Airwick
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Post by Airwick on Mar 16, 2021 18:01:29 GMT 14
I’ve never been heavily involved in travel ball. As someone like yourself that coached, curious to know what you take away as the positives that could overlook negatives? It preps you for high school. The competition level is higher. You get a lot of reps. You will get better around better kids. Bonds made with teammates. You get to travel places. I got out of coaching and travel ball because it is now so watered down. Example a kids parent don't like where there playing. There parent will now start there own team and that kid is now batting 3rd and playing shortstop. It seems like now days everyone is on a travel team. I have see plenty of travel teams these days that couldn't beat most of the rec teams that I coached back in the good old abbeville days, before travel ball was even though of. Abbeville baseball was feared by almost everyone. How many ended up playing collegiate or further? Edit: not trying to be smartass. Genuinely curious the estimated #/% over your years.
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JMVCajuns
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Post by JMVCajuns on Mar 17, 2021 1:24:05 GMT 14
It preps you for high school. The competition level is higher. You get a lot of reps. You will get better around better kids. Bonds made with teammates. You get to travel places. I got out of coaching and travel ball because it is now so watered down. Example a kids parent don't like where there playing. There parent will now start there own team and that kid is now batting 3rd and playing shortstop. It seems like now days everyone is on a travel team. I have see plenty of travel teams these days that couldn't beat most of the rec teams that I coached back in the good old abbeville days, before travel ball was even though of. Abbeville baseball was feared by almost everyone. How many ended up playing collegiate or further? Edit: not trying to be smartass. Genuinely curious the estimated #/% over your years. I am not sure if it was ever tracked or not. If I had to guess less than 10 percent.
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Post by RCajunRunner on Mar 17, 2021 13:37:40 GMT 14
I've got a few thoughts about this as a parent and what I've observed, both from my current jr. high daughter currently playing select softball in the Houston area, and a high schooler who played club (select) volleyball.
First off, my experience is the volleyball parents are much more unbearable than the softball parents. I'd stand off in corners of the volleyball facilities at times to watch my daughter's games. The parents for my daughter's current select team are really great, though, as are the coaches. So I'm hoping that team sticks.
My softball daughter, now 13, didn't start playing ball till 9 years old. In our area of Texas, 9-10 years old (10U) seems to be about the age where the good softball players start branching off into select, though in the specific rec league I put my kid in, many of those girls it was either second year 10U, or first year 12U. Due to mine's lack of experience, she played her first year 12U still in rec, but it was blatantly obvious that the best talent, especially the good pitching, had left rec for select. In fact, on our 12U all star team that summer, we had one legit bracket pitcher. The other 3 pitchers on that team had learned to pitch for the first during that 12U Spring season. Brutal. I remember when I was in baseball, you still had your best area players on rec ball teams at that age. "Select" baseball was a high school thing for good baseball players who weren't playing football. Guess times have changed.
So after that summer, we joined a select team. Played strictly C-class that Fall, then in the Spring moved to "B team" that was playing open class tournaments.
We were ignorant to the way select ball was done, but I learned quick that it doesn't matter if you call yourself a C, B, or A team. You can be a C team that is good enough to beat A teams, but you stay "C" so you can chase trophies in C only tournaments, and there's some "A" teams who go 0-4 (lose your two pool games and get crushed in double elimination bracket) in every single tournament they play in.
I guess I was expecting select ball to be more like club volleyball. All the teams in the Lonestar Region are ranked after every weekend of tournaments, and that determines seeding and divisions for future tournaments. The #200 team ranked team ain't going to go up against the #2 ranked team.
But select softball ain't like that at all. I guess it's because girls switch teams during seasons, and girls from say...an Impact Gold team, might pick up with an Illusions team for a weekend, especially pitchers. There's no "picking up" in club volleyball. If you're on a specific club, you might get asked to join the higher ranked team at that club in a tournament to see if you'll be promoted, but for the most part your teams are basically set the entire Spring. So guess that makes ranking volleyball teams for tournaments easier.
I'm not a huge fan of playing the sport non-stop all year, but my volleyball daughter attended a highly competitive 6A school where literally every girl on the JV and Varsity teams played club in the Spring, and my softball daughter is attending the same school where is seems every girl trying out in the class before her and in her class next year for the team plays select. Don't want them getting left behind if they're still wanting to compete.
