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That Time Of Year
by Dave
Friday, June 05, 2009
It's that time of year again. What time of year? The time of year when school ball ends and recreational programs shutter their snack bars, collect up equipment and plan family vacations. Softball is over! Really? No, not really!
Before I get into details, let me explain why, on June 5, I start out proclaiming the "end of softball season." Every year, right about now, I start getting an endless stream of e-mail from folks whose kids play exclusively rec. Their season is done and they are sad. They are sad because they want more. Their daughters discovered a love for the game this past spring and right when they hit their stride, the rec season was over.
These parents turn to their daughters and tell them, "Its OK. We'll get you into fall softball. It'll only be a few months without the game." Then they look around and start asking questions to see if they can locate a fall ball league. If they are unlucky, they won't find any. If they are lucky, their town, or the next one over, will have something. They'll sign up, practice some during the summer with dad hitting grounders and playing catch with the kid. Then they'll go to fall ball and discover it isn't as fun as spring ball was.
I remember the first time we did exactly what I'm describing. At the time, I think I had a 10 and a 9 year old. We signed up for fall ball one town over from us since our league offered nothing beyond spring. We signed our kids up and then whenever I could, I went out in the yard or drove out to the fields to practice by ourselves. Then fall ball finally got going after a long boring summer. We were assigned to a team and then learned that the entire league was a combined 10U and 12U, there were just four teams, and the whole thing was a bust of boring walk filled games without any pitching and with few decent hits.
It was at this time we simultaneously entered travel ball but that's another story. The point is, right after spring ball is over, kids and parents are almost always left wanting more until they find a little more and realize it is quite a bit less. So at this point, I find I must delve into the issue of travel ball more deeply.
There are many towns across the fruited plain which have quite a bit more than what I describe as the typical rec experience. Most towns are involved with Little League, Babe Ruth or some such. Right now those organizations are putting together their annual tournaments. This consists locally of some sort of selection process for the "all-star" team. Let's face it, however, that many towns' "all-star" selection process is that thing under which coaches' daughters are deemed to be the best players regardless of any actual talent, training or commitment. I recall looking through player evaluations for some all-star team I was involved with and the only thing I could think of when I saw the ratings next to players' names was "you have got to be kidding me."
The typical all-star experience involves a team of would-be superstar coaches' daughters whose skills are wanting. They begin practicing in earnest as soon as school lets out, perhaps play some scrimmages, and then participate in whichever tournament their league is involved with. They play 2, 4, or 7 games and that's it.
If the coaches are really ambitious and disappointed by only having 2 games with which to stretch their team, they look around and try to get involved in some tournaments, assuming their players all want this, they can get into a tourney, and there is money for such. Then they go to these tourneys and get smoked. They wonder where the softball genetic engineering lab or fundamental skill factory is located where these players come from.
Some few rec programs are very advanced and knowledgeable. They have well developed travel programs under which they pick their teams back when rec drafts are done. They may practice indoors during the late winter months. They may plan a full slate of tournaments. They may participate in ASA B stuff. They may very well be better than local travel teams. But unfortunately such programs are few and far between.
Typically girls softball is feast or famine. There's the rec program which ends about now, maybe puts together an all-star program, and then plays a couple games. That's all you get until the next player evaluation day at the local school in January/February. Aside from this, the only option is travel/club.
The typical club team conducts tryouts in late August. They pick their team and begin practicing regularly right before school starts. Then they organize a series of scrimmages, perhaps play a tournament or three, and maybe participate in some travel ball league. After this, many teams have a break of a couple weeks to a couple months. Some teams don't take much of a break after the end of October when fall ball is usually done. Some give the kids a month off and then get into the gym or other facility for practices a couple times per week. Still others give everyone off until the winter holidays are done. Then everyone works until school ball begins.
Where I'm at, school ball begins sometime around the beginning of March. We have high school ball which involves kids at 14U and up. We also have fairly extensive middle school ball which means even many of the 12Us are tied up. In some places, there is no middle school ball which means only the 14s have anything really competitive to do in March so 12U travel teams do more. Teams which have a lot of school ball players will usually suspend practices for a while, getting together maybe only on Sundays during March, April and May. Some keep right on going regardless of whether they are thick with school ball players or not. In any event, when there is substantial participation in school ball, it is difficult to field 9 players much of the time so teams usually limit play to Sunday triple-header friendlies. Then, when school ball is over, the tournament season goes full force.
A full all out travel season usually consists of two-day tournaments every weekend from late May through June and July with perhaps a fairly long trip coming in at the end of July or beginning of August. Some travel teams will get involved with a league which plays during the week, especially after school is out. Some will conduct scrimmages on weeknights. Still others will prefer to practice intensely during the week to prepare for tournaments on the weekend. But the overall experience is full-immersion softball.
The options are really rec spritz or travel ana-baptism for most of us. Yes you few out there with full immersion rec all-star programs are the lucky ones, especially early on before your daughters have decided to become softball nuns or monks. You get more than the rest of us without having to go full bore. For the rest of us, it is either underwhelming, disappointing rec ball, perhaps underwhelming, disappointing rec all-stars or full immersion travel.
