School Softball or Travel Ball?

Being a former Jr. High softball coach who came into coaching thinking I knew all the answers I can speak completely from my own experiences. 1st let me say Jr. High Coaches are not the authority on a player’s ability nor do we have all the answers. There is a reason someone coaches Jr. High and I will not go into that on this post.

Being a former Varsity High School Coach who came in to coaching after making every mistake possible at the Jr. High level, I will again speak from experiences. 1st let me say not all high school coaches are the authority on a player’s ability either. It’s sad to say that many high school coaches are NOT softball coaches 1st and again I will not go into that on this post.
So where am I going with this……….travel ball organizations or private instruction are the best way for a player to develop and get exposed to opportunities to advance their play. The days have long passed that picking a ball up in February and putting it down in May will get you far in school ball or to college. A school ball coach is telling you, that to have a chance to make the school team you need to play travel ball…..what the school ball coach means is that there is very little development or teaching in school ball. Most parents/travel coaches/private lessons instructors know as much as about softball as school ball coaches and in some cases they know more. These school coaches hold tryouts and pick the ones WHO can do it already. There is very little player development done at school ball. Also school coaches come and go with the wind which will affect your daughter’s college chances. This leads me to the following:

The major discussion between travel ball parents is more splitting of hairs between folks who have a financial investment or chosen one organization/team or instructor or recruiting group over another to help them advance their daughter ability and opportunities for the future. Nobody wants to admit their choice was wrong so they feel the need to knock others for simply having a different opinion or because they chose this person over that person. Everyone who speaks about their experiences on this forum have reasons for doing so………..listen, learn and decide for yourself.

Last thing: Not all Jr. High or High School coaches are bad. Over the past 5 years I have witnessed a major positive swing in more qualified school coaches and the running of some GREAT programs. However this is because parents such as you and travel ball and recruiting organizations out there are dedicated to seeing that your DD has options. Fast pitch Softball has become big business for some and extremely competitive for ALL. It's like asking someone if they "drink Coke or Pepsi?" and then the debate begins. I say have a coke and smile!
Any more questions about this you can e-mail at coachrin@charter.net