec league, they are killing themselves. This person (and others, possibly) are ignoring the fact that you might have family or friends with young girls who are interested in playing softball. A butt-hurt attitude towards your decision to move your DD to TB doesn't do much to motivate you to pimp the league to future softball players, especially in So Cal where there other league options readily available to most everyone.

Also, unless there is a local regulation against it, I'm not sure how they can keep you from playing catch in a public park. That sounds like some serious BS to me.

The woman claimed that she didn't want my DD to hurt one of their players who may have inadvertently walked in to my DDs long toss workout. My DD pitches in to a Bownet from 90-140 feet away. I stand behind the Bownet and catch any balls that fly or bounce over it. She has never hit anyone walking across the park. The woman also said she didn't want their leagues players seeing my DDs workout because she didn't want them to injure themselves trying to copy it.
It is all bad blood from the ASA ladies over all of the girls leaving the league for TB. Where the fields are they have a snack bar, equipment room and an office so there's one of them there almost all the time. Everyone who I know who left for TB catch the same attitudes from these women

 

[J.Galt]

Our local high school has one of the best teams in Southern California and probably top 10 in the state and when the freshmen girls show up to try out for the team they are separated by TB and Rec players. TB is automatically on the team and what ever scraps are left is what the rec girls tryout for. My DD is 11 and an above average player. My solution is pretty simple. Rec in the Spring and travel in the short Fall season. We’re fortunate enough to have a pretty good rec league in the spring with solid competition and I’ve found that the fall season for TB is about 90 % friendlies. Best of both worlds till she gets a little older.

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My DD, her mom and I spoke to the Softball coaches at the HS she will go to in the fall. They told us in pretty much obvious words that if a girl does not only play on a travel ball team but on an elite level travel ball team and goes to fielding, hitting, pitching... lessons with known coaches ontop of that, they should probably not even waste everyone's time trying out for softball.
It is a private school though so maybe some of the public schools are more accepting of rec players