Is high school ball benefical

If a player is playing travel ball and most of your scouts go to see showcase tournaments are there really any benefits to playing high school ball. It seems like high school ball ( at least in our case) is like glorified rec ball.

 

In my opinion, HS ball has value. The values differ though from Travel Ball.

The values I see in HS ball for my DD are the following:
- ability to improve her game by focusing on weakness.
- ability to improve/develop leadership skills.
- ability to represent your school.

Now, there is a potential downside. With NC playing their HS ball in the spring, I've seen players end their HS season injured due to a variety of issues including over use of pitchers. The net results is that it impacted their summer travel ball/recruiting season.

My DD lost most of the HS season and about 1/2 the summer season last yr due to an injury in a HS game. But she'll be playing HS ball again this year because she wants to and we believe it an experience she can benefit from in the short term and something she'll always value.

 

High School ball has no beneficial value other than having fun and a chance to represent your school. A few of the negatives would be overuse of players and playing with inexperienced players can result in season ending and sometimes career ending injuries and bad coaching resulting in bad habits that are hard to break. Before I get slammed, not all coaching in high school is bad but it is safe to say the majority of it is. There are some good high school programs in NC and it would be beneficial if you play for one of them, but again the majority are not. Each girl must decide if the good out weighs the bad and decide what is best for her. In a few instances I have seen girls get totally ruined and turned off to softball by their high school programs.

 

High School ball has many benefits, of course at some schools the gain is greater. One, it teaches you to work as a team for a common goal of representing your school. It should teach you that it is not all about you but about the honor of playing the game. If you have a good coaching staff, and there are many throughout the state, you will become a better player. The down side of show case ball in my opinion of watching the last decade, is that we have developed a player and parent society that thinks its all about them. What can team X do for me? How about what can you do for team X.

 

I think HS ball provides many life lessons for players. It will teach them to be part of a team with limited resources. It will teach them to make the best of a situation and that you can't always have things your way. It amazes me to see "some" girls, or actually their parents, complain about the HS softball team and coach and yet they are on a Volleyball team or basketball team and their daughter ain't all that good. But because this is not their "chosen" sport it is all about participation and school spirit. But come softball season everything is different. This is just some of the issues I have witnessed.

 

^ this contains all the truth an answer could have to the question posed. If you are at a top program (the type that was mentioned) consider yourself fortunate. The rest are something you merely endure.. IMO.

 

Character Builder

The number one benefit to any extracurricular activity is that it builds character and develops a well rounded individual. This character building is far more important than any softball scholarship. The NCAA has probably the best commercial when it states how many athletes will be going pro in something other than sports. Softball just completes the picture for most of us, it doesn't define us.
Dad

 

Anything has value if you choose to find it

Absolutely school ball has value, because simply put anything has value if you choose to find it.

School ball invests a player in her school community - early training for college ball when a player will be invested in her school & her school invested in her.

School ball teaches commitment - practices and/or games 5 days a week...a little nibble of the demands that will be required in college, as opposed to TB where most of the demands are on the weekends.

School ball provides player maturity - TB players are often able to assess, on their own, the quality of coaching and can learn how to adroitly handle providing a coach with what he wants while learning the art of avoiding picking up bad habits.

School ball promotes self-discipline and leadership - from on the ball field to in the school hallways, an athlete is representing their school at all times and must learn to comport themselves in that manner.

School ball teaches diversity - as the player intermingles with other players from all socio-economic backgrounds, as opposed to TB where it is far less diverse.

School ball also provides memories that will last a lifetime....from winning the conference, to winning districts, regionals and states...or simply from defeating "that" rival school.

 

.....benefits come bit by bit in all of our lives....its called growing up. Having the opportunity to play sports or in the band, etc in HS is over quick.
Let your kid be a kid while she can.

Fishdad