watered down

[wiseguy]

Organizations need to take a look at there mumbers in tryouts. If your numbers are lowyou should fold. In my opinion you do nothing but water down the game. You'll pick anyone up just to have a team , then you get destroyed all season long. How fun is that for the girls

 

[HITTER23]

 

[snoman76]

This should be interesting

 

[Buckeye_bomber00]

Organizations need to take a look at there mumbers in tryouts. If your numbers are lowyou should fold. In my opinion you do nothing but water down the game. You'll pick anyone up just to have a team , then you get destroyed all season long. How fun is that for the girls

That is very true...the only issue is that there are locations in Ohio that are a distance from travel organizations and this is why you see new teams organizations popping up every day almost!

 

[sftball follower]

....why stop there wiseguy? I think you forgot to add there should be no parent coaches in travel ball allowed at all, not even as assistant coaches.

 

[Buckeye_bomber00]

This could be the thread view winner for the week!

 

[lewam3]

Organizations need to take a look at there mumbers in tryouts. If your numbers are lowyou should fold. In my opinion you do nothing but water down the game. You'll pick anyone up just to have a team , then you get destroyed all season long. How fun is that for the girls

Who cares wiseguy? It is a free country. If you can field a team, then all the more power to you. Let the girls say they played summer ball. It's fun! Those that excel will move on, those that don't will find something else to do. It's like telling that scrawny kid at the gym to take his ball and go home, because he is watering down the talent.
It's not like Summer ball is some pristine temple that must be streamlined and manicured so that every team has three quality pitchers and field elgitimate hitters 1-9! You will not find any youth sport that isn't "watered down" Be is Succer, lacrosse, tennis, volleyball, baseball, there will always be teams that some curmudgeon considers "weak". Free country, man-I say let everyone who wants to enjoy it, enjoy it!

 

[Pitch Perfect]

Let's also take a look at the larger organizations that will have 3 teams in one age group to just pull in money and create teams to accommodate the large turn outs...Then register the same tournaments, epsecially their own? Are they quality teams or jusy money flowing in? What's the difference?

 

[cobb_of_fury]

Here is the trouble - Yes that team may tend to be watered down BUT and its a big BUT...

{SIT DOWN NIKKI IM NOT TALKING ABOUT YOU}
There is a team and girls get to play - The goal of organizations should be to get girls to play softball - First and foremost, Then Training them to be better, Then helping them to get to the next level (Whatever that is) then winning but not winning at the expense of any of the other goals.

Especially at the 10 and 12 level - Winning should NEVER be your first goal - these ages should be about training and preparing for the next level - Winning is a plus but should not be the primary goal.

For the girls at the bottom level who would not play at all with out "BAD' Teams these "BAD" teams are a gift. They help the girls decide if they want to play - if they have a talent that can be developed.

If a team is willing to play and lose what is the harm in that?

Pirates longtime manager Chuck Tanner said "The greatest thing in the world is to win a Major league baseball game, The second best thing is to lose a major league baseball game" because either way you get to play the game...

My daughter played for two years at 10U on awful teams - it was hard sometimes to lose game after game BUT...

{NO NOT TALKING TO YOU EITHER KIM}
A lot is learned in that struggle - My daughter decided to work hard and get on to a better team - and now is on a showcase team.
I see it happen over and over where girls from (for lack of a better term) "starter teams" Coached by dad's who don't really know what they're doing but want girls to play - go on to better and better things. Not every girl can start on the Beverly Bandits or Outlaws or Lasers or ____________ (at the risk of offending someone by the omision) but they want to play and are willing to take the lumps just to play.

So If you're DD is not happy on her current team go to a better one - But if she is, have her work to get better and maybe she can help make that team better or get to a better team next tryout season.

...most of all Relax and enjoy the ride -

 

[jt7663]

But.... A Girl used to Be able to Take PRIDE in saying she "Tried Out" & Made a "Travel Team" ---- Now alot of tryouts are so Watered Down almost everyone makes the team.

 

[cobb_of_fury]

yes - it's a new day - we have moved away from Neighborhod Rec teams - they no longer are enough, girls want more. So low level travel teams are the new Rec -

Now a girl can take pride in making THAT {Insert name of THE BEST TRAVEL TEAM here}TRAVEL TEAM.

There is still PRIDE to be had.

 

[SonicMojo]

As soon as you move from one team to two teams, you've watered down the talent. Then from two to four, and four to eight, it's watered down even more. And so on and so on. Who shall be the "decider" of the proper number of travel teams? Shall it be wiseguy? jt7663? Marx?

 

[Maxdad]

But.... A Girl used to Be able to Take PRIDE in saying she "Tried Out" & Made a "Travel Team" ---- Now alot of tryouts are so Watered Down almost everyone makes the team.

