Travel Ball vs. HS Sports vs. other club sports

[jdint]

I wasn’t thinking about sports like basketball that games might start at 6PM or 7PM. Softball games start at 4PM near me and the latest start times when my daughter played High School soccer and volleyball was 5:30PM.

California passed a law a couple years ago that for public high schools the first class can’t start before 8:30AM.

In California High School tournaments can only be on Saturdays, so Sundays were not tied up.

Summer practices/workouts for High School sports can be annoying. My DD got cut from HS volleyball her senior year to a certain degree because summer workouts conflicted with her club softball practices.

This drives me nuts. They call them "voluntary workouts" but the don't seem very "voluntary"

 

[kibadbo]

There may be 2 different perspectives here to consider. I can see where having a minimum standard to meet to be able to play sports can incentivize students to put in the extra effort to hit that standard. That often times doesn't require that much more effort to get a C average. However in some cases high academic students are trying get all A's while taking multiple AP classes. That is where I think HS sports can impact their ability to achieve at a high academic level.

My daughter's HS coach puts a big emphasis on grades. The expectation is that the girls strive to get As, and she tracks them to make sure they do. The results are outstanding. Nearly the entire team made the all-academic team. My DD has an adjusted GPA of over 4.0 and it isn't enough to get her in the top 5 of her teammate's GPAs. It's just a matter of making it a priority.

 

[Lightning]

Digging into the schedule more, the Southern Section Softball championship games are a week before Memorial Day. The San Diego Section has its Section championship games Memorial Day weekend, so Regionals end the first weekend in June. Sounds like Southern Section AD's need to lobby the other Sections in that region to get on the same schedule as the Southern Section to have Regionals played Memorial Day weekend.

Do LA travel teams start playing tournaments before Memorial Day weekend? Looks like Southern Section has 32 team brackets, with play-offs starting the first week in May?

Last spring both Southern Section and LA City Section had their finals May 19-20, which was the same weekend as a PGF qualifier that was attended by a lot of Southern California teams. A lot of teams from around here went into that qualifier without several key players (DD's team was one). By the end of section finals, a lot of players feel obligated to get back to their travel teams.

When do Southern Section schools have graduation? Memorial Day weekend?

Mostly in June. I know of one district that finishes in May but that's it.

 

[pdqkevin]

If a girl aspires to play softball in college, missing a softball tournament for a volleyball tournament or any other sporting event is inexcusable. My daughter's former coach had a team with a bunch of girls who also played volleyball, and scheduling was a nightmare because they always had conflicts. Eventually, it came back to bite him when they all chose volleyball over softball and quit his team, leaving his daughter with no team.

Proms, family weddings, homecoming, and other events of that ilk are different stories.

So many of you people are crazy about the college scholarship thing. First of all D1 softball only has 12 scholarships so you will be lucky to get a half scholarship. If your kid is unusually tall have her play basketball they get 15 scholarships so everyone is on a full ride. Otherwise make them a golfer. Most years they don’t even fill their available scholarships.
if kids love the game but still want to have a life then lower division college softball is a great choice and honestly those coaches can usually find as much financial aid as a 1/2 scholarship at D1 is worth.

If a girl aspires to play softball in college, missing a softball tournament for a volleyball tournament or any other sporting event is inexcusable. My daughter's former coach had a team with a bunch of girls who also played volleyball, and scheduling was a nightmare because they always had conflicts. Eventually, it came back to bite him when they all chose volleyball over softball and quit his team, leaving his daughter with no team.

Proms, family weddings, homecoming, and other events of that ilk are different stories.

 

[Nuwin]

Guess we should all just give up when the odds aren't a lock in our favor.

 

[RADcatcher]

Scholarships are money for achievement in different categories~ public or private colleges.
Think it's a good goal to want to strive to get money to help pay for College!

One of these things ain't like the other
cuz you got to pay it back...

 

[RADcatcher]

 

[Gtrips07]

Yup. I'm sure you're right and I know girls who fit into that.

Just isn't how it works with my kids. They need hours each night to keep up with coursework and HS softball prevents that.

If it is taking hours at night, it sounds like an education system problem. Kids have more homework, and ACT scores are down to the lowest point in twenty years, even with making the test easier.


One thing I notice is study halls seem to be non-existent anymore along with required PE. I think having both of those need to be required again.

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

 

[Dabears17]

So many of you people are crazy about the college scholarship thing. First of all D1 softball only has 12 scholarships so you will be lucky to get a half scholarship. If your kid is unusually tall have her play basketball they get 15 scholarships so everyone is on a full ride. Otherwise make them a golfer. Most years they don’t even fill their available scholarships.
if kids love the game but still want to have a life then lower division college softball is a great choice and honestly those coaches can usually find as much financial aid as a 1/2 scholarship at D1 is worth.

When my daughter was four a friend told me travel softball is an excellent experience for my daughter and we would meet some great people, but if I was planning for it to pay for college, put that money in a 529. It is a great hobby and activity if you can afford it. We spent at least 90 percent of the cost of one year at a CSU the two years she played on a national team. Told her she was spending the money I was going to give her towards a car by playing those two summers and she picked to play on that team.

I was also given the advice the best way to play in college was to look at D3 and NAIA schools and have very good grades because they'll find you academic money. If your DD really wants to play softball in college, there is an NAIA school somewhere she can play for almost everyone's daughter on this board.

When she was 8, the same friend told me she should pick up golf if she wanted to get an athletic scholarship for college.

My DD got along fine with her club teammates, but she facetimed from college with some of her high school softball teammates tonight.

 

[RADcatcher]

Kids as Young as 8 Are Using Social Media More Than Ever, Study Finds (Published 2022)

The report highlights a 17 percent increase in screen use among teens and tweens in the last two years — more than in the four years prior.

www.nytimes.com