by rbi » Fri Dec 26, 2014 10:19 am
Tryouts, Time off and Early commits seem to be the hot topic around here. We have parents crying foul about no time off because Spring/Summer teams tryouts now overlap with Fall Ball, and we have TB teams practicing and playing tourneys in January. We have coach's telling the parents to "take time off", but hey we practice 1st week of Jan and Tourney following weekend and if you miss it, it will not look good. Plus god for bid those college coachs will be wandering where the hell you are.
Tryouts at Thanksgiving time for Summer ball is insane BUT, its just like early commits if you dont snag them early they will be scooped up by someone else. ALTHOUGH i do think a few posters are right with the new 4/5 year guarantee's that schools are starting to abide by scholarship wise, it might push back some the 8th grade commits.
So, i guess as parents you need to make SURE you ask what the schedule is before you commit to a TB team now, along with all the other questions. That way you know before hand what you are getting into, as far as time off, so NOBODY can blame anyone.
I am a firm believer in time off to re-energize the mind and the body, this goes for all age groups. I am also a firm believer in the gym, the better shape you are in the less injury's will occur, and no better time to increase gym time than when your off the field. All you coachs take a poll of your HS or TB kids (ages 15 and up),and see which kids train in a gym regularly. I think you will be shocked at how few, and im not talking about once or twice a week on the treadmill, im talking about a legit softball structured training program.
IMO, Fall Ball needs to go away in both HS and TB, and we need to have a State HS Playoff for softball, very similar to how football is structured, except it will be 2 out of 3 in State Final, and regional finals will be 1 and done! Eliminate one of the pre-season or mid season tourneys so all schools abide by the max contacts allowed by section or CIF, and if your good enough to make a regional and/or state final, that will be held weekend prior to Memorial and State Finals Memorial weekend, with double header on Saturday and "IF" game on Sunday. Yes CIF would have to change the no contact rule on Sunday for State Finals, ALL at neutral sites. Following weekend, let the TB madness begin, 10 weeks of non stop TB is enough for everyone, players, parents, coachs, college coachs. AND, yes TB can still practice during HS season, twice a month. Now of course all 10 Sections in the state need to get on the same page, scheduling wise, that is where we need to start!
HS Softball conditioning, is a whole different conversation. For the rare few schools who have a legit program, and/or have EM type facility in your neck of the woods and use them, hats off to you. Your kids are very fortunate!
Bottom line is, in a 12 month span you should play no more than 40-50 games (pre HS age) and 60-70 games HS age, and have a minimum of 6-8 weeks off from games and practice. This helps "burnout", and keeps them "hungry"! Now gym work (including some tee work BUT no throwing*) should be pretty much year round by HS IMO if you want to be the complete ball player and less prone to injury.
*not going to touch pitchers as they are a whole different animal