NCAA softball still dominated by regions

I agree with this!

Hate to be the bad gut here! I will get several here that flat won't look in the mirror on this and continue using population as a excuse. We have a a coach with our team that coached high school ball in Orange County, CA and coached with the Corona Angels Gold team. I am going to tell you his thoughts that I agree with 100 %. He says we have the athletes here but have no where near the dedication to the sport that west coast kids do. Like the post I quoted my daughter likes doing things with her friends after homework etc.. She doesn't play other sports but if she wanted to I would support her. She would have to give up her current team for that. There aren't many athletes that can pull off this 3 sport star stuff. You can find very few on the west coast that do. They simply don't miss time for volleyball, basketball etc...We battle it quite a bit with our teams. Some girls have to find other teams over it. Some players that play other sports don't get considered for the teams unless they give them up. Thats harsh but if you want to play national level ball there is a price to do it. Things are getting better here every year but it will take that dedication to get it done. The more girls that do it the it becomes normal for other kids to so the same. Nothing wrong how we are as people. We just can't expect not to give thing up to get the results they have out west.

 

I think some are obviously not following what the impact of population density has on all the other factors in the equation.

 

Kind of like if we had real high density we would be justified having the number of teams we now have. And the teams would all have higher skilled players.

Locally, too many teams, not enough players. Los Angeles, too many players, not enough teams.

If you have too many players you can pick and choose for only the most gifted athletes, for example.

 

Could you expand on this then. I agree with N/A Jacket the commitment by the players is not what it is on the west coast. I have been involved with FP for about 10 years in NC, as a coach, instructor and fan. There are a handful of players in every class that bust their butts year round and get the most of their ability. But a great deal of players half heartly work at their game and do not achieve the results that they could if the worked harder. Now there are various reasons why this happens most loose some interest and other things become more important to them. There is nothing wrong with that either. But do not expect results without work. Coach May from the baseball side of the house did some hitting lessons for some kids in the local area a couple of years ago and I was able to observe some of this and the one thing I remember most was, him talking about committing to work. He summed it up very simply and I am going to paraphrase this. If he were working at his job and doing a half a$$ job and he went to his boss and ask for a raise he would not have much to stand on. Equating that to working at an athletic skill such as hitting, if you don't work consistently at it how can you expect to go up against the top pitching prospects and be successful. You can't and if you think you can you are only fooling yourself.

 

Population

Population can give you more players and more choices but wont always give you players dedicated to the sport. I will use my own community as an example. I can go any day to the baseball / softball fields for the high school. Every day I do that there are always baseball kids hitting in the cages and never softball kids doing the same. My area stinks for softball even though the population is there but the dedication is not. California is a softball crazy state and there is plenty of dedication to the sport. Until that changes here they will continue to take scholarships that could be going to area girls. It do so a change every year but we still aren't close.

 

I totally agree with Elite's statement. My showcase team was affiliated with a local baseball academy. Any member of my team had full access to their facility: indoor cages, outdoor cages, all kinds of gadgets and gizmos to teach proper swings, fields, etc. There were professional baseball players there to give instructions.
On any given day, you would see the baseball team members and a Dad or two there hitting in the cages, tees, etc. I had one or two members of my team use the facility besides the day we practiced. One of them is going Division 1, the other decided that college softball was not for her. I would harp on my team that the only way they were going to improve was to utilize thier free time by using the facility and practicing on their own.

The girls in CA, TX, etc. want it! Until the girls in NC, SC, etc understand that it takes more than just practicing with their team once a week, or going to a batting cage once a week, they won't be on the National stage. It takes a desire to want to be the best and complete dedication and hard work to make it to that level.

Some might say that they need a life outside of softball. That is fine, but then don't be upset when Division 1 isn't knocking on your door.

 

I used to live in Huntington Beach, CA. The population of Orange Co is over 3 Million. Just over 1/3 the population of North Carolina in a county that is a little larger than Meck Co. Then add in that every surrounding county is even larger and bigger. The density of potential talent for just one single sport is very high.

There is also a very different culture in CA that is very competitive compared to the general culture in the rest of the country.

The year round outdoor playing environment certainly doesnt hurt either.

And then you add in the financial resources that families in that area are generally much higher.(indulgent might better describe it).

Add all that up and you have a winning formula. There is plenty of room to have coaches that make mistakes or teach wrong and you will never see the results of those coming from CA but you will see the results of a good coach.

If you think about it, if you compare the potential talent pool and the number of girls that could or should be playing softball in CA, CA is hugely UNDERrepresented.

This is all not to say that their success cant be duplicated but it will take a lot more work than is currently being put out in NC.

 

Again well said, I have had similar experiences over the years. I refer to it as "wantoo", you have to want too be working as much as possible, want too compete as much as possible, want too play the best available competition whenever possible. It is tough no doubt, but if it is not approached this way the player will never know at what level they have may have been able too play at.

 

Are most of their tournaments watered-down-, time-limited-, inning-limited-, score-doesn't-matter-, winning-not-important-, choreographed-, job-interview-type tournaments?

 

How about Bama

If I remember correctly a large number of starters on their roster were home grown I believe. Possibly a much more competitive athletic history in the state, so maybe they are working a little harder. Certainly they are not much more populated a state then NC