growing or polluted

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Note the word HUGE before falloff ----no I'm not an "elitist" ?but I see alot of 12u girls who are not ready for travel ball. ? ?Of course the 1-2 is better than 7-9 , but 7-9 should be able to get a ball out of the infield occassionally . ?MD

Then how do they get "ready" for travel if they can't play travel?

 

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Problems arise when kids are not comfortable (not having fun) playing at a given level, regardless of rec or travel. Either the kid is playing below their skill level, or above it. Parents need to be in tune with their kid's skill level, and provide them an appropriate level of play. Everyone has to be on the same page.

In a perfect world, the kid will seek out and play the game at the level they have the desire for. The parents need to be the "conduit" for providing the opportunity. The parents are still in control and make the financial decisions, but the formula should go like this: "The kid plays; the Parent pays".

When parents become the primary driver of their kid's activities, choosing FOR them instead of allowing the kid to choose, things get ugly. The player is usually unhappy, parents are unhappy, and the parents start looking to blame someone because their kid doesn't like softball anymore. Go figure...

 

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Growing or polluted? Ohio does have a way to go but we are on the right track with people just as ourselves and our view of the sport! The argument this Summer around here is that "there should only be ONE travel team of girls at the 12U not 2-3". The population here can support more than one team, granted maybe an A & B squad type of thing but to say that the girls who have talent don't have a team to play with is nuts.
Well, our recreational softball program has alot to be desired! At the 12U age, if the pitcher can't get the ball over the plate after 5 pitches, she's allowed to step out of the circle and pitch from wherever it can get over the plate. How crazy it that? Teach them right the first time and the breaking of the bad habits and styles won't have to be addressed later on. Taking them from a rec program like the one around here would clear the waters not pollute it...as long as the coaching understands what it takes to teach it!!
I want to thank all of those who come to this forum, it always reassures me that I'm not alone in this crazy thing called coaching!!!!!!!

 

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I think it depends on what you want and expect from a travel team. If you are an organization, a coach or a parent that just wants to put the best 11 or 12 out there and win every game then you might think that it is polluted. If you are an organization, a coach or a parent that wants to teach the game then you might think that it is growing. It brings more pleasure to me knowing that an organization can teach my leadoff hitter to slap bunt, my pitchers to set up hitters and my 3rd baseman to read a left handed hitter then just to win everygame. As fast2home said earlier how can average girls get better if nobody wants to take the time to work with them. This sport IS and ALWAYS should be about the girls!!!!

 

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Seeing all of the posts seems to bring one thing to the surface. A lot of rec. programs need help. This seems to be a sign to those who run the rec. programs that there is a need to educate the coaches. Maybe some clinics, seminars, etc. would help transfer some knowledge to those in the rec. program that want to learn. This in turn would strengthen softball in OHIO and benefit everyone.

I agree that everyone one should be given an opportunity to see if they have what it takes for a move to the next level. Not allowing them this chance is just hurting everyone in the long run. To make softball in OHIO strong we need to grow all of the programs from the rec. programs up to the tournament programs. We need to keep trying to learn and get better. If we become stagnant and don't strive to improve, then we have lost.

IMHO

 

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Don't most players come from Rec ball at some point in time.....most kids didn't get softball fever from travel ball.

But I believe it is growing and with growth there are growing pains and hopefully by the time the kids/parents are at 14 or 16U they realize if they should still be playing travel or not. Should I go read the problem parent thread again

 

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Not just training the coaches, but also taking a hard look at the program's rules & what they are trying to accomplish. Our local rec progam needs retooled to keep with the times. From what I've been told, the rules they have are counterproductive to what the girls really need to be learning. (no dropped 3rd strike, can only pitch 2 innings per game, no score is kept, base stealing is limited. This is for the jr high level) This doesn't prepare any of the girls to enter our Div 1 high school & be competetive. Thank goodness we now have a parent activly trying to form a fastpitch association.

 

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I played travel ball all through the mid 70's - mid 80's, yes I am getting older. I have coached for many years. All organizations/teams have to start somewhere. You just do not start with the best. You have to be willing to take a core group of girls with you to establish a strong team. You will see a few move and more come on the the team, but it is the cohesiveness of a core group of girls that helps to build the future.

