hs softball

Cheeze..if what you say is true....I'm glad mine have moved on...being full time students at ECU.....aarrrrrggghhhh!

 

Yo fish! Did Abbey just call you old!?!?! HAHAHA - Just kidding...

 

I've been around ball....

....for along time, yes, and one thing is for sure....
....I"m right 100% of the time....when I'm talking to myself. And, NEWSFLASH, I argue both sides!

Why is there a lack of interest in softball programs brewing at the HS level?
I can't beleive that the talent level has fallen off in NC.
For that matter, I'd expect the talent level to continue to increase.
Just think of the vast number of younger sisters who have grown up on the ballfields while 'big sis' played all year long.
I wish I knew the answer.
I'm sure I'll argue with myself over the reasons why just as soon as I'm by myself....and then, I'm sure I'll agree with whatever I figure out! lol

 

Has the school population dropped? If not, what are the girls doing instead of playing sports? Can you survey all the girls?

 

I've expressed this concern in previous posts. I believe that softball is not nurtured at a young enough level to begin with. I see quite a few tee ball teams in baseball. Not as much with softball.

I'm not going to bring up parks and rec again because I haven't kept up with them in the past year or so. But when I was aware of their programs they were far short of what they could be.

One of the areas that I have noticed is TB. I've noticed a lot of teams looking for players who are already experienced. An exception to that is the NC Challengers. Ever since Ray McGee founded the organization they have cultivated players that had nothing more than athletic ability. They still do that. That is one of the priorities of Andy Stewart and has been since he took over from Ray. There have been many coaches developed directly or indirectly from the Challengers organization, also. Many of this past year's graduating class were at one time or another Challengers.

The Challengers are definitely not the only organization developing players. But they, and the other ones that do, are fulfilling what needs to be done to keep our sport healthy. When you teach at the younger levels, you are feeding the hs teams. When there is no organization teaching at the younger levels it is reflected in the hs teams.

All tb players should play hs sports. They are athletes; they are role models; they can have a major impact on the quality of athletics at their schools.

Any time you hear rec ball and hs ball being put down as a waste of time for "elite" athletes then you are hearing part of the root cause of lack of participation in softball. When those roots die so dies the tree.

If your organization is not actively involved in helping and teaching younger teams and players at all levels then you are a part of the problem. If we want our sport to flourish then we must nurture it.

One of our seniors at West Johnston this past year, with the help of some of her teammates, put on clinics for younger players as a senior project. It was as good or better than some clinics I've been to that was put on by professionals. Some of the parents were so impressed she wound up putting on a clinic for a local rec program. Not only did the kids benefit from it, so did the ladies that were doing the instructing. This is the kind effort that is needed to promote the sport.

The Raleigh city schools need that kind of help with the kids coming into hs. Teams like West Johnston, Garner, Wake Forest-Rolesville, Middle Creek, Apex have a decided advantage because they work with their kids through various programs at younger age levels.

Some of the local hs coaches need to be commended for the great jobs they're doing with mostly raw talent. We're beginning to see progress.

Encourage your TB players to participate, recruit, and train younger players. They've got sooo much to offer!!!

 

Coaching in Wake Co. and having the largest school system in the state makes it very hard to have a team full of quality ball players. There are 19 4A high schools and 5 major private schools in Wake Co. Not to mention the schools in Johnston Co. that are within a 30 mile radius of Raleigh. Plus the fact that our greatest competition is soccer. When our head coach and I started 5 years ago we knew what we were inheriting and we knew what was coming up. The talent level and interest for that matter, drops off tremendously after the current 7th grade class. Just about every school team in Wake Co. has at least a few TB players but not enough to make a difference. We have been fortunate to have a good mix of TB and non-TB players.

 

Very well put...

....... Softballphreak!! I couldn't agree more. We, in Garner, try very hard to promote our sport the best we can. We put on clinics with local players as instrutors as well making good use of our friend down on "Peace" Street in Raleigh. As a matter of fact, next week CD will hold one of his fall practices at our park and will include the league players as participants. All at no charge!! We take advantage of coaches clinics and pick the brains of our local college coaches too! We try to get our older players involved with the little ones as much as possible. They do a great job teaching the kids about the game they love so much!

 

One thing I can say for sure: if you have athletic ability as a freshman at Garner by the time you've had a season or two under Moe Barbour you're going to be a hitter! And Garner also has the luxury of GAYSL! That makes a difference!

And I believe 3bagger has been around since I was a kid.

 

This is a very good thread. I've enjoyed reading it. Keep the ideas coming.

This is much different for me where HS baseball and the experience the players received is never duplicated at the TB/Showcase level. Sure the competition may be greater, at times, but the experience of playing for your school and competing against your rival is never equaled.

 

No JV team at 4A Greenville Rose

This school had consistently won 20 games/year since converting to fast pitch up to my pitcher DD's graduation in 2005. My older DD (who ended up running XC at App) was cut from JV team at Rose in 2000. Now they can't find enough girls to field a team. It's very tough to explain. We have good rec league and several (too many really) travel teams for kids up to 14U. I do know here that soccer con't to grow and now we're starting to see both field hockey at private schools and club lacrosse.

I get the feeling that in this area softball has come to be seen as a "country game" and volleyball, soccer and lacrosse are seen as "cooler" things to play. I have no idea why this has occurred as I'm no longer involved in rec ball and only occasionally get to a HS game.