Sportzone highschool leagues, worth it or not?

[prdpop]

Looking for opinions from some who have played.

[six-four-three]

Ditto here, loved playing in the dome at FT Wayne but they have cut OCT-NOV-DEC tournaments
so where else do you play?

[prdpop]

16U/18U tournaments have always been worthwhile when dd teams have played, but never done leagues and they are looking into them. Dome in Ft. Wayne is better field for sure, and having 2 up there is big advantange!

[newman35]

The dome in Pekin IL has quite a few winter tournaments, I hear it's better than Ft Wayne.

[gunshy]

High School leagues and indoor tournaments are not the same thing. I took a group of our HS kids to the Sportzone for 2 years in their HS league and it was very helpful for our kids. We had very few travel players and december softball was something most of them had never done, so the reps they received were very good for them. I would not have taken that group to play any of the regular indoor tournaments, though.

[slapperdad]

What gunshy said. I felt like our travel players got a lot out of the high school league when they were 8th graders, just playing against physically bigger stronger girls. Haven't been back since. Living an 1:20 away, trying to get there for 5:30 games is stupid.

[smokenmirrors86]

Its great if you use it as "competitive practice". Live pitching and hitting is always good. It can also give players a chance to work on things. Make them all play different positions so they experience how different the game looks and plays from other positions. Live work on bunting. Live work on hitting to the opposite field. All without the pressure of blowing a play and send the team to the losers bracket or worse.

You want to win, but at the same time, you make sure you communicate your skill building goals are the focus. When your 3rd base gets hurt in your first game in HS or TB, you'll be glad your 2nd base got some experience over there this past winter. Runner on and you need a hit to the right side, the next batter will be better off because you had her do nothing but try to hit to the right side for a couple of games in the indoor HS league.