Now not every high school in the area is like that. Bella's volleyball teams would play against other 5A and 6A schools where it was obvious few, if any, of the girls played club, and they'd crush them. With softball, there's 5A and 6A schools down the road that some of her teammates will play at, and they will be one of maybe two or three girls on the team who play select. But as long as mine wants to keep playing and make JV next year, then hopefully make Varsity down the road, it's almost as if she's forced to play year round to keep working on her skill. She's not such a natural athlete that she can drop the bat for a good bit of the Fall, pick it up and play amongst the competition in her class to make the school team in the Spring.
As a parent, I'm not thrilled with that prospect, but guess I have to roll with it and just try to take as little stress from the sport off my kid as possible, because like another poster mentioned, year round with a sport at an early age lends to a strong possibility of burnout.
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Post by angeleast on Mar 17, 2021 13:55:27 GMT 14
I've got a few thoughts about this as a parent and what I've observed, both from my current jr. high daughter currently playing select softball in the Houston area, and a high schooler who played club (select) volleyball. First off, my experience is the volleyball parents are much more unbearable than the softball parents. I'd stand off in corners of the volleyball facilities at times to watch my daughter's games. The parents for my daughter's current select team are really great, though, as are the coaches. So I'm hoping that team sticks. My softball daughter, now 13, didn't start playing ball till 9 years old. In our area of Texas, 9-10 years old (10U) seems to be about the age where the good softball players start branching off into select, though in the specific rec league I put my kid in, many of those girls it was either second year 10U, or first year 12U. Due to mine's lack of experience, she played her first year 12U still in rec, but it was blatantly obvious that the best talent, especially the good pitching, had left rec for select. In fact, on our 12U all star team that summer, we had one legit bracket pitcher. The other 3 pitchers on that team had learned to pitch for the first during that 12U Spring season. Brutal. I remember when I was in baseball, you still had your best area players on rec ball teams at that age. "Select" baseball was a high school thing for good baseball players who weren't playing football. Guess times have changed. So after that summer, we joined a select team. Played strictly C-class that Fall, then in the Spring moved to "B team" that was playing open class tournaments. We were ignorant to the way select ball was done, but I learned quick that it doesn't matter if you call yourself a C, B, or A team. You can be a C team that is good enough to beat A teams, but you stay "C" so you can chase trophies in C only tournaments, and there's some "A" teams who go 0-4 (lose your two pool games and get crushed in double elimination bracket) in every single tournament they play in. I guess I was expecting select ball to be more like club volleyball. All the teams in the Lonestar Region are ranked after every weekend of tournaments, and that determines seeding and divisions for future tournaments. The #200 team ranked team ain't going to go up against the #2 ranked team. But select softball ain't like that at all. I guess it's because girls switch teams during seasons, and girls from say...an Impact Gold team, might pick up with an Illusions team for a weekend, especially pitchers. There's no "picking up" in club volleyball. If you're on a specific club, you might get asked to join the higher ranked team at that club in a tournament to see if you'll be promoted, but for the most part your teams are basically set the entire Spring. So guess that makes ranking volleyball teams for tournaments easier. I'm not a huge fan of playing the sport non-stop all year, but my volleyball daughter attended a highly competitive 6A school where literally every girl on the JV and Varsity teams played club in the Spring, and my softball daughter is attending the same school where is seems every girl trying out in the class before her and in her class next year for the team plays select. Don't want them getting left behind if they're still wanting to compete. Now not every high school in the area is like that. Bella's volleyball teams would play against other 5A and 6A schools where it was obvious few, if any, of the girls played club, and they'd crush them. With softball, there's 5A and 6A schools down the road that some of her teammates will play at, and they will be one of maybe two or three girls on the team who play select. But as long as mine wants to keep playing and make JV next year, then hopefully make Varsity down the road, it's almost as if she's forced to play year round to keep working on her skill. She's not such a natural athlete that she can drop the bat for a good bit of the Fall, pick it up and play amongst the competition in her class to make the school team in the Spring. As a parent, I'm not thrilled with that prospect, but guess I have to roll with it and just try to take as little stress from the sport off my kid as possible, because like another poster mentioned, year round with a sport at an early age lends to a strong possibility of burnout. Wow.. like I said it's stressful and while having good points, thr pitfalls are numerous. Like a second job