Teaching sound fundamentals in all aspects of the game is an addition key in developing the Ohio area. Parents and players begin to see that this is the case with an Organization will show as the number of players trying out the next season increases each year. This has a trickle down effect.

I never would say that softball is becoming polluted. We have to have new teams, new organizations, and the developement of the current to continue to grow fastpitch softball to the next level in Ohio.

Feistymom

 

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FeistyMom, are you sure you're not from around here? The rules are identical to the Rec program here. This doesn't teach these girls anything. It remedial at best, backyard rules because 1 person out of 100 couldn't play the way the real rules were written. It takes a whole lot of teaching when they are of Jr. Hi age, to re-learn how to really play!

 

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I can probably relate to the rec ball (Little league) questions better than most. I am the President of our local league. (Don't ask me why, I guess I just couldnt' let 300 kids be displaced because no one else wanted to do it.) I am also a coach for a travel team. Our travel team consists of the more talented girls from several local leagues. Travel ball gives these athletes a chance to take thier game to a higher level. To say that all girls that choose to play Little League can't compete in travel,would be a false statement. After playing travel ball for 2 years, 3 of our local leagues took teams to the state tournament. Was the caliber of play that of travel, of course not, it can't be with the league boundry restraints. I can tell you this though, I have seen alot of travel ball games this year and the teams that placed in the state tournament would fare quite well in alot of tournaments. This was at the 10 thru 14 age group. As MD. said, go ahead let the bashing begin I can take it.

 

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FeistyMom, are you sure you're not from around here? The rules are identical to the Rec program here. This doesn't teach these girls anything. It remedial at best, backyard rules because 1 person out of 100 couldn't play the way the real rules were written. It takes a whole lot of teaching when they are of Jr. Hi age, to re-learn how to really play!

I call your Rec program intown league. ?Travel ball where I am from is your leagues with one huge difference. ?We played two double headers a week, with tournaments on the weekend. ?Essentially you were a League/Tournament team. ?A season consisted of 72 - 84 games between June 3rd and July 15th. ?The rules are the same as the intown, except for 9u Instructional (coach pitch). ?You only learn the rules by consistantly playing by tournament standards. ?I personally find the federation rules to be very ambiguous at times. ?Prefer ASA/NSA

That is a huge difference to this area. ?I was guaranteed ball fields to practice on and use to host teams for double headers, not here. ?Here you have to battle with the slow pitch, which seems to take precidence over the kids or pay $50 a day to use an unkept churches field. ?Honestly there are not enough medium to higher level facilites to accomodate taking the leagues here to the next level. ? In order to radically change things from being what is termed polluted, there needs to be facilities available to allow for more practice time, and the capability of playing bi-weekly games to prepare for tournaments. ?How can the "lower level" teams improve with no facilities? ?Yes you can do fundamentals in a field, but it's the repetative nature of having balls hit on an infield that increases confidence. ?Being able to take live pitches at a plate more than just on the weekends that builds confidence at the plate.

Never assume what a person uses as there rules in another area. ?I have never played any where other than high school were ASA/NSA rules were not the norm. ?I gave my opinion based on my over 10 years of coaching knowledge. ?It is based on a very successful program that has a high percentage of girls earning and being awarded scholarships to a variety of divisional colleges. ?That comes from hard work and being willing to work with a core group of girls on a team through the years. ?Was my team the best when we started? ?NO, but I got them consistantly into the top 10 ten in State ASA points for the final five years I coached them. ?I believe that speaks volumns about taking the "polluted" to the growing, into the "elite". ?I invite you to check them out at www.bngsa.org. ?My home fields hosted the 14u Nationals for ASA this year.

All I am pointing out it that in order to grow fastpitch, you have to be willing to take what is available at the time and work with the situation. ?You can't change what you do not acknowledge and to ignore it and hope it goes away is not going to be productive to anyone. ?Let the teams play and if they are a younger team with a decent coach, ?they will progress. ?They may not ever be the best, but they will improve.

 

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the more the merrier

 

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I agree with the more the merrier. Our teams do not play the biggest tournaments against the very best teams because we are in it to improve the girls' skills, have some fun and hopefully improve our high school team down the road. We look for tournaments closer to our level of ability. Rec. ball where we live is not nearly enough.