Where are all the 10u players?

[default]

When my oldest DD was 9(almost 16 now) our community didn't even have a rec fastpitch team. How would I have known about any travel teams?

How old are the oldest travel orgs in Ohio? When did travel ball really explode? Answer those questions and then figure when those players start having kids they'll be plenty more kids playing travel @ 10u. Probably end up having 6u travel tee-ball. lol

 

[default]

My daughter is playing travel ball for the first time this year (8 years old). I haven't been around travel ball too much but from what I see just learning the teams and organizations is that there really is not one factor resulting in lack of 10U players. I think it is the economy, the increase in popularity of travel ball in that there are new organizations or established organizations now expanding their teams or adding 10U and 8U teams. We live in Wooster and there is not a 10U travel team around, after my daughter played in the Wooster classic tournament and got her first taste of travel teams she said to me "Dad I want to be as good as those girls". She wasn't going to get better by playing 10 games a year in rec ball so travel ball was the only option. I applaud organizations that are adding more 10U teams because this provides more young ladies the opportunity to practice and play games even if it "thins" out the talent pool. With the right coaching an average 9 year old can become a good softball player by the time she is 10 or 11.

I also agree that at least in Wooster ****** has taken a majority of girls from softball. I coached a 10U rec team in Wooster and we had 26 girls tryout for softball, if you drive past the ****** fields on any Saturday in Wooster there are 100+ girls playing ******.

 

[default]

Probably end up having 6u travel tee-ball. lol

We brought a girl from Miami, Fl on my 10u team mid-season - her mom was astounded that we did not have an 8u team... LOL.

We figured that we could have several very good teams or 1 really great team at 10u (my team last year had great success - that brought a lot of kids out to our tryouts) .. if we can put 3-4 avg rec players into travel ball as our 10,11,12th player and let them learn and develop that is a 'team' of good players the next season...

 

[default]

We brought a girl from Miami, Fl on my 10u team mid-season

Doug, did you fly her in on Hawk-Force I? :lmao:

 

[default]

s.o.ccer is exploding as well - especially select/travel .. I am sure that has had an impact.

I went to a tryout on sunday for 10u and it looked like a travel ****** team showed up to try out. 1 decent girl. and this was a well respected travel team that added a 2nd 10u team.

 

[default]

oops i mean travel s.o.ccer team showed up

 

[default]

Wow I did not mean to stir the pot or create problems. I was just amazed that in our area at a certain tryout there were only 4 10u girls. I have to admit there are a few new teams that have formed and I am sure it divided up alot of the rec ball players in the area. I just think that in our area (Cleveland area) parents don't want to commit. I have two girls playing and we are gone every weekend in the summer. Our friends think we are insane. Then when we told them how much we actually spent for one season I thought they were going to have heart attacks. LOL. We have found ways to cut down some of the costs though.

 

[default]

Mbootsy ... just a little fyi .. my 11u team signed a young girl from your area to pitch and play infield for us ... they are a 4 hr drive from our practice fields... they went to 4 tryouts around their home and the talent level was just not there ... they committed to coming weekly to practice, every weekend to indoor practice and every tourney... wild...

 

[default]

When my oldest DD was 9(almost 16 now) our community didn't even have a rec fastpitch team. How would I have known about any travel teams?

How old are the oldest travel orgs in Ohio? When did travel ball really explode? Answer those questions and then figure when those players start having kids they'll be plenty more kids playing travel @ 10u. Probably end up having 6u travel tee-ball. lol

I went to a tryout on sunday for 10u and it looked like a travel ****** team showed up to try out. 1 decent girl. and this was a well respected travel team that added a 2nd 10u team.

At this date that does not surprise me .. most all the better players have been to tryouts and have signed on with someone... we have been getting 2-3 good players at 10u per tryout and a couple kids that we can add and develop ... we had 2 10u teams last season and out of the 22 girls - probably 18-20 resigned with our org before or after our first tryout. All 12 of my players came back to the org .. that keeps the numbers down at tryouts too...

 

[default]

Mbootsy ... just a little fyi .. my 11u team signed a young girl from your area to pitch and play infield for us ... they are a 4 hr drive from our practice fields... they went to 4 tryouts around their home and the talent level was just not there ... they committed to coming weekly to practice, every weekend to indoor practice and every tourney... wild...

Wow, that is wild. That is about at least 8 hours driving a week. This past season I had to drive about an hour to get to the Static practices. Always kept me from witching about it, knowing there was others doing a lot more. Says a lot about you and the great work you are doing. Congrats!

 

[default]

See some people are commenting on 8U. My younger DD still wants to play softball like her older sisiter and right now the only options are ****** and chearleading. Any ideas if there are any 8U teams located in NE Ohio? This past season she played 8U but moved her up to fill rosters on a 10U team for a few games and did well.

 

[default]

She is a great kid and find.. she played with us at the WS last month and the girls all got along great... she pitched 2 games with us - the second one we asked her dad to take the bucket as he knew her best .. it blew him away that we would do that.. she threw a complete game, gave up 1 run and we went on to win it all. Her dad called to ask if she would be eligible to tryout - I told him her tryout was the WS and she was good by me... We agreed that they should go to tryouts in their area and he told me after everyone she asked why? I thought I was a Hawk... the team she played for last season was very good, great org and we were just very fortunate that the family is willing to commit like that ...

 

[default]

DiamondDad316, how old is your daughter? My daughter played 8U through a rec team for 3 years, she started when she was 5. This past year she played 10U rec ball as an 8 year old and after the season was over she tried out for 10U travel ball and made both teams she tried out for. I would say if she is 7 or 8 it looks like from comments on this board that some 10U teams are looking for players. If she is not ready for 10U then I know there are a couple of 8U teams out there that do some traveling. Good luck!

 

[default]

The Diamond Chix are the only team in NEO that travels and has an 8U team. My DD played for them this past summer and loved it!

 

[default]

Klump, that is not entirely true. The Lasers had an 8U, which was a combination of girls from NEO and Columbus. CSU head coach was their coach and they were a good little team, playing in 10U tournaments and giving some of those teams fits.

 

[default]

Doug ...FYI... I have two dd's with whom I traveled 2 hrs one way practiced 4 hours and then drove home 2 hrs. I did this when she was playing 8u. I just was wondering about the girls in our area. Tryouts looked slim.

 

[default]

kned44...You are right, there are the Lasers, but they are based more in central Ohio and play most of their tournaments in western Ohio. I looked into them and there weren't many tournaments less than 2 hours away for us and we live between Akron and Canton.
My DD will be 7 this year and the pickings are very slim for her age. Had many 10U offers, but she is still too small for 10U I think.

 

[default]

I have a friend whose DD played 10 u this year and they had a couple of tournaments that were cancelled for their age group because they did not have enough teams. This is a shame. When my DD played 10 u there were several teams. More than there are now.

 

[default]

I could easily get together an 8U team in my area, the only problem is there is nowhere for them to play. If you can find 3 tournaments a year that are less than 2 hours away, you are lucky. Asking parents to drive 3+ hours for tournaments for 8U is a hard sell.

 

[default]

I was just going to post this same question when I found this thread. This is a serious problem relating to the growth of this sport in this part of the country. I do believe this is at least partially due to the economy. 3 years ago, our organization had 2 quality teams at 10u. The last year, none. Next year will be without a 10u for us as well. I see many organizations struggling to occupy 10u with warm bodies much less talented athletes. I believe it was the 10u ASA "A" eastern nationals this year that had only 5 teams participating. I hope this trend turns around soon and we have more talented young ladies looking to learn and embrace this sport.