How far do you travel to play with your team?

[blakeloring]

I see many of the players looking for teams posting where they are from, and coaches from across the state asking them to tryout. Which leads me to my question, how far would you drive regularly for your DD to play softball? Are these coaches just not reading, or do parents/players actually drive for a few hours to a practice/game?

 

[longball00]

We live in Lake County, and I take my 12U DD to Mansfield, Youngstown, and occasionally Columbus for practice every Sunday in the offseason for the past 2 years. Sometimes it is 2.5 hrs each way. It is well worth it!
Plus, leaving the Lake Effect Snow Zone for the dusting they get further South is nice sometimes

 

[Butter]

We see a good number of players traveling up to 2 hours each way (sometimes multiple days a week) to be on the best team for the player. In these situations it is beneficial when coaches reduce the number of practices and increase the amount of practice time at each practice. It is also expected that the player is working individual skills on their own.

 

[maddball44]

I know I'm going to get knocked around for saying this and I feel we are very committed to softball family. My dd and I do something every day that is related to softball. Her goal is to hopefully, one day, play college ball and I'll do every thing in my power to facilitate that desire. However, there is no way on God's green earth we travel 2-3 hrs for weekly practice. We've played all those good Ohio teams. I don't think they're worth it. I'd rather save the time and money and do the college process myself. I realize the team has a lot to do with it but you're not guaranteed anything. There are plenty of reasonably respected organizations around without having to travel to the top 3 or 4. This website is a wonderful resource to help guide you.

 

[longball00]

I know I'm going to get knocked around for saying this and I feel we are very committed to softball family. My dd and I do something every day that is related to softball. Her goal is to hopefully, one day, play college ball and I'll do every thing in my power to facilitate that desire. However, there is no way on God's green earth we travel 2-3 hrs for weekly practice. We've played all those good Ohio teams. I don't think they're worth it. I'd rather save the time and money and do the college process myself. I realize the team has a lot to do with it but you're not guaranteed anything. There are plenty of reasonably respected organizations around without having to travel to the top 3 or 4. This website is a wonderful resource to help guide you.

Just playing devil's advocate, but what if another of your DD's goals was to play for one of the top 3 or 4? Besides playing College ball, that was one of my DD's goals. She wanted to play for the best team she could. I put her in the right spot, and she made it on her own. Who am I to deny her that? IMO, getting home at 11PM on a Sunday night because they played so deep on Sunday, and seeing the look of satisfaction on her face makes it all worth it!

 

[maddball44]

Just playing devil's advocate, but what if another of your DD's goals was to play for one of the top 3 or 4? Besides playing College ball, that was one of my DD's goals. She wanted to play for the best team she could. I put her in the right spot, and she made it on her own. Who am I to deny her that? IMO, getting home at 11PM on a Sunday night because they played so deep on Sunday, and seeing the look of satisfaction on her face makes it all worth it!

I hear ya longball. I'm not talking about traveling to tourneys. I'm all in on that. She's never expressed a desire to play with those particular teams. If she does... it is something that will need to be looked at with great scrutiny.

I'm just a big fan of cultivating talent. Not taking the fruit of another coaches labor. There is a difference between leaving to play and poaching.

 

[Fastbat04]

I hear ya longball. I'm not talking about traveling to tourneys. I'm all in on that. She's never expressed a desire to play with those particular teams. If she does... it is something that will need to be looked at with great scrutiny.

I'm just a big fan of cultivating talent. Not taking the fruit of another coaches labor. There is a difference between leaving to play and poaching.

If she does want this, you say, then you say there is no way on gods earth I would travel that far! Sounds like it is not up to her, choice has been made!

you say you have played these teams and they are not worth it, let me ask do you compete against them, win against them, or are you packing up the car while they are getting ready to practice for the next game? You also mention cultivating the talent, to let you know most of the top teams usually only need one or two girls a year! Most of these teams have the majority of their roster for many years so they have developed the players not poached them!

we are going thru that now with my DD, she is on a good team but to get to the higher level team they would have to take a chance with her because she does not have the experience they have, playing so many games, seeing the top pitching every game, seeing great defense and offense every game, playing in the very high competitive tournaments! I believe in my DD but I also know that there are different levels of ball out there! But if she wants it and works to get it I am not allowing drive time to be an issue!


JMO

 

[longball00]

Wasn't talking travel to tourneys, just that playing late on Sundays also makes the practice travel worth it. There is poaching everywhere unfortunately, not just the top teams

 

[softballmom2000]

We travel an hour, which I don't consider it being much of a big deal. Even the "local" teams where we live would be a 30-40 minute drive. I don't mind that extra 20-30 minutes to be on the right team for my DD.

