Re: What is wrong with Hilliards u14's softball pr
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I'll be watching so let's keep the tone positive.
Like Tejam said, there may be nothing wrong with Hilliard's program if it is reaching its targetted audience. What a lot of people fail to realize is that most communities don't have the talent pool to compete year in and year out with a true tournament team which seeks national level competition, but they can offer good competition on a local scale that is above Rec. I see three main divisions (each with multiple levels inside it): Recreational, Community Based Travel, and Tournament.
Recreational is just that. It is played for the pure fun of learning the game and the opportunity to do something with friends. There is a competitive piece to this level, but it is a far second to learning and fun.
Community based travel teams tend to play a more competitive schedule, but due to the talent pool available tend to compete more at the city wide league level - GCGC for example. They will take in a few tournaments, but do not seek the national qualifiers as a general rule. The cost and time commitment at this level is higher than recreational, but less than a Tournament Level team. They also tend to draw their talent from local area, generally focused on a central community and maybe a couple of neighboring communites. Girls on these teams tend to see each other quite often at school or community events. Many families find that this level of competition vs expense and time commitment is most comfortable for them. You will find many good players that do not move beyond this level, or that go back to this level after a year or two of tournament.
The tournament team level has not historically appealled to the majority of the population due to the level of commitment, focus, and expense related to it. This level tends to be more focused on competition and the desire to compete against "the best", and thus requires more of a year round type of commitment. These teams tend to draw talent from a much wider area than the community teams, and the girls may or may not socialize with other girls from the team off the field. They also will travel throughout the state and sometimes beyond to find national level competition. Expenses at this level are generally higher as the tournaments cost more to enter, and the hotel and travel related expenses can't be avoided as easily (unless you have a large family spread throughout the country ;D).
Each of these levels, and their sub-levels, have a target population and by their nature will not appeal to every girl/family. So the real question is not what is wrong, but is, is Hilliard's program reaching its intended audience? If so, then it should be considered a success. If not, what is standing in its way? If it is trying to be the organization that all girls in Hilliard should play for, I would say that the focus is too broad.