High school softball participation rates down dramatically in Ohio

[cobb_of_fury]

I doubt any of the ladies were recruited just off of HS play.

The Gators pitcher was very strong and I am sure attended many college camps and combines. I would suspect she was a weekend hired gun just subbing for teams throughout the summer. We had a HS player that signed with a local D1 school that just subbed for a variety of summer teams her Soph/Jr/Sr years and attended camps and clinics at the college.

As far as higher level...A little off topic but that depends on what your definition of what higher level is...

Now we are going back several years but our travel team was fortunate enough to be one of the travel teams to play in the Fall Vernon Bibb cancer tournament at 16U/18U at Georgetown college and Lindsay Wilson College
Verses the college programs we went 3-2 and should have went 5-0.. The travel teams were defiantly stronger than the college programs a couple went undefeted.
Now these were JC, NAIA and DIII programs but I would say from 2009/2013 even the top 5 teams in the GMC/GWOC HS leagues would compete and maybe beat several of the college programs we faced.

I think a lot of people have a misconception of the talent at a lot of colleges. Yeah the top 25 programs at all divisions are good and could compete vs. other divisions of play (outside of top 25 D1) but I have seen some bad college teams (even at D1). A lot of these teams would struggle to compete vs. most of the better 16/18U travel clubs.

One thing to remember - The best players don't always go to the best programs some great players have gone to D3's and the Best players don't always play softball in college - it's a choice - there is no prize at the end like football or basketball -

My daughter attended a recruit camp for a small D3 when she was in 8th grade (I called and asked the coach if it was Ok if she had room - She did) as I said she's not a bad player but there are many girls better than she is. - But at that camp she was the easily the second best player there behind a girl from OUTLAWS who had already committed to the school.
That school doesn't have a bad program they played around .500 in there league - but sometimes we get blinded by the level of play around us. I've talked to dads who tell me there daughters are looking to play at top 25 D1 schools and I know they are more likely D2 or NAIA level players maybe.

But we have had a spat of 8th and 9th graders verbeling to local bigger D1's, So who knows.

It's hard to know where your kid is on the big scale - That's why going to the prospect camps and seeing how they measure up against other girls is a good barometer of the level of play out there.

Also like CARDS said get out and watch some college games to see what each level looks like.

 

[CARDS]

One thing to remember - The best players don't always go to the best programs some great players have gone to D3's and the Best players don't always play softball in college - it's a choice - there is no prize at the end like football or basketball -

My daughter attended a recruit camp for a small D3 when she was in 8th grade (I called and asked the coach if it was Ok if she had room - She did) as I said she's not a bad player but there are many girls better than she is. - But at that camp she was the easily the second best player there behind a girl from OUTLAWS who had already committed to the school.
That school doesn't have a bad program they played around .500 in there league - but sometimes we get blinded by the level of play around us. I've talked to dads who tell me there daughters are looking to play at top 25 D1 schools and I know they are more likely D2 or NAIA level players maybe.

But we have had a spat of 8th and 9th graders verbeling to local bigger D1's, So who knows.

It's hard to know where your kid is on the big scale - That's why going to the prospect camps and seeing how they measure up against other girls is a good barometer of the level of play out there.

Also like CARDS said get out and watch some college games to see what each level looks like.

Your opening statement is so true...The ladies need to focus on the quality of the education and the right college fit for them. Also, very good advice for the 12/14U players parents about the camps...

We played three years of 18O ball. Our team was like all the rest of the 18O/23U teams, a mix bag of players representing all divisions of play. Over the three years we faced teams with ladies from SEC, BIG10, ACC schools. The play was outstanding and you could not tell by watching which player was playing college ball at the top of the food chain....Without a doubt this was best three years I had coaching...

 

[tjsmize3]

THE BOTTOM LINE IS - THIS HAS TO BE FUN!!! If you are only playing to get a scholarship STOP RIGHT NOW - The money your investing has to be because your family enjoys it DO NOT consider it an investment towards college or you will be sorely disappointed

No doubt you need to be having fun to do anything at a high level and at your best... athletic or academic. I will say though with tuition/R&B now finding its way to the $45,000 - $60,000 per year mark for many of the best schools, investing in a kid's dream to play college ball might not be the worst thing you could do. Especially in cases where it may be THE ONLY way a kid would be getting into a school of that caliber due to finances.

 

[manitoudan]

I promise you there are two handfuls of D1 level players in our NAIA conference ( two top 5 nationally ranked teams ) . These are mostly Tn and Ky players who would have went MAC had they grew up/ played in Ohio. I have zero doubt on that . Sorry for the thread hi jack.

 

[Fastpitch04]

I ran across this article today and thought it was interesting and would add to this discussion even tho it is not softball. It looks like the trend (according to this article) is that more and more kids are 'specializing' in one sport by age 12.

"[FONT=&quot]The results of a recent study conducted by the NCAA show that not only do many student-athletes begin specializing in their sports before the age of [/FONT][FONT=&quot]12,[/FONT][FONT=&quot] but also that many are expected from a young age to play sports in college and beyond."[/FONT]

Hopefully this link will work if your interested: http://bit.ly/2hAMYtb