school ball or travel ball

My dd has hit the crossroads. She loves her travel ball team. Players and parents travel distances to get to practice for a common goal, they are dedicated to getting better, hard working. It's not a team of superstars, but you'll find a group of very hard working and competitive kids. This Summer she ran into some girls from high school who do not really do that much. They do not condition, rarely workout or hit, and the coach does not promote the kinds of activities that she see's with other high schools. There is not much of a push to get kids working in the off season except for the status quo, or to create an off season atmosphere. It's like the season ended and everyone went their separate ways. DD says she's tired of playing with kids who are not into it, or look at it as some second rate activity. I am wondering if there are any of you out there that have come across the same situation and dropped one team to play where the focus was more dedicated. Thanks.

 

This is an annual dilemma for a lot of girls. Some HS are just not as interested in softball as they could be. The HS interest reaches its high point just towards the end of their season when they suddenly realize they could have been a lot more successful if they had put in more effort at the beginning.

My suggestion is if you can make a positive difference (you can!) then I would get as many players as I could together and workout on your own if necessary or let the coach know you want to workout and the coach to participate. It's your team; the coach is simply the person in charge.

There are some issues that keep a team from working out together during pre-season. Kids have summer jobs, vacations, TB, etc. So what may seem to be a lack of interest isn't really the case all the time. Add to that the HS association rules about dead times such as the Aug 1-Sep 1 dead time.

But there ARE many opportunities to workout. Find as many potential players (especially freshmen) as you can and have some fun getting ready for the season. These players DO NOT have to be experienced players; more than half the fun of softball is learning how to play.

You, the TB player, have a lot you can GIVE to your HS team. You have to decide what your HS team is worth to you. You will make a difference whatever decision you make.

 

My dd dropped hs softball in her jr year. She had never enjoyed it, just played to keep in shape for tb (and to make her parents happy). The dedication level of the other girls as well as the hs coaches was not the same. Could we have pushed her and made her play? Probably, but only to have her hate softball all together and quit playing any. We chose to let her make this decision. The day she quit hs sb was the happiest I have seen her in quite some time. She is still playing tb with a great group of coaches and girls that are as dedicated as she is. She loves the game and loves this group; not just her team, but the tb circuit as well has provided some great friendships over the years.
As we go into her sr year (in which she will not play hs ball), I realized that her decision was the best for her. You can push them to play, but you can't make them enjoy it. When it becomes like work, they need to step back.

 

there can be no blanket statement about this issue, each girl is different, each high school team is different and there are differences between travel teams... but there isn't as great a separation between TB teams like there is with HS teams.

clevelandlefty's DD is happy with her situation as stated above. Now, if she attended my DD's high school I would bet the farm that she would be chomping at the bit come spring to play school ball. There is a core of travel players there and one of the most respected travel softball guys in NC helping coach the team. These girls know that the recruiters will see them in the summer and fall with their TB teams. They also love playing for their school and with their friends.

Really what it boils down to is each girl has to make her own decision about her own situation. As far as the workout benefits of school ball what it, again, boils down to is the individual player. Only you can make you better!

 

We experienced the same thing at my daughters high school. It's funny how for a few years before we delved into the travel ball scene, it was rec ball for fun, and school ball for more serious play. Even though her rec ball coaches along the way were the ones that instilled the fundamentals and did practice a lot, it was a "low pressure" atmosphere. Once she got a taste of travel ball, she was (almost) speechless. She said there was nothing like playing on a team where everybody there actually cared about winning and getting better, she loved it. All of a sudden school ball looked more like the "goof off" ball and TB was the serious playing. We only had 3 kids including mine that played any type of summer ball at the high school. But they consisted of all of her friends that she grew up playing rec ball with and had been to 5 state tournaments and 2 world series with......so, she still wanted to play school ball with them too, and it didn't really interfere with travel ball so she played. It's just each to her own on that decision, what works for some is intolerable to others. I will say though that the level of commitment and success from the girls on her TB or school teams, has a direct correlation to the commitment displayed by the respective coaches. She was blessed by having a great (in knowledge, time spent, and disposition) TB coach..........that's the only one I can brag on between the two though.