Grades and T/B

What do you do if your DD has poor grades and is a good travel ball player? Fortunately my DD is very smart and is a good player on a very talenterd 16u team out of Raleigh. What about the DD that brings home C's, D's, and F's on a regular basis? Is there any chance for a college offer? Should they give up travel ball knowing they may not got an offer or just play and enjoy the sport of fastpitch? Do other coaches check on the girls report cards during the year? Just curious.

 

Grades come first... period!

"Playing" anything, whether it's travel, rec, or school based is a privilege. If a kid isn't performing their best in the classroom, then they have no business on the field. "Best" is defined as "the best they can do" not necessarily straight A's. You have to demand though, whatever that "best" is.

And to answer your question... No! Her chances of getting recruited with those grades are right up there with your chances of winning the lottery!

 

Grades first period!

GMan nailed it, grades come first period!

Our TB coach does ask the girls (and the parents) how their grades are throughout the year. I love that since it helps reinforce what we are telling our DDs.

Having said that, this is the parents job not the coaches. The parents are the ones who have to let the DD know the deal up front and take the action. No matter how hard it is, if there is a problem you HAVE to take action. We told both our DDs that if their grades started slipping, the first thing to go (after the cell phone, internet, TV, etc.) was sports.

We had one incident with our oldest DD where her grades started slipping. We (the parents) would not let her play or practice with her HS team until she got them back up. She still had to go to the practices and games but could not participate. Once she got her grades back up (it didn't take long to make up the work and retake a couple tests), we said she could play but then her HS coach benched her for getting benched by us. We haven't had a problem with either DD since...

 

While I'm all for doing good in school and making the grades it should have nothing to do with playing tb. So many people on here thnik that the only reason to play travel ball is to get th holy schlorship. Not so. A lot of kids play just for the fun of playing the game as it should be with no intention at all on playing in college. While I don't recomend it I have known several boys and girls both who played and had no plans on attending college at all. What ever happened to just letting kids bi kids and play ball as a pastime and enjoy the moment. As was revealed in an earlier thread most of the girls who go on to play in college find out it is nowhere near the fun they had playing tb and high school and give it up early on. I even go so far as to say there needs to be a better way to regulate the grades and playing in high school. I have seen so many times when a border line student does aomething a little wrong as in not good enough grades, over the limit on days missed ect. and then removed from their sport (which was what kept them trying in school) that when they lose sports they completely drop out of school. Got to be a better way. I know you have to have some rules but when sports are keeping them there don't take away their incentive to come to school. No matter how bad their doing at least their "doing". I know one kid who had it rough early in middle school and failed a year. He turned it around when he got to high school just so he could play baseball. Made decent grades and was on his way to graduate. His senoir year he was ruled to old to play sports by a month and even though he tried to get an exemption he was denied. He started missing school grades fell and he finally dropped out and never graduated. If he had gotten to play his senoir year he would have graduated and may have even went to a community college. Sports give many many kids a reason to keep trying and when taken away they lose a that incentive and quit trying. I have never understood why the administrators can't see that. I know we can't say don't worry about your grades just go play but there has to be a middle ground.

 

One Word

NO

 

Our travel team does not check report cards, but we do stress grades and education. We tell our girls that their education is more important than softball, but know that softball means a lot to them. We try to prepare our girls both from the education and softball side. For some girls that struggle with their grades, softball is the stress reliever. I leave the decision to play based on grades up to the parent. I will not cut a player due to grades, but will ask about them and support them in their education.

 

I would imagine that, say ten years down the road, the kid that had quit school won't be saying to himself "Gee, I wish I had played more ball."

When he, or she, is stuck in some menial job and has an ounce of sense, he or she will be wishing that they had worked a little harder in the classroom.

 

In baseball you have many different categories: Showcase, Travel Ball, Babe Ruth, Legion, etc. In softball you put them all under the same umbrella. If you create a team simply to try to gain college scholly's for the players, then obviously, good grades are imperative. But I'm with central-d. I don't want to exclude anyone from playing if they have the desire. Playing sports and learning life lessons are not exclusive to college bound players only. Besides, one never knows that playing for a particular coach may "ignite" the maturity and desire to improve one's grades.

If playing softball can turn just one player to become a better student or better person, then it was worth it to provide her that opportunity.

 

better pay attention....

When you have a college coach giving it to you straight you had better pay attention. It shouldn't even be an issue. Grades!!!