summer ball verses high school ball...

[allsports1]

Hadn't read your post when I posted mine, FPFanatic, but yours was very eloquent and very much right on.

 

College softball is the ultimate for those that love the sport, but as you stated, it sure doesn't come easy. Most people don't realize just how much effort they do put into it, but it is a lot. Usually the first week of school is just to get your classes ironed out. From there on, you begin the workout program, the running and softball practices. You then have Fall softball but still have your workout program, running, and practices. Generally you break for Christmas vacation, but have mandatory workouts even though you are on break. The first day back to school from Christmas break and your workouts, running and practices resume. Sandwiched in between all this are the classes and the homework and working your schedules around softball and making up test because you had a ball game. None of it is easy, but for the love of the game these girls take it in stride and nothing deters them. They are playing softball and loving every minute of it. I would encourage anyone that wants to play at the college level to talk to someone that is playing in college. Listen and don't forget what you've been told, but don't let it discourage you if you really want to play and put forth the effort. My daughter set her goal for college softball in the 5th grade and there was absolutely nothing that was going to stop her. She is having a ball and leading her team.

[bgmlrh]

Summer ball is an elite group of athletes at very near the same ability, same age, and maturity. Of course the youngsters are going to gel better with this team. They have a blast. When they travel abroad, there is always fun. You do not get the same situation with college. Players range of ages are parallel to the range of ages in high school. The number of players on the college roster is much higher (as is high school) than that of the summer team's roster. Many high schools in this area- middle Tennessee- are as competitive as the colleges in this area.The statement of "competitive" is they are comparable. If you take all the best 18 and under high school players and put them on a team (like all-stars), they would compete with the best of 18 and under summer ball teams. Colleges range from freshmen to seniors (just as high school). There are a hand full of colleges (nationwide) that can actually field nine solid players from lead-off to ninth batter. Very much resembles high school ball. Players who have played at the highest summer ball level may have been on a much more competitive team than the actual college team they later may play for. With summer ball there are national tourneys of different associations that you can compete in (nsa,asa,usssa,??). With college their is just one. If it is NCAA Div. I, then there is only one first place trophy for the best. As is high school, there is only one trophy for the best in the class.

 

It is good to see that many have pointed out the dedication and hard work demanded of the college athlete. No doubt that a true love of the game is a requirement. I wish players that have bad high school coaches-- simply didn't. It is a sure shame. It is a great bother to hear "high school ball isn't necessary to get a scholarship". The feeling of not needing high school ball to go to college is abstract. Stats posted for college players generally reflect the player's high school career. There is a high emphasis on grades for the college athlete. ACT and/or SAT scores are very important to any college coach worth playing for. The high school coach (may should say a "good" H.S. coach) is a good contact for the college coach to contact for the actual coachability of a player.

[Sidetrain]

I agree with what each one of you said. But recuriting softball coach is what I've been doing all summer. We have a coach that does not care about the game or PLAYERS. So i've found a coach but now the adminsation needs to see the need. Travel ball is more fun and exciting. But there is no excuse for a high school to just let it's program go down the drain just because it the last thing played in the school year. Our caoch had so mant excuses why the girls where not playing well. When parents tried to help either with the playing field(get it ready making it nicer) she would just walk off from you because she saw money leaving the basketball program. Well this is not what you asked for but I feel better. Thank you for this thread. Good luck to all your teams this fall and next spring.

[Guest ncjenks]

The message is simple, travel ball is the answer. I have spent many summers at the ball park with my daughter at all levels of travel ball A-B , ages 8U-10U-12U-14U-16U. Not to knock the high school level of commitment, but all players who play summer travel ball seem to agonize the start of high school ball because of the level of play of some of their team members who are not as committed as they are. High school programs are not as committed to developing talent and playing to win. Some coaches don't seem to understand the level of play making to manufacture runs for a 1-run victory. Players are also not as interested in the importance of winning at the high school level either by the program or the attitude of some coaches.Yes,there are some high school coaches who can make this happen in their programs, but I have only seen a few, and it takes some committed parents-summer coaches working hard behind the scenes to ensure a successful H.S program.My previous involvement at all levels of travel ball is I see some H.S.coaches having girls take 4 steps backwards every year in school ball (vs) travel ball, also not understanding and developing talent that they have in front of them but letting it go to waste.Example-slap bunting,this past summer I saw a H.S. coach marvel at what we could do with summer talent that was wasted in school ball because the coach did not undrstand her potential or the game itself.The level of play between A-AA-AAA is also a big factor in H.S ball because of the available pool to pull athletic talent from.I love summer ball and cringe when fundamental errors are made in school ball due to the players not being as well coached or talented at the game.

