Rec AND Travel ball?

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I'm new to OFC and my daughter is a first year 10u travel team member. We're very excited to begin this phase with her new team.
I'd like to pose a question to the forum. There is an abundance of experience here so I know we'll get pointed in the right direction. Several parents on this 10u team are also new to travel ball and the discussion has already been floating around "Is your daughter also going to play on her local Rec team next spring?" I actually hadn't thought about it and honestly had thought No. Here are the arguments I've heard:

Those that say they WILL have their daughter play on both teams say it because:
- They'll be on the field playing ball. More time on the field is good.
- Afraid the school district will frown on their daughter NOT paying for their Rec team and HS coach down the road will punish girls for that.
- Since they will be playing with those girls from their district down the road anyway shouldn't they also pay with them now.

Those that say they WILL NOT have their daughter play Rec ball say it because:
- Bad habits are formed/rubbed off from less experienced/dedicated players.
- More time on the field is not necessarily GOOD time on the field.
- Coaching isn't always quality. Usually someone's dad "living the dream".
- Unorganized and poorly run.

So - what does your daughter do? What are your arguments pro/con paying both travel and rec?

Never thought I'd be thinking about these things at 10u!

 

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I would recommend not playing rec ball if she is playing travel. My dd is in her second year of 14u and when she first played travel at age 11 she also played rec. After 5 games and 15 walks later she came home and begged me to not make her go back. if your dd is on a solid program they will make her better as well as the competition she is playing against.

As far as high school coaches looking down on a girl for playing travel over rec I would not worry about that. If they did than they do not have your daughters best interests in mind.

Hope I helped.

Good luck with the decision.

 

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I'd suggest both, nothing beats game experience at 10u.

 

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my DD played both at 10U...she was the one who begged me to quit rec ball. game was waaaay too slow and boring for her.

 

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I think it depends on a few things - did your daughter play rec before? If so, would she be on at least somewhat the same team? Does she get along with the girls on the rec team and respond to the coaches? If rec has been a positive experience for her, and you both are willing to put in the extra time - then I say go ahead and do rec. It could be a fun time for her playing with her school friends. Also, if she wants to work on a position that she could play in rec but doesn't really see in travel, playing rec might be a good idea for that experience.

If she didn't play rec previously or had a bad experience with coaches and/or players - then stick with travel. Also - the rec coach would have to be willing to allow your DD to use techniques (such as with batting) that she learned from her travel coach. If the coach is not willing to accept that she has other instruction, then don't play rec.

Honestly, I don't know that a H.S. coach would do that - as mentioned above, if they do then they are not looking at the best interests of your DD anyhow. I can tell you that our H.S. coach has said that often the varsity players are girls who play/have played travel. She gives everyone equal chance of making those spots, but ultimately the travel players often just have more experience and ability. Don't know if every H.S. coach looks at things the way she does though.

 

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Depends on the position. If your dd is a pitcher or catcher, than yes. Those are more of a skill position (not taking anything away from other positions). If she isn't playing those positions, play her up at rec if she wants to. Ultimately, the decision belongs to your dd.

My dd at 9 played both. But at 10U didn't want to play rec anymore. I forced her at 11, and we decided for her to play with her older sister this next year for rec.

 

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If your rec league is anything like ours, they play games during the week as well as the weekends. If they're not playing games, they're practicing twice a week or so. Our DD (12u) will not be playing rec ball this year because of several reasons. The first is the level of play. It's not nearly as competitive as it is in TB. The second is that our coaches in the rec league are stricly voluntary parents. Most have played ball at one time or another so they can give the girls decent fundamentals but not many know the finer points of fielding, throwing or a good bat swing. The third and most important is the TB schedule. We'll have a Spring league on the weekends from Feb-beginning of April. Then we go into Tourney season every weekend until fall ball league play. Fall ball goes every weekend through October. All this plus practice twice a week. Her TB team is 1 1/2 hrs away each way plus the tourney travel. She would have no time to actually play for the rec team let alone practice with them. We felt it would not be fair to the rec ball team to commit then make only a few practices and/or games. I understand a 10u schedule would more than likely be less strenuous however, it's certainly something to think about.

As for high school, the better teams in our area year in and year out have more TB only players than local rec players. The TB players get most of the playing time since the purely rec players' skills are not up to par with the others. Few, if any players play both leagues beyond 12u, at least in this area.

 

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My DD played both rec and travel and I would recommend not playing rec ball and spend the extra time with your DD practicing the fundamentals. Figure a rec game is about 2 hours long (warm up + 90 minute game) not to mention commute time. That is 4-6 hours a week that can be used towards practicing. In rec ball, didn't see much good pitching so was walked a lot, can't leave the bag until ball crosses the play, cannot steal home...I thought this negatively impacted her travel ball games on the weekend.

