C'mon now! Everyone knows how this works! Get to be pals with the coaches, donate lots of equipment to the team, volunteer to be an assistant coach... There's LOTS of ways to guarantee that playing spot!
J/K ;D
IMO, the mission of "travel ball" should be to attract talented girls who are motivated to improve their game skills - eventually to the college level. Yes - I'm basically saying that the travel scene is primarily a recruiting ground for colleges. There are programs available for casual players that want a less competitive atmosphere - it's called Recreational Softball or Roster Ball. But when coaches start teams for the sole purpose of control and providing their DD and her friends a place to play, and disillusioned parents start demanding unearned playing time for their DD, you wind up with a bunch of teams that probably should have stayed at the rec ball level to please everybody.
In travel ball, it's healthy for the sport to have every player and every team re-evaluated each and every year. Team and player loyalty lasts for one summer at a time - no more, no less. Sure, coaches hate to lose their quality players, but that's a great incentive for coaches to improve on the team talent base. Look at the big picture. In order for an organization to rise above mediocrity and be something better than a rec team, it MUST look to improve on it's talent base from year to year. There are a LOT of "nice" teams with "nice" coaches who have a guilt complex about cutting a girl who's been with the team a couple years - even if she's a slacker who's not interested in improving her skills to help her team. They just automatically guarantee a spot next year. Unfortunately, these are sometimes a coach or assistant coaches DD (and you can't expect the coach to cut their own DD!). The problem with that concept is that the team will forever be held back, because the best players want to be on the best teams - teams that DO cut and recruit the best players. Don't kid yourself - we all know who those teams are. The good players will migrate to those better teams, leaving the less skilled team behind. Survival of the fittest.
Some girls are also scared of the unknown - not playing on a team with her friends is a biggie. Please - that's a rec ball mentality, and if that's a priority, then stick with rec ball. Do these girls think they will be on the same college team with their current friends?
The question coaches have to ask themselves is: Am I truly recruiting the best players I can get for my team? Players need to ask themselves: Am I good enough to make it on a more competitive team? Utopia maybe, because the politics and perceived favoritism will never go away. There are parents and players out there who rise above that garbage and let DD's hard work and talent speak for itself. Those are the ones on the teams playing late on Sundays.