[FPFanatic]

Having seen quite a few tournaments in 18U and also seeing

quite a few college coaches recruiting these tournaments,

and also seeing quite a few high school tournaments, it was

easy to see where most of the recruiting was going on.

As was said earlier, high school ball is necessary for

many different reasons, but travel ball is more more

necessary in this day and age for college recruiting. After all, college recruiters want to see the best against the best, they pay little regard to erroneous or inflated high school stats. Sure, a bunch of no hitters and a .400 batting average looks nice in high school, but look who it was against. Thats why college coaches go all over to recruit and much the same way that travel ball coaches also get players from all over. I would say there are just as many valid comparisons between travel ball and college as between college and high school, probably moreso, depending

on what part you are looking at.

[allsports1]

Looks like we've all been there, done that. I think it is a shame that the parents are really working hard for the high school programs and can't seem to get a break. Sidetrain, hang in there. Hopefully, something good will become of all your hard work. The good news is many of our daughters that played in college are graduating and love the sport so much they are wanting to go back into the programs at their high school (or surrounding high schools) to try to coach and make a difference. 4 of my daughter's friends that are older than she are doing just that. The high school girls are responding much better than a teacher who was either forced to take the job or took it for the money. These girls know what they are talking about and it sure seems to be working out much better. Please keep us posted. We want to know what is going on with you and your program. If we can do anything, let us know.

 

FPFanatic, you are soooo right on so many issues. The college coaches aren't contacting these high school coaches and in our case, we were glad. If they had in many cases, you would have been scared to death because the coach did not know softball and you were afraid that if something came out, then maybe the college coach would think if he/she doesn't know softball than maybe what they are telling me about this person is far fetched as well. Luckily, we had the stats and the newspaper articles and many, many letters of recommendations from the travel coaches and the awards to back it up, thank goodness. (Our stats were accurate, by the way.)

 

One of the moms kept the book (high school)and funny thing, her child had a whopper batting average, yet the only way she could get on base and was to bunt. The rest of our children were consistenly driving in runs left and right and they had lower batting averages. This girl cannot live up to those stats in college. (We soon decided it was time to keep 2 separate books.)

 

You get at a great well-organized tournament and word has gotten out about how good this tournament is and you have some high caliber teams playing and you look around and you will see a tremendous amount of college recruiters. Many have come from some distant places. These recruiters are not going to be sitting in your high school bleachers watching a high school game. Travel ball is turned up several notches more than high school and is a tremendous experience for those girls wanting to play in college. We saw the little league was going no where so we started traveling softball and we had been traveling many years when we hit the high school scene. Everyone said high school would be better. It wasn't. These travel coaches work with these girls and kept most of the high school team together and coached them in Fall ball locally just to keep them playing. Then Spring comes along and these travel coaches are sick to their stomachs to see this tallent and see what these high school coaches are doing or not doing. I could tell you some HORROR stories and even I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't witnessed it first hand.

[Sidetrain]

Thank You and Good luck to you too.

 

Fastpitch Softball catch the FEVER

[dropball]

No doubt, High school softball can not compare to travel for college coach attention. However, one reason college coaches are not at High School games is because they are playing during the same time. One thing that will help HS softball is a change of the season to Fall. It will help with recruiting, and it will prepare the serious player for the travel season. How many TN travel teams had trouble early in their season against the GA travel teams? (TN playing thier first games together while GA teams had 30+ games under their belts.) TSSAA, IMO, should do what ever they can in the elimination of "goofy" rules to help our state softball players in their quest for scholarships instead of trying to protect member schools and coaches.

 

I also beleive the quality of HS softball is increasing. It use to be that teams from large cities played for and won the state championships. Not many years ago there were no serious teams from Columbia, Dickson County, Coffee County, or Forrest. The softball movement is spreading from the larger metro areas and the quality will get even better in years to come. More attenion is being paid to HS softball as is evident by the new HS fields being built and postings in CoachT. More HS coaches are becoming associated with Travel teams and more travel team coaches are becoming HS coaches. It is getting better.

