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QOD; Is Rec Ball dead?

What's on your mind?

by eddiez577 » Wed Feb 06, 2019 9:01 am

Sue Trubovitz, Turbo wrote:Would be interesting to read what people have noticed in other states how their City leagues have grown or changed. My reflection is of California 12u and
under, perhaps a different view.

Taking a look at what rec ball has to offer. They offer a regular-season about 4 months. Then if you make all stars that's about one month. Now they offer select teams where the ' hold tryouts'. Also interestingly enough you can play on the select team and the regular Rec team at the same time. which I will say that for the parents that do both and their schedules having two separate team practices and team playing schedule is a pretty busy season. And anybody who wants to complain about players doing too much...guess what....Complaint department starts in rec ball now!

What has happened over the decades...
Regular season teams unfortunately at times do not have enough teams to actually compete against each other so they started branching off and competing with neighboring cities for the regular season.
Going out of their city...
'Traveling' to another city to play!
Then they have all stars. Which you know all-stars you get to 'go play teams in other cities' and start 'doing tournaments in other cities.' Does that sound like travel?

Now we have the select teams. Where people within this city leagues take a look at their own pool of players and ' hold tryouts' to make a super team. :-). Select teams are purposely created to go compete against other cities and plat tournaments.. Really starts to sound like travel ball now!

In looking at this, kind of seems that Rec ball is the launching pad teaching people what travel ball is going to be like.


I brought this convo up because I talked to a rec 2nd yr 12u player (or would be) this weekend who I had the pleasure to coach her first time playing back in her 1st year 10u, and after 3 seasons she told me she's giving up softball because all the rec coaches want to do is win, and never gets to play anything else other than OF (moving to Volleyball instead). I told her that's unfortunate, but good luck in Volleyball.

Here's a thought, let's have established TB teams and coaches work with some rec league volunteers and preach development, commitment and hard work over winning. This may keep more players in rec and make rec stronger, have potential TB players and families come to TB environment with that work ethic in mind, and in the end, it will benefit TB as a sport.

Make Rec a feeder league for TB, just like minor leagues. IDK just a thought :|
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by Sue Trubovitz, Turbo » Wed Feb 06, 2019 9:52 am

Good thing to want to help educate!

There are many resources for anybody who's looking to coach softball.

Enjoy!
Last edited by Sue Trubovitz, Turbo on Sat Feb 23, 2019 6:19 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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by eclipse09 » Wed Feb 06, 2019 10:30 am

Schmick wrote:Rec is where girls get their start but they should have rec in the rear view mirror by second year 10s.


There are a very low percentage of girls that you are talking about and they should move on to travel. But there are too many players/families that leave rec during 10u years and really aren't travel ball players. They either go back to rec or quit the sport all together.
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by Sue Trubovitz, Turbo » Wed Feb 06, 2019 10:43 am

2nd year 12u - for those that are really into the sport can see a different competitive level in a more obvious way.
Last edited by Sue Trubovitz, Turbo on Sat Feb 23, 2019 6:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by Backnine » Wed Feb 06, 2019 4:07 pm

It is pitching and/or catching. If a league loses 3 or 4 pitchers/catchers to TB its hard to watch a rec game. Cities need to figure out how to groom more pitchers. Free lessons? Just look at all the teams post on heybucket. Looking for a pitcher.
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by Schmick » Wed Feb 06, 2019 6:34 pm

eclipse09 wrote:
Schmick wrote:Rec is where girls get their start but they should have rec in the rear view mirror by second year 10s.


There are a very low percentage of girls that you are talking about and they should move on to travel. But there are too many players/families that leave rec during 10u years and really aren't travel ball players. They either go back to rec or quit the sport all together.


Yanked my girl out when she was 10. I was taking her to 2 pitching lessons, 1 hitting lesson and 1 fielding lesson a week and there were girls on her team who didn't pull their gear bag out of the trunk of their mom's car the whole week between games. We were wasting our time with her surrounded by butterfly chasers whose mommies dropped them off for weekly play dates.

The national average amount of time a child will spend in any sport is 2.5 years. So for every kid who plays from 1st til 8th grade there are three kids who play 1 year or less so girls progressing to travel ball at 10u and then quitting by HS are still at or above the national average.
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by eclipse09 » Wed Feb 06, 2019 6:43 pm

Schmick wrote:
eclipse09 wrote:
Schmick wrote:Rec is where girls get their start but they should have rec in the rear view mirror by second year 10s.


There are a very low percentage of girls that you are talking about and they should move on to travel. But there are too many players/families that leave rec during 10u years and really aren't travel ball players. They either go back to rec or quit the sport all together.


Yanked my girl out when she was 10. I was taking her to 2 pitching lessons, 1 hitting lesson and 1 fielding lesson a week and there were girls on her team who didn't pull their gear bag out of the trunk of their mom's car the whole week between games. We were wasting our time with her surrounded by butterfly chasers whose mommies dropped them off for weekly play dates.

The national average amount of time a child will spend in any sport is 2.5 years. So for every kid who plays from 1st til 8th grade there are three kids who play 1 year or less so girls progressing to travel ball at 10u and then quitting by HS are still at or above the national average.


Beyond Socal you are right, but the average playing years for Socal players is much higher. I still think it depends on the player and their drive.
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by Schmick » Wed Feb 06, 2019 9:38 pm

The 2 and a half years in an organized sport statistic was given to us while we were doing a public works project and needed participation stats for potential users. It was nationwide and included all organized sports/competition. It wasn't just for softball or for Southern California, but included youth of both genders and every sport from motocross and snowboarding to dance, cheer, golf, gymnastics, bowling....and included youth up to 16 years of age.
Was also a stat from more than 12 years ago so the time involved may have gone up or down though I would assume that timeframe is shorter now based mostly on the amount of boys playing video games instead of actual sports
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by Sue Trubovitz, Turbo » Tue Feb 12, 2019 8:11 am

? How or why does applying that 2.5 national playing average affect
rec ball?
Is that saying on average people playing less sports?
Did it compare to previous ten years?

Seems locations like California that has a sport like softball year round would definitely not be part of the average. Where as many other states are seasonal.
Last edited by Sue Trubovitz, Turbo on Sat Feb 23, 2019 7:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by thomsondj » Tue Feb 12, 2019 11:00 am

As someone whose has gone through 7 years of Rec in So Cal, I agree with an earlier poster that it is cyclical. Our league got hit pretty hard by the travel bug 3 years ago but has rebounded with increased numbers across all age groups and most surprisingly in the 12u division.

I have not been a fan of the select program here in SoCal as there is enough drama around Rec all stars that adding select into the mix just prolongs it. I also feel it becomes a pathway to travel as the same girls/families are together all the time and that it leads to the decision to have more control on what they do etc and move away from Rec.

As with all youth sports the issue is not the players but the parents involved, you will always have the parents that believe little Suzy is the next coming of Jennie Finch and needs to be playing at what they perceive to be the elite level at 10u. But I firmly believe that the stronger Rec leagues with the right people running the leagues will continue to be successful when they focus on the 95% of the league that won’t play all-stars or travel and just enjoy playing a sport with their friends.
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