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JMVCajuns
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Post by JMVCajuns on Mar 17, 2021 14:32:39 GMT 14
I've got a few thoughts about this as a parent and what I've observed, both from my current jr. high daughter currently playing select softball in the Houston area, and a high schooler who played club (select) volleyball. First off, my experience is the volleyball parents are much more unbearable than the softball parents. I'd stand off in corners of the volleyball facilities at times to watch my daughter's games. The parents for my daughter's current select team are really great, though, as are the coaches. So I'm hoping that team sticks. My softball daughter, now 13, didn't start playing ball till 9 years old. In our area of Texas, 9-10 years old (10U) seems to be about the age where the good softball players start branching off into select, though in the specific rec league I put my kid in, many of those girls it was either second year 10U, or first year 12U. Due to mine's lack of experience, she played her first year 12U still in rec, but it was blatantly obvious that the best talent, especially the good pitching, had left rec for select. In fact, on our 12U all star team that summer, we had one legit bracket pitcher. The other 3 pitchers on that team had learned to pitch for the first during that 12U Spring season. Brutal. I remember when I was in baseball, you still had your best area players on rec ball teams at that age. "Select" baseball was a high school thing for good baseball players who weren't playing football. Guess times have changed. So after that summer, we joined a select team. Played strictly C-class that Fall, then in the Spring moved to "B team" that was playing open class tournaments. We were ignorant to the way select ball was done, but I learned quick that it doesn't matter if you call yourself a C, B, or A team. You can be a C team that is good enough to beat A teams, but you stay "C" so you can chase trophies in C only tournaments, and there's some "A" teams who go 0-4 (lose your two pool games and get crushed in double elimination bracket) in every single tournament they play in. I guess I was expecting select ball to be more like club volleyball. All the teams in the Lonestar Region are ranked after every weekend of tournaments, and that determines seeding and divisions for future tournaments. The #200 team ranked team ain't going to go up against the #2 ranked team. But select softball ain't like that at all. I guess it's because girls switch teams during seasons, and girls from say...an Impact Gold team, might pick up with an Illusions team for a weekend, especially pitchers. There's no "picking up" in club volleyball. If you're on a specific club, you might get asked to join the higher ranked team at that club in a tournament to see if you'll be promoted, but for the most part your teams are basically set the entire Spring. So guess that makes ranking volleyball teams for tournaments easier. I'm not a huge fan of playing the sport non-stop all year, but my volleyball daughter attended a highly competitive 6A school where literally every girl on the JV and Varsity teams played club in the Spring, and my softball daughter is attending the same school where is seems every girl trying out in the class before her and in her class next year for the team plays select. Don't want them getting left behind if they're still wanting to compete. Now not every high school in the area is like that. Bella's volleyball teams would play against other 5A and 6A schools where it was obvious few, if any, of the girls played club, and they'd crush them. With softball, there's 5A and 6A schools down the road that some of her teammates will play at, and they will be one of maybe two or three girls on the team who play select. But as long as mine wants to keep playing and make JV next year, then hopefully make Varsity down the road, it's almost as if she's forced to play year round to keep working on her skill. She's not such a natural athlete that she can drop the bat for a good bit of the Fall, pick it up and play amongst the competition in her class to make the school team in the Spring. As a parent, I'm not thrilled with that prospect, but guess I have to roll with it and just try to take as little stress from the sport off my kid as possible, because like another poster mentioned, year round with a sport at an early age lends to a strong possibility of burnout. Thats basically the same feelings I have. Excellent assessment from a parents point of view.
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Post by cjr3888 on Mar 18, 2021 2:40:54 GMT 14
Better competition is the main advantage. Kids who only play rec ball get left behind these days. Even our World Series teams on the rec side are travel players. In regards to the watered down teams, it depends on the area and organization. USSSA was getting watered down in the past few years and was mostly about money. Many of the better teams switched to 2D and OTC with Perfect Game now also starting tournaments. My team plays 2D except when necessary where many teams are run with direction from their local high school programs. The teams we play in AA would be AAA teams in USSSA. This past weekend, we played Mustang Baseball (Sam Houston), Sandlot (Kinder), and Cajun Pride (Breaux Bridge).
