This subject seems to come up every year about this time, and every year there are great points made with a great deal of passion and in some cases emotion.
The last time I got involved I regretted doing so, it seemed back then that some posters were unaware of the idea that "adults have a right to disagree with each other, without being ridiculed" and as in many subjects here, "there can be subjects in which there are NO right or wrong answers or opinions, simply ones own opinion", for my money I believe that whatever point is made that the individual in most cases is not right or wrong, that they are simply, within the prevailing awareness of that moment and subject (given all the facts they have), they offer the only opinion they could possibly answer with, not right, not wrong, simply their opinion of the subject. I believe there has been a change here, more in keeping with my belief, so here goes........
I will offer the follwing opinions;
The question I asked in the past was, are there enough coaches, players, and families interested in establishing teams of players that for whatever reason would like an alternative to HS Softball here in Ohio? I believe that one of our prolific posting HS/Travel coaches offered his opinion that if nothing else, an opportunity to play outside of HS would cause a situation where HS coaches would have to compete for players much like summer coaches do, and that to compete they would have to become more professional in their knowledge and administration of their program. I thought that point was excellent, and given the fact that no one has caused that competiton to become reality, it appears that the unrest regarding the HS Softball experience has continued to grow, in my mind simply because there are no alternatives and no reason for many HS coaches to aspire to higher ideals, players continue to show up and tryout, and HS coaches continue to provide a less than good experience in the minds of many players and their families.
I believe there are 4 good reasons for a travel player to play HS ball,
1. Recogniton in the local papers and statewide in some cases.
2. Recognition by their peers, you know the girls that always wonder why the player cannot come to the sleepover or pool party this weekend, and question the many practices or lessons the player attends and that "cut" into her social life, HS ball is a chance in most cases for the player to demonstrate why they have worked so hard and how "good" they are at this game, lets face it many of our players are key players in their freshman and sophomore years in HS, and that is impressive.
3. A chance for the player to relax and have "FUN" playing ball, in an competitive situation in which they should excel, lets face it, most all teams hope that the player can have "FUN" during their travel ball experience, it makes for a better team, but, the reality is that playing a highly competitive summer schedule on a team where players are there to compete at a high level, and in some cases the player is playing in front of college coaches, is a bit more stressful game in and game out than most HS ball. I always hope my players can enjoy HS ball while maintaining their, focus, intensity, and enthusiasim.
4. Because there is nothing else to do, at least in the past and present, everyone else is playing HS ball and there would be no one else to play with or against!
I don't list, tradition, school spirit or community pride, because in many cases that is absent, and I would prefer to focus on the reasons that are beneficial to the player, not their parents and community, not selfish but focused on who we are seeking to benefit and provide the experience for.
Having said this, I will offer that for many years now I have sent a letter to all our players and their families outlining what we expect of them from their HS experience, you see in most negative HS situations, I believe a player can learn valuable lessons about, "controlling the things they can control", I expect when I watch that player during a HS game the only critieria I use to judge them is their attitude and hustle, no matter how bad the coach or team or teammates or other parents, or ANYTHING, they are not responsible for the players attitude and hustle the players IS! In fact the worse the situation the greater the opportunity to learn these valuable lessons.
Last time I suggested that maybe it was time to investigate the idea of a team that simply was made up of players that chose not to play HS ball, that were committed to playing beyond HS, that would attend 2-3 workouts per week, and when not playing in a tournament at least one workout on the weekend, and would be willing to travel 3-4 times to GA/AL/TN(4 tnmts avg 6 games =24 games, what is your HS schedule?), and other places where there are plenty of good 16/18 teams playing in the Spring(distance within reason!!), to my suprise I received 25-30 PM's or e-mails, was accused of being the anti-christ by 3-4, had 5-6 very lucid and well thought out arguments for HS ball, there were 2-3 that said it would be nice but they would stick out HS ball, and received 10-12 replies effectively stating, how much is it going to cost and when do we start!!
I imagine that in this case there will be a larger number of the expected replies in every category, and clearly the HS issues are still an issue for many families, maybe this is an idea that's time has come, whether you like it or not, the fact is that having options is the greatest vehicle for change I can think of.
