The topic could also be tied with why girls switch organizations during the winter or early part of spring. I can only speak for myself. I had thought about starting a team in our area but did not do the leg work to get it started. Finding others who wanted a team in the area, finding people with the resources to back a team, talking to the park system to secure fields, finding coaches and hold tryouts.
Why would I start a team ? Cut down on travel, give girls a break, give all girls far shot, cut back on fees, cut down on expenses
cut down on travel- when you are traveling 45-60 miles one way twice a week, this does get tiresome on the girl and the parents. then throw in there travel to tournaments and you can rack up some miles
give the girls a break-not sure when the whole business started on playing all year long, but I do know that back when i was growing up you played more than one sport and only played it during that season. you did not have all year softball, volleyball, wrestling. You also never heard of a person getting burned out with playing a particular sport. Seems so many are quitting in late high school or college because of burn out.
give all girls a fair shot-many coaches are fathers, and unfortunately the fathers are fathers first and coaches second. Their dd will bat within the top 3 and play ss only because they are the dd of the coach. Other girls get blamed for their dd mistakes and their dd gets the praise for other girls great plays. Don't get me wrong, there are fathers out there that are great coaches but from what i seen there are more doing more bad than good
cut back on fees- I started a baseball team 4 years ago for my son. we charged $150.00 per boy. we fundraised throughout the year. Played 4 tournaments and about 30 other games. When we went to Indiana for a tourney we were able to play for 2 nights lodging for each set of parents. Bought insurance, 2 sets of nice uniforms, pullovers for each boy and still after all of this carried about $2000 into the next season. It can be done just takes being cautious with the money.
With all being said above, I understand that there are girls that eat and sleep softball. That is great. But not all girls do that and they are good ballplayers.
To finish up. As parents we want the best for our dd. We try to make decisions based on alot of what was said. Each parent has to find what fits best for their dd and family. The coach my dd has this year puts it like this. Family, Religion, softball. The only thing she asks is that rec ball does not come before her team. If you have to miss just let her know. Not all girls will make a career out of this. We can only hope that our dd is good enough to get some money to help with college. My dd is hoping to play in college. Will she reach that goal, we can only hope and put her in the position to be able to reach that goal.