[Sidetrain]

Dropball,

I agree with most of what you said. But what dop people like myself who's coach spend most summers and the early part of fall with basketball player or football player because that is where their love is and you can not get them to see that and let someone who loves the game take over or even listen to them about the game. I wish fall H.S. ball would go but for our area our program would suffer more.

We play in Forrest Disticit and they have done alot of work to get it where it is now but the coach has listen, work with, and wanted parents help. Great Job this year Rockets.

[ballhawk]

Everyone should keep in mind that girls' softball has not been an institution in high school sports in Tennessee for as long as other sports like football, baseball, and basketball. It is a relative newcomer to sports in Tennessee. This is a sport that has been, for the most part, a summer sport. It gained its start and popularity among young ladies during the summer. Therefore, I don't think that statewide, it has been accepted with the same enthusiasm on everyone's part (coaches, administrators, fans, etc.) like the other sports. One of the previous posts spoke of how softball is really getting serious at many more schools in Tennessee. Give it time and softball will gain even more popularity and seriousness. As far as summer being better for the girls, I think the jury is out. There are some trememdous high school softball programs in the state and I think you are going to see the numbers of good programs eventually increase. Give it time! AS the sport becomes more popular, some of these young ladies are going to get into coaching and revolutionize the sports. Be patient!

[allsports1]

Ballhawk, I fully empathize with Sidetrain's frustrations. I detect from his comments that his daughter is probably still in the high school softball program. There isn't anything more frustrating. These schools have search committees to find a football coach but they give you a coach that is a token. The baseball team has "practice" uniforms and new uniforms for their games. The softball team is wearing unforms that are 10 years old and the only way they got the new uniforms 10 years ago was because a mother that was also a teacher brought up Title IX. I can go on and on that isn't even the tip of the iceberg. Then you have a coach that the girls know more than he does and I'm not being disrespectful, it is the truth.

 

You have girls that played little league softball show up for try outs in high school. They were the stars in little league and everyone told them how great they were. They get to high school and don't even know the fundamentals little alone game situations and you have a coach that can't help them because in a lot of situations, he is the same caliber that they are. The better players from little league are then put on a team with the girls that have been playing travel softball for many years. NOW DO YOU SEE WHERE SIDETRAIN IS COMING FROM???????? It is actually much worse than what you can put into words. Believe me, I know.

 

You can't be patient when your child is in need now and you are saying it will come around years from now. It will be too late for the girls in the present situations. You are correct though. The girls graduating from college that played softball and know the game are now coaching and making a big, big difference in the high school programs. You are going to see some of the programs turn around and hopefully see some make it to state. They need feeder programs to get them there and that is travel softball, not little league.

 

Sidetrain, keep your daughter playing travel softball. Find a coach that is willing to work with her irregardless if he is her coach or not. The coaches that love the game and know the game will work with her. Keep her practicing throwing and batting. You may not think she is progressing, but wait until a game and you will see. She will get noticed, believe me. She will be heads and shoulders above the rest and it will happen. If you can make it happen, you need Fall softball that is going to be your high school team in the Spring.

 

Just hang in there. Keep us posted. We know where you are coming from.

[piratedad]

in my opinion (mine only)softball is a spring/summer sport regardless if ga.ala. deem it necessary.when the tn. kids start there ready i have seen no evedince that the other programs are more advanced because of an earlier start .having a daughter playing at the highest level of competition in the country year in and out.i have seen it all! from alpha to omega .you name it in 12 plus years of a ball or above the kids that excel and go on to the next level are the ones that choose to. there is a place in college ball for all that have a desire to play. granted it may not be there first choice of schools ,but if they want to play in college they can.high school ball instills loyalty and the knowledge that grades have to be in line to play .also the kids that dont mesure up so to speak in talent and ability know it beleive me but they want to be a part of the high school team for what ever reason college coaches are paid to win not teach. its in their best intrest to seek out the players that can put it in play. they will be in ga ala in the fall and tn in the spring.i love fastpitch as a player coach and father i have nothing but good to say about the sport except what will i do all summer next year ? baseball at the select level is boring(sssh dont tell my 11 year old son ) im gonna miss softball unless i hit the lotto so i can travel with the college my daughter attends .