What is the Right Age to go from Rec to TB

[jonriv]

Its been many years since my daughter made the jump from the Town "Travel Team" to a true Travel Softball program. Just curious what the right age is? My daughter made the jump at the 14U level after playing 12u for the town rec program. Knowing what I know now, I might have done the move a year earlier. Not sure if it would have changed anything. What does everyone else think?

[SDTitans]

I think the Florida coach recommends starting them at Tball so he can verbal them by the time they turn 10. No time to waste..


Maybe with the rule changes predicted to come, it will go back to 2nd year 12s or 1st year 14s to go travel. instead of 9 and 10 yr olds hitting the travel scene.

[Sam]

I always recommend that kids play at least one year of 12U rec ball before venturing into travel.

[Hinky]

definitely the time and money commitment is a big leap from rec to travel. I tend to reflect on the ability level of the player and personality. ability and enthusiasm vs lack of either. With travel able to select what team you want to go to if you are looking for players with better ability level. if your daughter can throw the ball hard and no one can catch it and they're afraid of it, that's not good. don't want to hold that player back by saying dont throw so hard. even youngsters can see that other's are afraid and sometimes they'll hold back to not hurt teammate. Maybe why some younger tb teams go recruit from rec ball, cuz they see a player who can throw, catch and hit and it stands out.

[Capone]

My DD went travel second year 12u and is currently first year 14u. My opinion is that it depends on the situation. My general feeling is that I would go by first year 12u at the latest for someone in my DD's experience. A few reasons:
- level of competition is higher. I was watching some rec ball recently b/c a friend still plays and the level of competition is not strong. Also saw some Select teams play and that was not strong either.
- level of coaching can be better and more resources of some of the big orgs (not always the case)
- playing in the various tournaments against teams from across the country can put players in different game situations they may not get from Rec. That "pressure" which can be stressful can also be a gift for the players to learn, grow, and get better.

Just my 2 cents.

[Sam]

My DD went travel second year 12u and is currently first year 14u. My opinion is that it depends on the situation. My general feeling is that I would go by first year 12u at the latest for someone in my DD's experience. A few reasons:
- level of competition is higher. I was watching some rec ball recently b/c a friend still plays and the level of competition is not strong. Also saw some Select teams play and that was not strong either.
- level of coaching can be better and more resources of some of the big orgs (not always the case)
- playing in the various tournaments against teams from across the country can put players in different game situations they may not get from Rec. That "pressure" which can be stressful can also be a gift for the players to learn, grow, and get better.

Just my 2 cents.

The earlier they go to travel, the risk for burnout and overuse increases.

[Capone]

My DD went travel second year 12u and is currently first year 14u. My opinion is that it depends on the situation. My general feeling is that I would go by first year 12u at the latest for someone in my DD's experience. A few reasons:
- level of competition is higher. I was watching some rec ball recently b/c a friend still plays and the level of competition is not strong. Also saw some Select teams play and that was not strong either.
- level of coaching can be better and more resources of some of the big orgs (not always the case)
- playing in the various tournaments against teams from across the country can put players in different game situations they may not get from Rec. That "pressure" which can be stressful can also be a gift for the players to learn, grow, and get better.

Just my 2 cents.

The earlier they go to travel, the risk for burnout and overuse increases.

absolutely agree. We try to make a conscious effort to balance school, social, and softball time. Example, when the friends have a sleep over party, DD goes for some of the party vs. the sleepover. Our batting coaches told us early on, she missed more events, i.e. weddings, birthdays, etc. than she gets to go to. it was good for my DD to hear from someone other than her parents.
Also, this is not for everyone. I am relatively new to the TB world and the travel has been tiring on me as a parent. DD loves it and I support her, but I'm tired.

[curveballerguy124]

What I did with my girls was during the fall season we went to travel so they could get their feet wet then came back to Rec for spring ball until they no longer wanted to come back for spring ball anymore at that point we moved on to travel full time. I let it be their choice and I never pushed the issue it was a gradual transition so that they weren't shocked.

[orange socks]

It depends on the skill level at your local rec league. Our rec league has nearly 600 players with varying degrees of experience. In DD age bracket we will able to keep a solid group of players involved in rec up to first year 14U, and we did Summer All stars for 5 years. Once we made the jump a real TB org, I was somewhat disappointed at the level of play. My All Star team could have killed many of the teams that we played including the team that DD was on. Just because a player is on an TB team doesn't mean that she should be playing. I see WAY too many players making the jump too early and WAY too many players that should not be playing TB.

I have seen Dad's thinking they can form their own team by taking players out of the Rec ball program and trying to make a go at TB with a slip shot team and it just implodes. The rec program suffers, the players have a miserable time, and the parents end up having a bad taste in the mouth. They fade away never to be seen again. Many of the players need more time to develop and more time to learn the game. But then you might say, they are not improving at rec ball and will only get better playing TB. Yes and no.

For the players that are ready to make the jump, I think 2nd year 12U or 1st year 14U is a good time transition. But you have to make that determination based on your own situation. Cost, travel, skill, team, coaching, etc. Sorry for the rambling.