 

[maddball44]

If she does want this, you say, then you say there is no way on gods earth I would travel that far! Sounds like it is not up to her, choice has been made!

you say you have played these teams and they are not worth it, let me ask do you compete against them, win against them, or are you packing up the car while they are getting ready to practice for the next game? You also mention cultivating the talent, to let you know most of the top teams usually only need one or two girls a year! Most of these teams have the majority of their roster for many years so they have developed the players not poached them!

we are going thru that now with my DD, she is on a good team but to get to the higher level team they would have to take a chance with her because she does not have the experience they have, playing so many games, seeing the top pitching every game, seeing great defense and offense every game, playing in the very high competitive tournaments! I believe in my DD but I also know that there are different levels of ball out there! But if she wants it and works to get it I am not allowing drive time to be an issue!


JMO

She not only played against those teams but played for one of them this year. She learned a lot but I'm not chasing an other team 2/3 hours away for that experience. It's just not worth it to me.

 

[Fastbat04]

She not only played against those teams but played for one of them this year. She learned a lot but I'm not chasing an other team 2/3 hours away for that experience. It's just not worth it to me.

But, the question is it worth it to her! If she is on one of these top team, not sure what age you are talking, and if they are close to you you have a leg up on everyone else that has to travel! Once again though it depends on the family

 

[Wubbamom]

I travel an hour to 1 1/2 for practice all year round. My DD loves her coach and her team is a great fit for her. I have looked into closer teams and found that
she was not willing to change. I don't mind the driving it gives us a LOT of quality time together and she gets terrific coaching and good tourneys to play in.

 

[Northmont_Dad]

I travel an hour to 1 1/2 for practice all year round. My DD loves her coach and her team is a great fit for her. I have looked into closer teams and found that
she was not willing to change. I don't mind the driving it gives us a LOT of quality time together and she gets terrific coaching and good tourneys to play in.

Ditto, 1 Hr 15 mins here. Couldn't be said any better. My DD loves her team and her coach. She would make me drive 3 hours just to stay with them.

 

[FastBat]

I would travel to the ends of the earth and back for; solid defense, good team chemistry, a strong coach. Also important, I would want my daughter to really want to be on that team bad, to travel a few hours! Also, I think your family and player would have to like to travel or like small getaways to be able to handle it.

 

[krrcoach]

My dd is switching teams this year because we were unable to weekday practices (1:15 one way). We also have 3 dd's that play softball. My question is what kind of job do you have to be able to drive 4-5 hours a day during the week, and get there on time? Also how do you manage with more than 1 child playing ball?

 

[blakeloring]

To follow up with that...say you lived in Columbus where there are a bunch of great clubs. Can you justify driving to Cleveland 2-3 times/week because your daughter might fit a little better, on the same caliber team?

 

[Lenski65]

Our team is based in Dayton, but our team hails from NE Ohio to Northern Kentucky. Is it worth it? Absolutely! Great kids, great parents, great tournaments.

 

[longball00]

DD loves her team, team mates, and coaches, and wants nothing more than to be with them forever. We are lucky though, no weekday practice, Sundays only from say Sept-May. Weekly practice is the players responsibility. Fortunately, every team member has the same goals and work ethic, and you can tell they put the time in. If it were different, I would have to re evaluate such a big commitment. I'm not going to sugar coat it though, with 4 kids ( 2 in college, and a younger boy who plays 3 sports) it's not easy, but we make it work for all of them. Between pitching coach, hitting coach, strength/speed training (both kids), and working on our own, there is little time spent at home with nothing to do, and we wouldn't change it for the world!

 

[Wubbamom]

I'm right there with you Longball. DD plays 3 sports (softball comes first) we practice on weekends year round, and my son plays 3 sports. No college yet though! Pitching coach, hitting and she works hard on her own. DH is disabled so he does not travel much with us and I am a teacher so summers off. Good Luck!

 

[Lester]

For practice:
Youngest step DD will travel to Indianapolis, 2 hrs for Indy Gators.
Oldest step DD is with Beverly Bandits, 2-5 hours (varying location schedule)

For games:
Youngest, TBD... 1st year but I hear a bunch and will see how this goes.
Oldest, crazy amounts. 14u year was 3 trips to Cali, 1 to St.Louis, 1 to New Jersey, and various other locations all year long (Indy, N. Ohio, Chicago).
This new season will be pretty demanding just as last year was but necessary to match goals needed for her.

Each have their trade-offs and mandatory practice requirements with the team. Of course have good program at home or this wouldn't be possible. This isn't for everyone and distance for us isn't the driver (pun, I know), trust me on that. My wife is a huge portion to the success of this situation. She's by far the best!!!