Travel ball...has it helped or hurt HS softball?

[TheOwenFive]

I'm curious what you all think about how travel ball has affected High School Softball? Do you think it hurts or helps? So many girls are playing travel and some are choosing NOT to play HS in favor of travel ball. Some people think you MUST play travel to compete at the HS level. Some kids think travel ball is the only road to a scholarship. Some HS stars do NOT play travel...and so on and so forth. I'm curious about the high achieving HS players that don't want to play in college and can't, for whatever reason, play travel ball. Is there a place for them on todays HS teams anymore? It seems anymore that HS sports life revolves around whether or not you play travel or AAU for bball, or club ball for volleyball.

 

Just curious on everyones thoughts?:popcorn:

[Meatpuppy]

I think that if you're good enough to play on your HS team, that it doesn't matter if you play travel ball or not. That being said playing travel ball does give you a huge advantage when it comes to being one of the better players on your HS team.

[Clyde]

Any girls in NKY forgoing high school ball and only playing travel?

[FarBeyondDriven]

Travel ball is not the only road to a softball scholarship. BUT......you can sure bet that it is near impossible to get a D1 softball scholarship without playing travel ball. Not only is it necessary to play travel ball to get a D1 softball scholarship, there are many D1 college coaches that would be very unhappy if little Susie dropped travel ball after getting that scholarship, possibly unhappy enough to pull the scholarship offer. They want little Susie competing at the highest level possible, as long as possible, all the way up until they arrive on campus.

[FarBeyondDriven]

Any girls in NKY forgoing high school ball and only playing travel?

 

I am not aware of any, but I do know of at least two D1 committed kids that asked their future college coach if it was OK for them to not play high school ball. Both kids were told that it was ok. For the record, my kid was NOT one of them.

[webster]

I agree, I think travelball is the ONLY way to get to play D1. My daughter could quit high school tomorrow and I wouldnt lose an ounce of sleep

[TheOwenFive]

I agree with scholarships...however...I am wondering about the girl who doesn't want a sports scholarship and doesnt play travel ball...does it seem like these girls dont have a place on a high school team nowadays? Coaches want the girls that play travel only due to their extended play season and experience. ..

[webster]

Travelball has helped us at Madisonville North we have girls that are now SR, JR, & SO that started on Varsity as 6th & 7th graders for our high school and it was due to them playing travelbal in fall & summer versus the upperclassmen that were only picking up their gloves in Feb & putting them down in late may after getting beat in first round of district.

[vansmetal]

I think it depends on how good your high school coach is. Reason being, is that you can go try out for multiple teams year after year to have the coach you would like with travel ball. You can't really pick your high school coach unless your willing to move to a school district with a good known coach. I also think, regardless of how good your high school coach or travel ball coach is, playing both gives you different perspectives. With that being said, the more you learn and play the better you will become.

[memyselfandi]

I have a whole different outlook on this and growing up and playing in Texas high school ball was for fun and relaxed because our club teams schedules were so grueling, but with that said we still worked hard, we just didn't have the 4 hour practices. We never had college coaches coming to our high school games so no one was recruited from there. The starting 9 on my high school team all played club ball and so did a couple of the bench players. I would say Club ball only helps HS ball and to be honest once you get to the varsity level it is not for fun but for winning unlike JV. Meaning, JV you are still developing kids to play and it should be more relaxed. If you don't want to put the work in I honestly don't think a kid deserves to play varsity.

 

Lets take your comment about more experience and relate it to the real world. If I have someone who is willing to work their butt off and get better at their job and go to conferences, etc or I have someone who just goes to work everyday and just does what is needed to be done, I am going to want the person who goes a little extra.

[TheOwenFive]

Totally agree with the above..however...do you penalize a kid if they cant afford to play travel. ..sometimes its not a players choice:)

[Meatpuppy]

In the Cincinnati area there are quite a few teams that stay local. These teams are very cost effective. If a girl wants to play there are ways to make it happen.

[memyselfandi]

Totally agree with the above..however...do you penalize a kid if they cant afford to play travel. ..sometimes its not a players choice:)

 

I agree with Meatpuppy's comment, if a girl wants to play there are ways to make it happen, however there are ways to get better. Pitch everyday or work on drills EVERYDAY! Run everyday! Swing the bat everyday! Field grounders everyday! There are ways to get better without playing on a team. I remember I used to swing a 33/25oz bat and when we were playing California teams in Nationals and in Colorado my hands were slow so I realized if I work on it everyday then it will help me during the season (I played year round) so everyday I swung the bat (can't remember the length but the bat was about 32 - 34 oz) 50 - 100 times a day NO MATTER what I had going on. It is about the person (I was a sophomore in high school doing this) wanting to get better. If her goal is to play high school ball, she can't just pick up a ball 2 weeks before tryouts, she has to work on something everyday and if she doesn't then there are real no excuses in my opinion.

[RetiredCoach]

When I retired, travel ball wasn't even around. But now, if you look around at soccer, volleyball, basketball, softball, the good players are playing on teams that play tons of games in June andJuly. When I was a kid, we just met and played up at the park or at the school yard, but nobody does that any more. You have to fork over a heck of a lot of money to get your kid involved, and its's godawful expensive sometimes. But it's the only way to get better and the best players make the team. Some girls are darn good enough to play hs without playin on travel teams, but I bet most good high school teams don't have many kids who didn't play in the summer. If your kid isn't really good and she did not play over the summer, in today's world she might not make the team. Them's the facts.

[RCC9]

In the Cincinnati area there are quite a few teams that stay local. These teams are very cost effective. If a girl wants to play there are ways to make it happen.

 

Totally agree here! And would add, are they really being overlooked because they don't play travel ball? Or are the travel ball players actually better? As a coach, I could care less whether a kid plays travel ball. Every February, we have 9 starting spots open. The players that perform the best in preseason will earn those spots, regardless of just about any other factor. I don't care if a kid spent the entire summer traveling the country and paid $5000 to play all summer ball. If a kid can come in February 15th, is athletically gifted and can pick up a glove and out play the summer baller, she is going to play...period! But that situation is most likely the minority.