Let's Start a New Team!!!!!

I am not from the Carolinas, wish I was though. We have the same discussions up here in Ohio about the influx of new teams every year. Here are some of the observations that I have seen in the Ohio Fastpitch community.

Does it really matter if a new 10U, 12U or 14U team pops-up? The purpose of these age groups is to develop the skills of the players. Some of these teams want to be very competitive, others do not. To each their own. Just develop the girls. My DD is the only girl left from her 11U team. This team is in an established organization. She is 15U now. Only 3 girls out of 12 girls from the 11U team are playing travel ball. Kids will come and go and change teams. Some will just drop softball all together.

In 16U and 18U, we see an occasional new team pop-up but they are facing an uphill battle. The main purpose of these teams should be to get the girls seen by college coaches so that they can demonstrate their skills. New teams have a disadvantage of getting into established showcases because they have no history for the tournaments to look at for selection. These teams are usually not around the next year and their players are popping up in the more established organizations.

In 16U and 18U it isn't always about winning. At showcases, if the coach knows a certain coach is present to see a certain player, then the coach should make every effort to get that girl into the game. College coaches come to tournaments to watch particular prospects playing against a competitive team. They do not care what the score of the game is and they do not care what the team record is. They just want to watch a particular girl playing in a competitive situation, period!!!

There are some girls that have no intention of playing college ball and there is nothing wrong with that. For those teams, there are tournaments out there that they can compete in.

Lastly, have you noticed how much of the threads about playing time, Daddy Ball, stealing players, ect., are from the younger age groups? I admit, I have been part of that. But by the time the parents reach the older age groups, the parents are more laid back and they just come and support their DD and her team and also girls from other teams that they have come to know. It is really a totally different mentality in the older age groups.

Again, I wish I was in the Carolinas. My DD would enjoy the longer outdoor softball season instead of being cooped up inside during the winter.

 

Hey Cheeze, beat you to it!

....Welcome to TBR Stingray12. One of the moderators, my friend Cheeze, generally welcomes members to the board, but "ol fishman chimed in first. lol.

BTW, EXCELLENT first post!
Marlin

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stingray12
I am not from the Carolinas, wish I was though. We have the same discussions up here in Ohio about the influx of new teams every year. Here are some of the observations that I have seen in the Ohio Fastpitch community.

Does it really matter if a new 10U, 12U or 14U team pops-up? The purpose of these age groups is to develop the skills of the players. Some of these teams want to be very competitive, others do not. To each their own. Just develop the girls. My DD is the only girl left from her 11U team. This team is in an established organization. She is 15U now. Only 3 girls out of 12 girls from the 11U team are playing travel ball. Kids will come and go and change teams. Some will just drop softball all together.

In 16U and 18U, we see an occasional new team pop-up but they are facing an uphill battle. The main purpose of these teams should be to get the girls seen by college coaches so that they can demonstrate their skills. New teams have a disadvantage of getting into established showcases because they have no history for the tournaments to look at for selection. These teams are usually not around the next year and their players are popping up in the more established organizations.

In 16U and 18U it isn't always about winning. At showcases, if the coach knows a certain coach is present to see a certain player, then the coach should make every effort to get that girl into the game. College coaches come to tournaments to watch particular prospects playing against a competitive team. They do not care what the score of the game is and they do not care what the team record is. They just want to watch a particular girl playing in a competitive situation, period!!!

There are some girls that have no intention of playing college ball and there is nothing wrong with that. For those teams, there are tournaments out there that they can compete in.

Lastly, have you noticed how much of the threads about playing time, Daddy Ball, stealing players, ect., are from the younger age groups? I admit, I have been part of that. But by the time the parents reach the older age groups, the parents are more laid back and they just come and support their DD and her team and also girls from other teams that they have come to know. It is really a totally different mentality in the older age groups.

Again, I wish I was in the Carolinas. My DD would enjoy the longer outdoor softball season instead of being cooped up inside during the winter.



Stingray12, Thanks for the info. I should have realized that once you move up to showcase teams you don't have to worry about a coach stealing players as they are doing in 14u. I guess when you move up and start playing for the college coaches everything changes.

 

Thanks, I am a Southern boy at heart. I spent 14 of my 20 years in the Army south of the Mason Dixon line (Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama). I moved back north in 1999 and we do miss the south.

 

Trooper,


It really does change. I could not believe it at first but it is true. Arch-rival teams at 12U and 14U are now playing friendlies and scrimmages just to get the girls ready for showcases. Cats and Dogs playing together, wow.

I understand about the recruiting/stealing of players. It drove me crazy. But we just realized that coaches who do that are only in softball for themselves and nobody else. You know the type, "Look at me, I assembled a great team. I did not develop them or help them better their skills, but MY team sure did beat the snot out of some teams".

 

I didn't mean to make a sweeping remark about public school coaching - especially high school, but on the middle school level it is night and day to tb. Some one much wiser once told me that "boys are happy if they play good, and girls have to be happy to play good." I often think of that advice, and it is so true. My favorite compliment is when an ump, or opposing coach ask "which one is your daughter". That means I'm doing my job. Usually the teams having the most fun win, and we have made that our goal.

 

Second that!

We did not get very many travel balls players on the middle school team I helped coach so we did the best we could with what we had. We taught fundamentals and stressed having fun, after all, it is a 'game'. We always noticed that when the girls were having fun, we seemed to win or at least compete but when they got uptight, we struggled.

As far as umps asking which one was my daughter. Had that happen every year. The answer was easy for two of the seasons, none! One year, my youngest DD was the manager (was in 6th grade) and the last year she had already moved to HS. Both of those years were the most fun I had ever had coaching!