How Many Tourneys?

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What is the ideal number of Tourneys a Travel Softball team should enter?

10u?, 12U?, 14U?, etc....

4, 6, 8, 10?

I like the number between 8 and 10.

 

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2 on 1 off

I think at 10U you can almost do more. Since you can start in May.

 

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It depends on the age. When the girls are HS age, it is tough to schedule tournaments prior to June 1, although we did but we were without a HS girl that was still in the school playoffs. There are a total of 9 weekends between 6/1 and 7/31. I believe our team (14u) is in 8 tournaments this year.

Len

 

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It depends on age, commitment level on the part of the players (volleyball/AAU/****** conflicts), and the parents. For 12u (assuming no middle school conflicts) i'd say 1 or 2 in the fall, 1-2 in the winter/ early spring, then 6-8 in the summer which would include any nationals....so about 10-12. At 10u dd played in 1 winter tournament and 7 summer tournaments (which included Nationals) and that seemed like a good number at the time.

 

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24 a year on average from 10's - 14's. 16-18 for 16's if you count showcases as tourneys. 18's are less...10-14

 

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24? Ok, you know this is Ohio, right? Not likely. Maybe in your state of Florida.

 

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24 a year on average from 10's - 14's. 16-18 for 16's if you count showcases as tourneys. 18's are less...10-14

Wish we could do 20-24..... Ohio weather just doesn't allow it....heck we dodge snow from November thru April and then deal with rain from April thru June Thank goodness for indoor facilities like the Spano Dome, Gplex to knock off the winter rust. it is what it is.....

 

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Mark knows about coaching travel ball in Ohio weather. He's just showing off now that he has escaped.

 

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Mark knows about coaching travel ball in Ohio weather. He's just showing off now that he has escaped.

Well i am jealous...i keep bugging my husband to relocate to Texas (my family lives there), but then he reminds me that in Texas, its unbearble mid April until the end of November....;&. I guess Florida would be nice

 

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24 a year on average from 10's - 14's. 16-18 for 16's if you count showcases as tourneys. 18's are less...10-14

How come there girls don't get burned out. Because they truely love the game. Sorry for getting off subject.

 

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10u- 7-13
12u- 9-15 (indoor included)

Can't speak for other ages. Set as many as you want...better be able to be flexible for injurers, travel issues, and burnout. Read "your players"...quantity is only important when all are played strong and with strong execution...

And oh yeah...listen to your parents. IMO they are players too or they better be. Who is at home playing/training the girls? They get burn out too and "that" trickle affect is devastating!

 

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How come there girls don't get burned out. Because they truely love the game. Sorry for getting off subject.

Oh shoot - I wasn't trying to be a putz, I miss read the question. I thought it was asking how many games ANY teams play. When I first got here teams took August, 1/2 of December and all of January off. You would start practice in Feb and start tournaments the last week of the month. Now there is really no down time for the younger ages.

You know I really do think kids and parents get burnt out down here at the younger ages. The problem is that there are so many teams that you never see it effecting teams. There are A LOT of Little League, Babe Ruth, rec ball teams that seem to fill the rosters of the travel teams. The good thing is that if a kid is really into it they get a chance to play year round.

 

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You still play alot more ball then us

 

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Last year we got in 21 tourneys at 12U. A ton of ball & we were out of town either 14 or 15 times. As Les mentions, you need to know your team & make sure all the parents are on board & you don't burn the player out. It is not just a commitment for the player but an entire commitment by the family when you play that much.

 

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Time to revisit this thread with tryouts upon us...

So how do teams balance a quality schedule with players fees??

If you don't mind sharing...what were your team fees and how many tourneys did you get into?? Not really concerned with other related cost such as uniforms, equipment...etc. Just the meat and potatoes.

I know our team was $500 which included 1 fall tourney and 7 summer tourneys with no Nationals.

How many tourneys should your team be playing???

 

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I know my wife will have a meeting and break it down like this:

Org fee is $650
- Includes uniform, winter training(10-12 dates), 7 summer tournamnets (Nationals) and all fees associated (insurance, sanction fees..ect).

OK that is not what I want to do with the team. I want to do at least 2 tournaments in Fall, 2 in winter (one being a real one in a dome.....), and I want to do 8-10 in the summer. So how do we all want to go about that goal?

Everyone knows my wife so they are all expecting that much. It is just a question on how people want to get there financially. Our fees are pretty straight forward since my wife pays full amount and we have a daughter on the team. There is no "magic". The stuff costs what it costs. We can fund raise if you would like and here are the option: A, B , C ....ect.

We have done it every way possible. And we are taking it back to softball and training. If the team wants matching bags........someone figure it out and put a cost. If you want matching helmets...........figure it out.

Most of the girls are in it for the softball at this point (14U) so no need to make it about anything else.

No one is making $$$ at this. We have a 501c3 so we have options. But only if everyone wants to do it. We are done with team fund raisers and such. We will put them together if people want them. It is just not worth our time anymore. These girls should have hitting and pitching coaches. they should be working on there game and body away from the field.

Exception: we want to have a trainer 1-2 a week for 4-5 months starting in Jan. That is a fee we need to figure out. But I really think it is worth it. But even at $5 a session it equals $80 per month or $300-400 for time period. That is alot of cheese.........need a wealthy benefactor....LOL

 

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Tournaments cost the following:

ASA - 350 per? will find out next year
NSA (in MIchigan) $350 if paid before Feb 15, $400 if after
USSSA - $420-440 typically
Sanction fees are 25-30. ASA is different, and I will be learning that this year.

State tournament, Nationals, and special tournaents run more.

So a 7 tournamnet schedule will run about 2,800 or about 250 per girl, uniforms are about $130 per girl. And the indoor is where the costs get tricky. Hopefully we can get what we want for $200-240 per girl. Then you have socks (2 pair abpout 20) and misc costs. It can get tight in a hurry.

To be honest the tournaments are the cheapest part of the fees. The indoor training is the most expensive. And the uniforms can be expensive.

 

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At HS age the number that has worked pretty well for us was

7 summer
4 to 6 fall
2 winter

Younger teams tend to play alot more in the summer then back off fall and winter, older teams use fall as a recruiting time so they will throw more in there. Alot depends on age and makeup of the team and what their agenda is.


Tim