When and how to start playing TB?

[dalmadmer03]

MNDad we are right outside of Houston, Tx on the northeast side. She is a hard worker and does not like it when others aren’t trying or committed to the game or practice. She never complains about practice either.

 

[dalmadmer03]

Thanks Eric, I’ll get that out of my head lol. We are going to start looking around and getting the word out that she wants to play.

 

[grcsftbll]

Our county rec program is pretty weak. My DD started at 5 also. We went to travel in 2nd year 8U when she was just too far ahead of the level of play in rec. She was bored and annoyed with the whole thing after playing All Stars. She loved the tournaments and complained about only having one game in a day. We actually transitioned to travel with our rec coach. Usually tryouts are in August here, then in January/Feb a lot of teams look again to fill in the blanks. You can look for teams in your area and contact them to see if they need players, then bring her to a practice. Or if you want to transition in the fall there should be tryouts then. Here there's a message board where a lot of that gets announced, plus most teams use Facebook these days.

 

[Orange Socks]

MNDad we are right outside of Houston, Tx on the northeast side. She is a hard worker and does not like it when others aren’t trying or committed to the game or practice. She never complains about practice either.

During one summer we played 3 tourneys and finished 2nd 3 times behind the 10U Kingwood Mustangs All Star team!! That was an incredible team with an incredible pitcher who is finishing out her Senior year this season. She will be playing in the Big12 in the fall.

If you want to take your DD's skills to the next level without the full year time commitment, a taste of weekend tourneys, and won't break the bank try to play with your league's summer All Star team. It's the gateway to full on TB. There are lots of TB options in your area. Lindsay Lyons, Splendora, Kingwood etc. Talk to your league's directors and coaches about options. Finding the right fit early on will go a long way in determining if you want to continue the fastpitch life.

Here are some facebook links for the most active local fastpitch pages.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/softballlife586/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/txfastpitchplayers/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/175172765828852/

 

[MNDad]

MNDad we are right outside of Houston, Tx on the northeast side. She is a hard worker and does not like it when others aren’t trying or committed to the game or practice. She never complains about practice either.

I saw Orange Socks set you up with some links to get started. DD's roommate/catcher is from the Houston area too. Crazy year for you guys with the Hurricane and Astro's. Some great advice here from other posters. Wish I had known aboui this site back in 10U.

 

[MNDad]

My DD is 9 and doesn't play travel but I thought I'd share my reasons why.

1. Her league has a lot of talented players and some really great coaches. So while she's been an above-average player in her league since her first season, she continues to be challenged. And there are plenty of girls around her who are willing to work as hard and push themselves as much as DD. So she hasn't outgrown the league by any means.

2. In addition to softball, DD does Girl Scouts and also plays volleyball and basketball. These sports overlap to some degree or another with softball, and then selling Girl Scout cookies is like adding a part-time job to her schedule. Our rec league schedule is intense enough, we couldn't increase intensity without her having to drop something else or have her grades suffer. Right now she wants to be a three-sport athlete in high school, so she's not willing to give up basketball or volleyball, and her time in other sports has actually helped her softball skills.

3. DD doesn't care if she plays TB or rec, she just wants to play. She loves her league, she has friends on every team, and she wants to represent her league in All-Stars.

So overall, it doesn't make sense for us. She's good where she is, and at some point her priorities will change and we'll adjust accordingly.

I hear you on the Girl Scout cookies! From elementary through HS Wife was the district cookie coordinator and our garage was full of them all spring. DD was in everything at 9 as well. She slowly started narrowing down activities and by junior year it was only softball, and Girl Scouts of course.

 

[canyonjoe]

If you think your yard looks too nice, you think you have too much money and are looking for a good way to get more miles on your car you are ready to think TB

 

[FP26]

My DD moved to TB a little later than many of the other DDs here, so I will share her story. She started by playing tee ball at the ages of 5 and 6. From there she moved to rec league softball at the age of 7. At the age of 10, it was very clear that she had more interest in softball than many of her friends, so we decided to take her to a travel team try out. She did well at the tryouts, and was offered a spot. Unfortunately, the team did not have enough players for a 10u team, but wanted to offer DD a spot on the 12u team. We met with the coach and talked about the practice schedule and the game schedule. They had planned to play 15 tournaments between late April and early September. That didn't leave many weekends for other things, and DD absolutely loved our pool. So as a family we decided against it at that time. She continued to play rec ball at 11 but again decided not to play travel ball. At the end of the year 11 season, she was asked to try out for the all star team. She made the team and started to practice with the group. Immediately she noticed a significant difference. Instead of girls that enjoyed the game, she was practicing with girls that loved the game. We would show up for a 5 pm to 7 pm practice but would stay until it was dark out. The players were permitted to leave, but not one did. They all wanted to stay as long as they could. The team went on to win the district championship (DD pitched that game) but lost in the next round. But at this point, DD was hooked. Even before all star games started, she started talking about going to try outs. So her first actual year of travel ball was her 12 year old season. For her this worked out well. But if I could go back in time, I probably would have started her back at 10 years old, or 11 years old at the latest.

 

[WARRIORMIKE]

I tried to get my dd into travel at an early age of 8. To early. Bad experience with everything. She was turned off immensely by travel. I would ask my kid every year or few months if she wanted to do travel. She continuously said "No". So in rec I just continued to play her up, until she was 12. Our league is very stable with a lot of talent. So to put her into travel I was totally cool without it. I knew the time was coming she was going to have to spread her wings. So I let her tell me, and she did. At the ripe old age of 13 she told me to that she has to do travel and she knew she needed to grow.

Not sure if this will help. I was glad she made the choice and not the parents.

 

[Hube111]

Definitely not late to TB. My DD didn't start playing softball until she was 10. She moved over from gymnastics and at 10 was a good athlete, but not a good softball player. She started that year of rec ball at the bottom of the lineup and slowly worked her way to the top by the time the season was over. Her and I put in extra work that summer and off season because she wanted to, and the following 11 year rec season she was the best player on her team, and by the end of year it was evident she needed to be challenged more and play better competition. So the summer after 11 year rec season she tried out for a local TB team. I was new to TB and picked the team for all the wrong reasons because it was close to us. She went to 6 try outs for that team, which I've come to find out is not normal, and ultimately was not offered a spot on the team. Worse yet was that her best friend made the team and she was more devastated than I've ever seen. The coach sited a poor throwing motion for not offering her a spot, which literally lit a fire in her. She did 150-200 throwing drill reps daily for a month and worked harder than I've ever seen. In that time a Rec. team coach from another town we played against reached out to me because he was putting a new TB team together and wanted her to try out. We went and she made the team, and the best thing that ever happened to her was not making the first TB team, even though she wanted so bad. She played TB and rec her 12 y/o year and it was just too much. She missed half the rec season due to TB, so now she's 13, with the same TB team again and dropped rec this year. Instead she doing the junior umpire program so she's still involved with the local rec program and making some money.

Your definitely not late to TB. Everyone's journey is different.