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JMVCajuns
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Post by JMVCajuns on Mar 18, 2021 2:48:44 GMT 14
Better competition is the main advantage. Kids who only play rec ball get left behind these days. Even our World Series teams on the rec side are travel players. In regards to the watered down teams, it depends on the area and organization. USSSA was getting watered down in the past few years and was mostly about money. Many of the better teams switched to 2D and OTC with Perfect Game now also starting tournaments. My team plays 2D except when necessary where many teams are run with direction from their local high school programs. The teams we play in AA would be AAA teams in USSSA. This past weekend, we played Mustang Baseball (Sam Houston), Sandlot (Kinder), and Cajun Pride (Breaux Bridge). Another great assessment from Coach Chris who has coached many young men the right way. While Coach Chris wants to win and is competitive he teaches kids the right way how to play and act on and off the field. First class coach and program. Remember the little league team from New Orleans who won a few years ago? All those kids were travel players who played rec just to have a shot at the world title. I believe that was John Curtis junior high team. I plan on catching some of Coach Chris games this season. They also have some cool looking uniforms. Best of luck to the 11U Pilots team this season and text me a schedule when you can.
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Duggie35
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Post by Duggie35 on Mar 18, 2021 10:43:43 GMT 14
If I recall, I don't believe Coach Robe was a big fan of travel, or pay to play, baseball.
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JMVCajuns
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Post by JMVCajuns on Mar 18, 2021 10:49:04 GMT 14
If I recall, I don't believe Coach Robe was a big fan of travel, or pay to play, baseball. His words were skill weak, play heavy. Basically play a lot of games to get reps but not really ever work on fundamentals.
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Duggie35
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Post by Duggie35 on Mar 18, 2021 10:53:32 GMT 14
If I recall, I don't believe Coach Robe was a big fan of travel, or pay to play, baseball. His words were skill weak, play heavy. Basically play a lot of games to get reps but not really ever work on fundamentals. That's right. But he also had an issue with players and parents just moving on to another team if they didn't get enough playing time, rather than working to earn more time. There is not much riding of the bench with travel ball.
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JMVCajuns
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Post by JMVCajuns on Mar 18, 2021 10:56:05 GMT 14
His words were skill weak, play heavy. Basically play a lot of games to get reps but not really ever work on fundamentals. That's right. But he also had an issue with players and parents just moving on to another team if they didn't get enough playing time, rather than working to earn more time. There is not much riding of the bench with travel ball. Most teams only carry 10 players. The problem is when these players get older and have to sit the bench it messes with them mentally because they have always been told how good they where when they really weren't.
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Post by cjr3888 on Mar 19, 2021 2:00:07 GMT 14
His words were skill weak, play heavy. Basically play a lot of games to get reps but not really ever work on fundamentals. That's right. But he also had an issue with players and parents just moving on to another team if they didn't get enough playing time, rather than working to earn more time. There is not much riding of the bench with travel ball. If a player isn’t getting playing time then they’re not developing their skills. Take a kid, only practice fundamentals, then throw them into a game situation and they will be lost. There’s many things you can try to teach in practice but it will only click mentally when it happens to the kid in a game situation. Coach was wrong on this one. Don’t blame youth travel ball players having fun being kids on the fact that the players he recruited to play for the Cajuns couldn’t handle pressure years later.
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JMVCajuns
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Post by JMVCajuns on Mar 19, 2021 5:33:38 GMT 14
That's right. But he also had an issue with players and parents just moving on to another team if they didn't get enough playing time, rather than working to earn more time. There is not much riding of the bench with travel ball. If a player isn’t getting playing time then they’re not developing their skills. Take a kid, only practice fundamentals, then throw them into a game situation and they will be lost. There’s many things you can try to teach in practice but it will only click mentally when it happens to the kid in a game situation. Coach was wrong on this one. Don’t blame youth travel ball players having fun being kids on the fact that the players he recruited to play for the Cajuns couldn’t handle pressure years later. One thing that I like about Coach Chris program is chasing rings is the last thing on there mind. They do a good job of blending and developing kids while also trying to win.
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Post by ManAboutTown on Mar 19, 2021 5:56:04 GMT 14
Good convo going guys.
I was fortunate to grow up in a time where American legion was still an option. So at one point, my friends and I played legion, all stars, travel and rec ball. We hated rec and by age 10-11, it was basically practice. But I will say, the coaching and kids took rec ball a lot more seriously back then. Still had real baseball guys coaching, not just some Dad who answered a volunteer phone call because the team didn’t have a coach. My favorite was the all star circuit. It had travel ball feel and good competition but it was with kids that you grew up with and it feel like we earned a spot on the roster. You have to earn it in daddy pay as well, but this was different. Representing our district and/or state was different.
Best years of my childhood were spent on the road with my buddies playing baseball.
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Post by cajuns36 on Mar 19, 2021 5:57:40 GMT 14
Seems like fundamentals at the college leave keep getting worse to me. Kids are being taught to bunt in college and still can’t do it
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