I remember when I knew rec ball was longer a viable option. We were playing all-stars and I looked out at the field, then at some parents, back to the field, and I realized this was not what my kids meant when they said they wanted more. There was a girl playing third base who had been rated a 6 on a scale of 1 to 5 but she could barely reach the pitcher, let alone first base. The first time a team bunted on us, somebody screamed. Later with a runner on third, our pitcher walked a batter and the girl ran to first, then proceeded to second. Some parent began yelling "you can't do that." I knew not only that the team was in trouble but also that we, as a family, needed to run as fast and as far away as possible.
If you watch poor all-star play, you can easily see the folks you will see years later in travel. They are the ones who get it. They have sad looks on their faces as their daughters get upset about how badly their team is playing. They like the kids on their teams but they wish the girls would practice a little more and they wonder if they live in an inferior town since the other towns are so much better.
That's an experience at a pretty young age. That's also one in a town which, believe it or not, is really not particularly bad in the sport. Our all-star teams do better than many towns. Lots of our girls move over into travel. Our high school team is very good. But our rec league is something of a disappointment and there doesn't really seem to be anyway of improving it at this point.
I recall many years ago being misled when it came to travel vs. rec. Lots of people were willing to hand out free advice. Most of it was wrong. I believe I've told you most of those stories. And the bottom line is, at least where I'm at, rec players with very few exceptions don't start on our HS varsity team. Everyone who starts varsity has at least a couple years of some sort of travel experience. We have a number of Gold players. The kids who didn't play travel by the 12U ages, 14U at the absolute latest, usually sit the bench, play JV and then quit, or simply don' go out for the sport in HS despite professing love of the game at the age of 10, 11, or 12.
Back when my kids played rec, I was told girls who really stand out in rec, I mean REALLY stand out, get asked to join travel teams. That's not the case at all. Then I was told that the route to really making the high school team good was to keep all the girls together in the rec league and have them play all-stars together for years and years. That's not how it works. Heck, out of any given group of HS freshman, the HS coach is going to pick one or two for varsity, a couple for JV, and the rest will play together on the freshman team. So there's no point in "keeping the girls together" since the HS coach will rip them apart anyway.
Another sage bit of incorrect advice I received involved the issue of pitching. This was long before I became more sophisticated. I was told that the critical issue in girls softball was control. It didn't much matter if a 10U pitcher windmilled or not, threw hard or not, just so long as she threw strikes. That's complete nonsense. Yes a kid needs to throw strikes or the walks will kill you. But once you get past the most rudimentary level of play, if a pitcher throws 25 mph lollipops via some modified or sling-shot style of pitching, your opponents will tee off on you, strikes or no strikes.
I contemplated the sage advice while watchiong a team with a modified pitcher get their heads handed to them. I knew there had to be more which the fellow who gave me the advice was missing. I learned the right answers from a pitching coach. I resolved to share that information with whomever would listen and have done so via this blog and other avenues.
The truth is, the progression of pitching is: 1) mechanics, 2) speed, 3) some level of control gained through voluminous repetition while continuing to throw hard, 4) real location - throwing off the plate or on the corners at will with fast pitches, 4A) change of speed, 4B) pitches that move, 5) command over some of your pitches, 6) craftiness of changing speeds and movement while pitching to locations, and 7) deconstructing popular types of hitting mechanics to break down hitters. There may be more but the point is, nowhere in there is room for "just throw strikes."
I want to emphasize this because I have seen more mechanical breakdowns occur due to the desire to throw strikes in order to please anxious parents or rec/all-star coaches. I've written whole diatribes about this but it never fails to amaze me when I see the youngish pitcher bending at the waist or throwing with bent arm, all in the name of just throwing strikes. That's what the sage, incorrect advice I received long ago yields, ex-pitchers.
But travel ball is tough. It's a grind. You have to get your kids to do their homework during the week, even if it's not due until next Thursday. You have to work skills on your own. At some point, you probably need professional coaching. Your "spare time" is shot. Its exp-ensive, time-consuming, a total grind.
Recently, we left our house at 5:45 AM on a Saturday and arrived back at home about 10:00 Sunday evening. We hustled off to work and school Monday morning, got our errands done, to the extent possible, during the week, had the kids doing homework between chores, and then got back into the car at 6:00 AM the following Saturday. I'm not sure if that was feast or famine but it definitely wears on a person whether they play the game or merely watch.
So this is the time of year during which I am reminded of my rec experiences. This is the time of year I am reminded of why we chose to go the travel/club route. This is the time of year when all the disappointed rec parents begin writing to me to see if I have any advice for them to get a little more softball for their kids. The answer is, I can't get you a little more softball. I can only make a suggestion which will get you a lot more softball. Take a look at travel ball. There does not seem to be any decent middle ground.Labels: Travel vs. Recreational
 
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