Travel ball Newbie

[Yardball]

New to the whole travel ball scene. I have a 12U DD and wanted to tryout travel, but not quite sure where to start. How can I locate teams in my area? Thank you for your time!

[PairOfAces]

Go to the tryout section and click on your area - So Cal, Nor Cal or state.

[Buck]

I would suggest asking parents from your rec league who have gone on to travel ball. It is most important to get a good fit for your player and the coach of the team. What city are you in?

[NumeroUno]

Where do u live?

[Yardball]

Where do u live?

We are in Buena Park

[CatcherDad99]

Well then you happen to be fortunate enough to be close to the Hub of all things softball. In other words your close to alot of teams. This is my DDs first year of travel also so I'll tell you what I did. I come by HeyBucket everyday and click on "view new posts" to see everything recent. I then look for every team posting tryouts for my daughters age group in an area I am confortable driving. Where you are you won't be driving too far I'd suspect. When you find something you like there will be contact info to set up a try out. I'm sure you can take it from there but if you need any help from some one who just went through the same thing and kinda knows the area just let me know. We found a team she is happy with but we went through quite a few tryouts to get here. Funny thing is I am still here serveral times a day seeing whats going on.

[Hollow Grind]

This is also my daughter's first year in travel ball, and she plays at 12U too. I would suggest that you go to as many tryouts as possible to find the right fit. For us, playing time and the opportunity to play more than one position in games were the top priorities, and we checked out six different teams before we found the perfect fit.

I'd also say don't settle for the first team that shows interest - TB definitely isn't cheap, so make sure that you and your daughter agree on the best fit before you commit. Good luck in your quest!

[Sam]

There are plenty of morons running their 12U teams in the Winter (I was one of them once). Check out some of the local tournaments (ASA's Thanksgiving Tournament in Chino along with the numerous Toys For Tots tournaments during the first week in December). Take your daughter and watch how the teams are coached, watch the parents, talk to the parents, and see if the kids are having fun. You can also see if the team is carrying 16 kids......or 10 kids. You can see what teams may need a kid at a certain position....if they do....you can ask a parent if the kid currently in the position is the coach's DD (hopefully its not the parent's kid). You will learn a lot about the coaches, teams, parents, and players by watching them actually play.

[AlwaysImprove]

Sam, good point. No need to rush and join a team. You can pickup for a few teams. Watch the other teams in tournament play and watch the parents and coaches. You will learn a ton.

[Yardball]

Well then you happen to be fortunate enough to be close to the Hub of all things softball. In other words your close to alot of teams. This is my DDs first year of travel also so I'll tell you what I did. I come by HeyBucket everyday and click on "view new posts" to see everything recent. I then look for every team posting tryouts for my daughters age group in an area I am confortable driving. Where you are you won't be driving too far I'd suspect. When you find something you like there will be contact info to set up a try out. I'm sure you can take it from there but if you need any help from some one who just went through the same thing and kinda knows the area just let me know. We found a team she is happy with but we went through quite a few tryouts to get here. Funny thing is I am still here serveral times a day seeing whats going on.

Thank you for your reply!