Too many travel teams?

Rotte

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Yes! It is why our best players feel it necessary to play outside Ohio, the majority of the summer.

Ohio is producing more Power 5 level players, but Ohio travel ball has declined. It’s a shame!

Softball is quickly becoming the playground of the wealthy, to be at the highest level.
 

City Slicker

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Here in West Akron rec ball is alive and well. We are 100% rec - no travel/tournament teams built in. It is very refreshing to see these kids playing with their friends simply to "Play Ball."
 

Chardon Storm

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Part of the reason is due to kids being pushed by high end organizations (not all!) to commit to softball year-round. So, Dad with a great athlete who could play high end but can’t commit to year-round b/c she plays 1-2 other sports starts a team or joins a team with a schedule that works for his family. Add a couple of those players to the team and it starts entering more A/B tournaments; adding to the number of mid-high end teams and making high end more elite.
 

DanMaz

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just an opinion - maybe the rec players are seeing the travel ball players take up most of the positions on varsity once they get into HS and maybe the trend is moving to more travel ball less rec ball..... just an observation because i definitely have seen a huge boost of travel teams especially in the last couple years and our local rec teams numbers are way down.
 

Run26

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Part of the reason is due to kids being pushed by high end organizations (not all!) to commit to softball year-round. So, Dad with a great athlete who could play high end but can’t commit to year-round b/c she plays 1-2 other sports starts a team or joins a team with a schedule that works for his family. Add a couple of those players to the team and it starts entering more A/B tournaments; adding to the number of mid-high end teams and making high end more elite.

BTW, this is not just a softball problem (year round commitment). Its almost all travel sports.
 

1stbasecoach

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Our area has so many "travel" teams it is insane. The good part is that there is a level for everyone. Rec ball is still the lowest but not by much to some of the "travel" teams. When we first got involved in 8u travel, I thought we would be playing teams all over, in about a 90 mile radius. 4 years later we are playing all over the country and almost year round. I will say our coach totally promotes playing multiple sports.
 

tjsmize3

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Softball is quickly becoming the playground of the wealthy, to be at the highest level.
Unfortunately there is some truth to that. Now take into account the new NCAA changes and kids who want to play high level feel that not only do they need to play in the biggest showcases in the US, they need to keep going to camps (at $250-350 a pop) until 9/1 of their Junior year. I am just starting to calculate my costs for next year and the showcases and tournaments we attend are nearly all north of $2,000!!! The other problem we see is what parents can take off that much time from work to get their kids all over the US for tournaments, and then hit the road to go to camps at 5-10 different schools. I have 1 parent on my team that has attended over 20 camps at over 20 different universities. Between the cost of the camp and the time off work, that amount becomes staggering over the years.
 

0203bbmom

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I know I am going to take some heat for this comment, but here goes.... there are a couple Ohio orgs that field several teams in each age division. This alone isn't an issue for me.... the issue is when an org brings on 6, 7, 8 teams in the same age group as a way to gain profits since each team is required to pay a portion of their team fees collected from players back to the org leader. Once this game became a business and about making money off teams v. tourneys, it lost sight on what is best for the kids playing on these teams.
 

Rotte

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Part of the reason is due to kids being pushed by high end organizations (not all!) to commit to softball year-round. So, Dad with a great athlete who could play high end but can’t commit to year-round b/c she plays 1-2 other sports starts a team or joins a team with a schedule that works for his family. Add a couple of those players to the team and it starts entering more A/B tournaments; adding to the number of mid-high end teams and making high end more elite.

Many o
Unfortunately there is some truth to that. Now take into account the new NCAA changes and kids who want to play high level feel that not only do they need to play in the biggest showcases in the US, they need to keep going to camps (at $250-350 a pop) until 9/1 of their Junior year. I am just starting to calculate my costs for next year and the showcases and tournaments we attend are nearly all north of $2,000!!! The other problem we see is what parents can take off that much time from work to get their kids all over the US for tournaments, and then hit the road to go to camps at 5-10 different schools. I have 1 parent on my team that has attended over 20 camps at over 20 different universities. Between the cost of the camp and the time off work, that amount becomes staggering over the years.

8 or so years ago, you were considered high level, if you played all the big tournaments & left the state a couple times.
 

jpkeating

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I know I am going to take some heat for this comment, but here goes.... there are a couple Ohio orgs that field several teams in each age division. This alone isn't an issue for me.... the issue is when an org brings on 6, 7, 8 teams in the same age group as a way to gain profits since each team is required to pay a portion of their team fees collected from players back to the org leader. Once this game became a business and about making money off teams v. tourneys, it lost sight on what is best for the kids playing on these teams.
That is a very true statement, I see absolutely nothing wrong with it
 

Mdfio

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I think it is a great think for softball. Allows options for all girls to play at the level they want. If you want to spend 300 a year and stay local, you can do that. If you want to spend 1500 a year and Travel you can do that. I would like to buy a brand new car at 10k like I once did, unfortunately that’s not going to happen.

Get on like minded teams and have fun, you only get one shot at this with your daughter, enjoy it!
 

Run26

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I think it is a great think for softball. Allows options for all girls to play at the level they want. If you want to spend 300 a year and stay local, you can do that. If you want to spend 1500 a year and Travel you can do that. I would like to buy a brand new car at 10k like I once did, unfortunately that’s not going to happen.

Get on like minded teams and have fun, you only get one shot at this with your daughter, enjoy it!

You and I should form the Yugo's Premier Gold organization
 

Tallmadge Force Gold

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Maybe getting rid of 8U travel ball would be a good start. Coming from the baseball side about a decade ago, couldn't believe how many COACH pitch travel teams and tournaments there were in softball.

Those 8U kids should be playing in their local rec league but those parents are afraid their kids will get left behind if they don't go play travel COACH pitch.
 

CARDS

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These days it seems a new travel org pops up every couple weeks... what happened to the good old days when a true travel team was the best of the best? Does Rec ball even exist anymore??

Over the past 10 years local recreational leagues are drying up at least in SW Ohio. A lot of communities have had to blend age groups to form teams teams. Sad when you drive around and see so many fields overgrown and not used.
http://www.sogfsa.org/

With that said, the growth in travel teams is a good thing.
The cream will always rise to the top the better teams and organizations will fill their needs with in or out of state talent. Teams that cannot draw talent will drop off and the players will find homes on other teams.
 

LineDrive

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Why so many haters on this Site?
This thread was not suppose to sound like I was being a hater. Just was stating what my opinion was regarding the hundreds of travel ball teams their are. When I see hundreds of posts of travel teams needing players... it's no surprise teams can't find kids to join...
 
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