junior varsity sofball

[Blind Squirrel]

A wittle story about JV (and worse) ball:

My son barely made the HS FRESHMAN volleyball team and I strongly suspect it was only because he was one of the taller kids. He played JV as a soph and finally got to play with the "real" players his last two years. He is currently a senior at Rutgers and the V-Ball team sucks this year, his final year of playing, but they have been decent in his previous three years. I picked him up last night at LAX and we talked about how lucky he has been to get the opportunity to play a college sport, some of the great experiences he has had. Last year he finished the season #1 in the nation in service aces per game and is currently leading the nation. My point? I just wanted to tell the world how great my kid is. That is important to me. Or ... My kid learned a lot playing freshman and JV ball. He wasn't good enough to play varsity during those 2 years. But those 2 years enabled him to get to the point where he could play HS varsity and D1 college ball. I guess in retrospect he should have just said F it to anything less than the glorious HS varsity team and just quit the sport. What a loser. Oh well. We're going to see him play on senior night and I'm rather intent on bringing back one of his jerseys. It will be framed and hung somewhere in the house, the only sports related item displayed in our house to date. If it wasn't for my wife my kid's futures would be bleak indeed. You see, I'm a loser too.

John (Ex-Freshman team Dad)

[GO REBS]

How is the JV thing going for you and yours, Frito?

hells bells i jus blowin smoke up yo asssssssses. been on da top team. purty funny dem po parents of dat jv stuff.

Top team and starting?

I've always hoped frito doesn't really have children. If he does they should call CPS.
Great story Blind Squirrel. Be persistent and achieving your goals will help him further in life than he could ever imagine.

GO REBS

[Lunatic Fringe]

CPS don't mean nothin' to Frito Burrito. He is the original Honey Badger

[Txcoach10]

I'm sure that this will offend some high school coaches but here it goes. BTW, if this offends you, you're probably one of the ones that this is addressing.

If I had my choice, no serious softball athlete would ever play high school ball, especially JV. The girls would be better served playing travel ball year round or just doing private lessons during their travel ball off-season (which would be during the high school regular season).

If you are a freshman and you don't make varsity, you would be better off not playing for your school and just go pick up with a 14u team and play select. Sure, you'll be playing against a bunch of 12 and 13 year olds but I promise you, it is better competition and better coaching! I know you won't be at the top of everyone's favorite list at school, but in the long run, you'll be a better softball player because of it.

As a select coach, I spend a month or so every year fixing the bad habits that girls are taught or allowed to get away with during their high school season.

As a college coach, I rarely ever see a high school game and if I do, it's only to keep up with a kid that I've already recruited from a select team.

Let's face it, in a public school system, you're getting a math teacher, not a coach. If you are one of the lucky districts that has a good coach with select and/or college experience, they're the varsity coach and varsity coaches are usually preparing their varsity team at the same time the JV coach is practicing with theirs.

I have been coaching for a long time at every level from tee ball to college. If I had the energy to campaign for it, I'd buy a tour bus and travel the country petitioning for year round travel ball so that we could do away with high school ball all together!

[CULater]

For the umpteeth time, high school softball is not for recruiting or developing players. It is a sport where the girls get to go represent their school, neighborhood, community, town etc and play games in front of their friends and promote some pride in their school.

Most of the girls I know that play HS softball probably aren't going to go play at the college level, they have no desires to either, they play to play. The girls that are going to go to college and play, get that feeling for what it is like to play to win every game again, and not play 3 innings and sit 2 innings because the uncommitted sophomore needs get some playing time so she can get her deal.

As far as teaching bad habits, again the kids that I know that play select ball are still going to their hitting coach or pitching coach all high school season. The only place I see a small erosion is in decision making, because she may try for an extra base in high school that she wouldn't in Gold ball. Or throwing behind a runner because she will catch them sleeping.

But that has been my experience over the past 9 years and two D1 daughters. I guess yours could have been different.

[Lace]

Its really bad. Most of the girls who played select for me in the past made varsity as a Fresh and did very well. A few started on JV because the varsity was loaded w good players so they had to serve a year on JV. I did not like what I saw from these players. Bad mechanics, lots of screwing off and trying to fit in and get along with pretty bad players. I'm sure they had fun but I also know they will have a rude awakeninig when they return to select ball. I just hope they know how hard they will have to work to get in shape and get back to playing ball at an acceptable level to move forward.