Too late to make a travel sfotball team?

[Anonymous]

I would agree to look for a non-parent coach, but I don't think there are many of them at 12U.

Also agree to look at team size. DD's 12U team had 13 or 14 girls and it was WAY too many (especially if the coach's kid is on the team.)

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you are in McLean, does your DD play McLean Little League? Did she make All Stars?

If she wasn’t a starting pitcher in Majors and All Stars, she isn’t ready for a B team.

I’d be looking for C-level teams for her.

No. We play in a neighboring organization for multiple reasons. She has been a baseball and softball all star. I have registered her for a couple of tryout and reached out to a few coaches. Both B and C teams. Also talked to a friend whose daughter plays travel and she went from rec to B, as a pitcher, but that was in 10u so she thought it might have been easier in 10u. We are not expecting her to make a B team but also don't think it hurts to try out.

This is potentially a red flags as it hints at conflict. Was conflict involved in your reasons? Travel team coaches are allergic to parents who cause conflict.

Ha! No, not at all! It was more about draws to the other organization.

Any chance she's a Vienna Raider? I know lots of Raiders easily (and regularly) make the jump to B teams, but I assume you would have mentioned that if VGSL was the neighboring org you are part of, and you would have already looked at Smash then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would agree to look for a non-parent coach, but I don't think there are many of them at 12U.

Also agree to look at team size. DD's 12U team had 13 or 14 girls and it was WAY too many (especially if the coach's kid is on the team.)

Good luck!

Depends on the coach. A good coach can cycle 13/14 players in over a weekend tournament -- check out Coach Sharkey at Great Falls Sharks. It's often rare that all of the girls can make it every weekend on a B/C level team because they have other interests as welkl.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - best of luck to your daughter. I would think coming over from a baseball background and having pitching lessons, she’d be in a good spot to make a team. For the people implying it might be too late for her, is it because tryouts have already happened or that teams are already established at 12u and hard to break in?

It's both -- July is tryout season for travel softball, but some teams have them as early as June (those are the more desperate teams) and many 12U teams are mostly intact or moving up from 10U and mostly intact. Note I say "mostly" because typically these teams ARE looking for two or three players still. And they'll always look at pitchers and catchers.

Having played baseball is somewhat helpful, but not really. The games are very different. For example, there's no leading off in softball. There are no slap hitters in baseball. There's no lookback rule in baseball. The way you play a pickoff defensively at third is different in softball (you step to the line/player, not to the bag). There's no balk in softball, although there are illegal pitches. The act of hitting a pitch delivered underarm rather than overhand is different (there's a reason Jennie Finch could strike out major leaguers). Softball is a much faster game, so footwork is more critical. Baseball is good at teaching the basics -- most of the rules are the same. But simply having played baseball doesn't necessarily mean she'll hit the ground running in softball.

Thanks for the response. My question mainly stemmed from another recent discussion of travel baseball/softball where there were multiple people encouraged not starting travel from rec plus lessons until 12u or 14u. This OP’s daughter had played rec softball and baseball and had lessons, yet some posters implied it was too “late” to make a travel team.

I have a 9 year old who isn’t committed to full time travel softball yet. My concern is that by 12u, the teams are intact and she won’t have much of a chance. We had bad experiences with her older brother and travel baseball and would like to avoid those experiences

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - best of luck to your daughter. I would think coming over from a baseball background and having pitching lessons, she’d be in a good spot to make a team. For the people implying it might be too late for her, is it because tryouts have already happened or that teams are already established at 12u and hard to break in?

It's both -- July is tryout season for travel softball, but some teams have them as early as June (those are the more desperate teams) and many 12U teams are mostly intact or moving up from 10U and mostly intact. Note I say "mostly" because typically these teams ARE looking for two or three players still. And they'll always look at pitchers and catchers.

Having played baseball is somewhat helpful, but not really. The games are very different. For example, there's no leading off in softball. There are no slap hitters in baseball. There's no lookback rule in baseball. The way you play a pickoff defensively at third is different in softball (you step to the line/player, not to the bag). There's no balk in softball, although there are illegal pitches. The act of hitting a pitch delivered underarm rather than overhand is different (there's a reason Jennie Finch could strike out major leaguers). Softball is a much faster game, so footwork is more critical. Baseball is good at teaching the basics -- most of the rules are the same. But simply having played baseball doesn't necessarily mean she'll hit the ground running in softball.

Thanks for the response. My question mainly stemmed from another recent discussion of travel baseball/softball where there were multiple people encouraged not starting travel from rec plus lessons until 12u or 14u. This OP’s daughter had played rec softball and baseball and had lessons, yet some posters implied it was too “late” to make a travel team.

I have a 9 year old who isn’t committed to full time travel softball yet. My concern is that by 12u, the teams are intact and she won’t have much of a chance. We had bad experiences with her older brother and travel baseball and would like to avoid those experiences

DP and we are in the same boat with the 9 year old not in travel.