I couldn't disagree more with that statement. Show me a 10 or 12 year old girl stepping up to travel ball who isn't proud of trying out and making a travel team. Doesn't matter what level of team it is to those girls. It matters more to the "pride" of the parents being able to brag about DD trying out and making a travel team.

Even the best teams/orgs of today had to start somewhere. Where would softball be today if the founders of (---insert established team/org here---) did not take the chance of starting their own team/org?

Some have been very successful, some not. Some have grown each year to be "better". Some have lasted a short time, others much longer. Bottom line is generally, the best players will eventually be playing for the best teams/orgs. Everyone should have the opportunity to start somewhere.

So what if it is so watered down that almost everyone makes the team? The goal of most every team/org is to give the girls an opportunity to learn and grow. Without teams just starting out, many of the girls who currently have opportunities to play the game would not be able to.

I applaud all of the new teams/orgs who have taken that next step. Wish you all the best of luck for a successful future.

 

[spartansd]

As soon as you move from one team to two teams, you've watered down the talent. Then from two to four, and four to eight, it's watered down even more. And so on and so on. Who shall be the "decider" of the proper number of travel teams? Shall it be wiseguy? jt7663? Marx?

Well you gotta have at least 2 teams to have a game.

I say the more teams the better. That means more girls playing and more learning. You are always going to have an issue with the quality of coaching. But the better players will typically find their way to better teams/coaches.

At the end of the day the level of play for any team begins and ends in that circle. You can coach defense. You can coached how to execute on offense and score some runs. You can not coach pitching. You can teach them how to pitch and compete. But an elite level pitcher is unique and hard to find. So what is the number? Should you only have the same number of teams as elite pitchers? What makes elite? Velocity? Spin? Location? Who gets to decide what pitchers move on and which ones must stop? For me the more girls playing the better chance of finding better pitchers. If every girls in Ohio played softball I can guarantee you that there would be more elite pitchers coming out of Ohio. And there also would be a butt load more crappy teams. But the best teams would be better.

 

[softballmom2000]

yes - it's a new day - we have moved away from Neighborhod Rec teams - they no longer are enough, girls want more.

This is the hard truth of it. The amount of rec fast pitch teams is slowly dwindling down. If a girl needs to play on a lower level travel to keep playing the sport they love, why are people so offended by that? She is still playing, she is still happy, win lose or draw. And in a year or two, she might move on, she might not, but what concern is it of someone on a website? If the parents are happy and the child is happy, who cares which team she plays for?

 

[Dougk30]

My opinion is you can't always have the team but you can make the best of the team you have. Watered down or not the game is for fun, with the local competition being water down, you now just have to choose your tournaments more wisely and or coach them up a little more. Anyway you look at it, it seems to me the Ohio softball seems to make it mark across the nation.

 

[Buckeye_bomber00]

This is exactly why the "Teams Needing Players" section of the forum is filled. There is still a lot of talent in travel softball. Some call it watered down. It is dispersed for whatever reason. Either following a coach, could not make the Elite team they wanted, dad coaches and is a good coach so other players migrate towards his style, or ability. I don't blame it entirely on the "Daddy Ball" syndrome. In many cases, that results as a bad experience with a coach, or organization unfolds. Regardless, the number of teams and organization does hurt the sport.

 

[Converse Kid]

When my DD was 12, she was on a very unexperienced team that was quite honestly "Terrible". She still had fun playing despite the fact they lost every game ...except for one. The joy and celebration after that victory was priceless. You would have thought these youngsters just won the college World Series. After the final out, it was the Coach who got "Watered Dowm" (with a bucket of gatorade)! My DD has since moved on and now plays for an above average(I do not call any team elite, gold, or any other made up term) team. It was her will to get better and the drive that was instilled in her was the result of playing on that team. "Watered Down" and "Elite" should be words that need abolished in Softball. On any given day, underdogs can seize the moment, that is why we play the game!

 

[cobb_of_fury]

...Regardless, the number of teams and organization does hurt the sport.

The ONLY time the number of teams hurts the sport is when there are not enough Teams for all the girls who want to play. Other wise it may spreads out the tallent somewhat but in the end the best girls usualy end up on the best teams - when it matters.

 

[21 Rocks]

In my years of watching travel ball, I have noticed that many of the good players at 8u and 10u lose interest as they get older. Some also just aren't that good after they reach maturity. Whereas some of the girls that aren't very good at 8 or 10u turn into stud players at 14 and 16u. What I'm trying to say is that everyone that wants to play and learn the game should be given the chance. I think the future of this great sport depends on it.