 

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If you opt to play rec ball, see if they will let her play 12U. This way should see better pitching and play with same rules as rec ball.

 

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If you opt to play rec ball, see if they will let her play 12U. This way should see better pitching and play with same rules as rec ball.

There is good pitching in Rec Ball?....

 

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At one time, I was an assistant in travel and HC in rec when my DD played 9u. She is a pitcher and in the rec league that had 12s in it couldn't hit her. She allowed 1 foul ball all season. The other coaches of that league complained to the commish and I was informed that in the best interest to the other players in the league she should not pitch. Also when she batted, I worked on her slapping cause the speed threw off her timing when she came back to travel. Needless to say, she only played rec until 9 yrs old. At the time, I thought that some innings were bettier than no innings. Well, thats not the case. I would recommend that once you make the switch,don't look back. If her HS coach dont like the idea, then he/she isn't interested in putting the best team on the field. When my DD enters HS and if we experience this cause she doesn't play with the 'local girls', then can you say, TRANSFER!!!

 

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At the 10U age, Rec ball can still provide her good experience, as she still has plenty to fine tune her game. I would suggest considering strickly travel weekend ball once she begins 12U.

 

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NO!!!!!!

If you want a pitcher to get more time in the circle play friendlies and/or have her pitch to team in practice, this will help hitters too! If she's a catcher, have her catch!

Rec will kill aggressiveness at the plate. Too many walks and they start expecting/looking for it.

 

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If you live in an area that has A level rec it could be beneficial for her to get at bats and time on the field. At 10u many parents and players simply havent discovered travel ball yet so A level rec teams can be quite good with solid pitching and fielding. So it may depend on the area you live in. Its probably not a huge money commitment and depending on your travel teams schedule she would likely get in some earlier games. Just be sure to let the rec coach know that your travel team has priority.

 

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There is good pitching in Rec Ball?....

My DD was 10 years old and played travel ball. I used to manage rec ball teams and knew many of the other 12U teams in our league (I think 9 of 11 teams) had girls that pitched in travel ball. So, I decided to move my DD up to the 12U team, for the same reasons DD316 mentioned above. I also thought my DD benefited from played up in 12U to show that she can compete with older (and bigger girls). My DD was not a pitcher or catcher, rather played OF and sometimes 2nd base.

With DD316's other comment about practicing instead of playing rec ball, I thought about that through the rec ball season. Seemed like we were running 6-7 days a week with softball, and that can make a dent in practicing with my DD.

 

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It is not fair to the girls that only play rec ball. Travel girls will miss alot of practices and some games, but when she is at games coach will play because they want to win the rec. ball championship and sit girls that have been at everything and only play rec. Is that fair to the rec. ball girl ? NO because that may be all rec girl has and then your dd is taking that away from her ?

 

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There is good pitching in Rec Ball?....

In the past the pitchers in rec are the girls who play TB also. At least around here it is that way.

 

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It is not fair to the girls that only play rec ball. Travel girls will miss alot of practices and some games, but when she is at games coach will play because they want to win the rec. ball championship and sit girls that have been at everything and only play rec. Is that fair to the rec. ball girl ? NO because that may be all rec girl has and then your dd is taking that away from her ?

Not in all circumstances. We signed up for rec ball late as there were not enough girls to make up a team, both in 10U & 12U. As I mentioned above, we decided on 12U to get better competition. Other than the manager's & assistant coaches daughters, we missed 1 game due to TB. The girls who only played rec ball were in dance, s****r, or their parents scheduled a couple family vacations during rec ball that they missed multiple games. That is not my fault.

Besides, this happens in basketball, s****r, and other community leagues. My DD played both of these sports in the fall and winter, both had girls who were playing in travel s****r, year-round basketball leagues, etc. Those kids were better than my DD, but told her she just has to do her best. Those parents didn't care that their kids were playing in these rec leagues and had a higher skill set due to their travel sport.

This subject, along with other thread subjects such as helicopter parents, daddy ball, etc, people can make both positive and negative comments. As a parent, you have to do what you feel is best for your DD. The other parents are going to do the same.

 

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wow - this thread gives me a headache just reading and thinking about it ~~~ too many negative and positives that can be argued for both sides. It all depends on ages, skills, goals, local rules, family decisions, who's coaching the rec. team, the local competition you play against, etc.... i know once you get into the rec. district and state tournaments the competition is usually day and night compared to the regular season rec games.

bottom line- take care of #1 and do whats right for your family and let your dd decide IF she wants to play with her friends or not. Personally for my dd's - once in 12u, then they should do one or the other but at 10u its not a big deal.

 

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Ours took that question out of the parents hands.. If you play travel, you're not allowed to play rec ball....