My impression is that around 12U a lot of teams dissolve and a lot of new teams re-form, so you get opportunities there.

It also seems like more area softball rec leagues are spinning up rec+ or travel-lite programs where rec and travel are merged and the travel schedule is lighter to accommodate the rec schedule. That seems like a good compromise at 9-11.

[Anonymous]

Our experience was that by 12U lots of teams were set, so at tryouts they are only looking for all-stars ... and pitchers. That's your angle for sure. My DD tried out for some 12U teams and didn't make one until the organization decided to form a second one because they were seeing a lot of potential talent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would agree to look for a non-parent coach, but I don't think there are many of them at 12U.

Also agree to look at team size. DD's 12U team had 13 or 14 girls and it was WAY too many (especially if the coach's kid is on the team.)

Good luck!

Depends on the coach. A good coach can cycle 13/14 players in over a weekend tournament -- check out Coach Sharkey at Great Falls Sharks. It's often rare that all of the girls can make it every weekend on a B/C level team because they have other interests as welkl.

At 12B kids are EXPECTED to make all weekend tournaments -- that IS their interest. We actually agreed to that when we joined the team. You may be down a player each weekend for a family event/illness but even then...with 13 girls you're sitting four each inning. So if your kid is new they might sit twice... and bat once... over a 5 inning game. Does Sharkey have kids on the team? A parent coach may be more inclined to make sure their kids plays more than average. And if all kids are there and coach only plays the "best" kids on tournament Sunday, a team with 14 has a lot of bench sitters. It's not impossible to learn/grow on a team that big-- my kid did-- but I would pick a team with 11 or 12 if possible.

[Anonymous]

Sharkey is a great coach, but I believe that 12U team already has three good pitchers. If OP’s DD wants to pitch, it might not be a great fit, unless she’s really strong and can knock off one of the current three.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sharkey is a great coach, but I believe that 12U team already has three good pitchers. If OP’s DD wants to pitch, it might not be a great fit, unless she’s really strong and can knock off one of the current three.

Fair point about current pitchers. It's highly unlikely that he would boot a player, unless there was a serious issue. He typically doesn't cut players from teams.

[Anonymous]

How many different pitches has your player mastered, OP?

By 12U, most travel pitchers on B and above teams have a fastball kissing 50 mph or above in the second-year 12U teams, an effective change-up that can be thrown for strikes that clocks in about 10 mph below the FB and either a drop curve or a screwball that can be thrown with confidence and efficacy.

If your pitcher doesn't have those three things yet, she's not likely to pitch regularly on most teams other than maybe a newly formed C team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many different pitches has your player mastered, OP?

By 12U, most travel pitchers on B and above teams have a fastball kissing 50 mph or above in the second-year 12U teams, an effective change-up that can be thrown for strikes that clocks in about 10 mph below the FB and either a drop curve or a screwball that can be thrown with confidence and efficacy.

If your pitcher doesn't have those three things yet, she's not likely to pitch regularly on most teams other than maybe a newly formed C team.

I don't agree with this. I have seen plenty of 12B pitchers be effective with just a fastball if they can spot it well or a fastball and a change-up. You absolutely do not need to be able to throw a drop curve or a screwball to be an effective 12B pitcher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many different pitches has your player mastered, OP?

By 12U, most travel pitchers on B and above teams have a fastball kissing 50 mph or above in the second-year 12U teams, an effective change-up that can be thrown for strikes that clocks in about 10 mph below the FB and either a drop curve or a screwball that can be thrown with confidence and efficacy.

If your pitcher doesn't have those three things yet, she's not likely to pitch regularly on most teams other than maybe a newly formed C team.

I don't agree with this. I have seen plenty of 12B pitchers be effective with just a fastball if they can spot it well or a fastball and a change-up. You absolutely do not need to be able to throw a drop curve or a screwball to be an effective 12B pitcher.

DP and I was questioning what I knew about every 12B pitcher I know (kid is not in travel but a lot of friends' kids are and only one of them - who is on a higher end team - reports anything other than fast and change).

[Anonymous]

OP here. She has an offer from a B team already from a private tryout. I don't want to say anything else identifying, but we are feeling very good about things right now. Thanks for everyone's help--even the naysayers!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. She has an offer from a B team already from a private tryout. I don't want to say anything else identifying, but we are feeling very good about things right now. Thanks for everyone's help--even the naysayers!

Congrats, that's great! Pitchers are always in demand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. She has an offer from a B team already from a private tryout. I don't want to say anything else identifying, but we are feeling very good about things right now. Thanks for everyone's help--even the naysayers!

Thanks for the follow-up! I’m one of the PP with a younger girl and it’s good to it’s possible to join at that age. Congrats to your daughter on her offer and good luck.