Future fate of "rec" ball?

What will girls "rec" fastpitch softball look like in 5 - 10 years? I have coached rec(& some all-star rec league teams) for the past several years and I have noticed a sharp decline in the talent staying in the rec leagues. More & more each year go to travel ball, although a few come back to rec ball. Most girls seem to start out in rec ball at the age 7-8 level and maybe 9-10 , but soon they go to the travel teams.

Some girls play both levels; but that demand on time management and commitment is fairly rare. I have noticed from a distance that Pitt County has managed to keep a large percent of their girls in rec league play and then putting their all-star team from the rec league into travel tournaments and the yearly circuit of the "all-star" district/state/regional/world series level tournament trail. Hat's off to them for keeping the girls dedicated at both rec & travel levels.

What's the future fate of rec ball?
Thanks.

 

Not very good...

 

Pitt County

My daughter was fortunate enough to play Babe Ruth ball in Pitt County. She pitched for the first 12U World Series Champions in 2000. Continued in the league thru 14U while playing travel ball. Eventually it got to be too much. As a pitcher she needed time during the week to rest and drill between weekend tournaments. In Pitt County participation in Rec ball past 12U has gradually declined. The league responded intelligently by focusing on younger girls with programs down to age six. There are some die hards who stayed in the league. There is an Pitt County 18U team playing in the SE Babe Ruth Regionals here this week. The team includes one girl who pitched @ a D1 school this past season and another D2 pitcher! Also several Pitt Community College Players! My view is that the future of rec ball, though, is with kids 12 and under. In fact, I really don't understand travel ball for girls under 10 years of age. Makes little sense to me. Seems all necessary skill development could occur in local leagues. Do seven year olds really need to go the Florida to play? Some parents need to step back and "get a grip"!

 

Rec ball

Just my ...

Rec ball was great for introducing my daughter to the game at the coach-pitch and/or machine-pitch level (8U). We tried the rec stuff as she approached the 9-10 year old age group, and she almost quit due to the lack of pitching...it was either walk after walk after walk or, even worse, hit batter after hit batter. Not real fun for that age group. Tournament ball has been much better, as the pitching is more accurate (though faster), and thankfully she has gotten over the fear. My belief is that rec ball should stay with some sort of machine through age 10 at least, and focus on the younger players. Perhaps they should be happy with 1 or 2 teams at ages above that, and have it indeed be a "rec" league with girls who just want to play and have fun. The seriously competitive girls have and will migrate to tournament ball, and if it gets "too much" for them, they can go back to rec. It's great to have the alternatives if rec can function with only a few teams. There's a place for it, and it will draw some girls who wouldn't play otherwise.

 

Rec ball has a place. Maybe some of the kids parents can't afford the high fees or can't get them here and there every weekend, etc etc. When these travel ball kids get to their respective High schools they better hope that some of their team mates have played some ball before.(I'm assuming EVERY HS softball player doesn't play travel ball) I guess I'm a little bitter at the perception that its only Travel ball kids who can play or get the coaching. I just finished a U-14 rec league last night. We had quite a few travel ball kids in our league and quite honestly there were alot of those kids that weren't as good as some of the "Non travel ball" players in our league. I do notice they have a little more of an attitude, and knew their little taunting chants, but thats another post for another time. But I was proud of my old rag tag "Rec" team that had mostly 12 year olds and finished 2nd in the tourney.
I will say though that it takes ALOT of work to get rec leagues going and if they die it will be because of lack of effort,(by adults) rather than kids wanting to play. The kids are out there, the effort has to be made to find them.

 

more on rec ball

some very good comments on this thread.
When I first got into coaching girls softball several yr's ago, something about the annual migration of girls from rec to travel ball really bothered me; I guess being a traditional "community-minded" person , I felt that parents / players were being somewhat disloyal. There seems to be far less local loyalty today than in past ....... but anyway (before I get too far off subject) , in recent years I am so accustomed to the migration that it no longer concerns me. In fact, I have ultimately benefitted from it; for each of the past 3-4 years I have inherited previous travel ball players that have tired of the rat race and wanted to come back to play rec ball. It helps to have some of those girls to increase the capability for the team to compete for championships, although I have also inherited some travel ball players that really did not give the anticipated effort in rec ball games.

Agree that rec ball has its place , but mostly for the younger ages.

 

One other comment

You might think 8u is a little early for "travel" ball, and on the surface it looks like it, especially if it's overly competitive and long travel. However, look at when the rec season ends...it is usually just as school is getting done, thus the girls have the whole summer without any organized ball. I guess this is done so as not to interfere with vacations, etc..., but you can't blame kids and parents that actually want to continue during the summer, especially when they don't have to battle homework and bed times. I think it can be overdone but there can be a good balance. Again though, it has to be for kids who really love it, not parents who really love it.