Why so few

it is mostly post-college / older players

maybe sometime some of those older softball Olympian gals will really retire.

didn't the USA lose to Japan last time?

 

If and when my daughter gets a scholarship to D1 school (which is my full expectation), she better damn well finish her 4 years. To throw away free school is insane in this economic environment. Now if they are a walk on, I would not expect her to tough it out with splinters in their butt.

 

My oldest daughter also quit to concentrate on nursing. The coach told her she was welcome back if she ever changed her mind and allowed her to keep her scholarship. She will not be returning as there is no future in softball as said above. Yes, even thought she probably would not have made the olympic team, it was a motivatio for her to play in college.

 

This is correct

But the lack of Olympic inclusion has a 'ripple effect' throughout the softball world. This is especially true overseas where most of the post-collegiate opportunities are for U.S. players. Even here in the states it will make it more difficult to muster interest in the game. On college campuses the non-rev sports are typically referred as 'Olympic sports'. Now softball will get get an asterisk. It also impacts the likelihood of seeing softball personalities (think Jenny Finch, and Cat Osterman) in advertising thus further lowering the status of the game. In a non-Olympic environment it's going to be very difficult for any softball player to achieve the celebrity of a Finch regardless of her appearance (a very aspect of Finch's marketing power).

 

disappointed

If you are counting on your daughter getting a full ride to an NCAA D1 school right out of high school and it paying for her education, you are most likely going to be sorely disappointed. Most NCAA D1 rosters have 20 or more girls on them. With only 12.2 scholarships to give. You do the math. Most seniors are on full ride's while the vast majority of freshman are on partials.


The funnel starts at age 10 and gets smaller and smaller all the way through to college graduation. It is natural. The number of kids or players gets smaller and smaller every year they get older.

The one element from this discussion and equation is graduation. While many teams only have a few seniors it is not to say that the 75% of the class that entered and quit softball did not all finish and get their degree. In most cases 70 % of them their careers did not pan out, they were recruited on top off and/or academics took a toll.

For a high school student the attractiveness of playing in college is a motivator, but once you get there and life starts staring you in the face, making a living after college becomes more important if your career is not going like you had hoped it would.

Ty

 

This only makes you wonder if all the time used to chase Showcase Tournaments and college coaches is all worth it when the time might be better spent just playing good ole' softball in the last remaining years of Youth Fastpitch and having a good time.

 

I have said that for years. For MOST girls just playing for fun is the way to go.

 

......full rides in college softball are few and far between.
......and being a senior has nothing to do with the amount of $ a kid gets.

 

I agree with cmmguy and central-d 100%!!!

Imagine softball without $howca$e$; that would be AWESOME!! The way it used to be!!! REAL softball!!!