When and how to leave rec for TB?

[3'sDad]

Sam: you raised several good points in your response yesterday:
1. Coaches with no allegiance to the team - these two coaches volunteered to coach for this team and their companies name is on the team uniforms. Thus, they have a vested interest in the enjoyment and success of the team....this is also a limited time period of involvement, roughly 5-6 weeks, so the chances of them throwing in the towel with a poor showing in the teams 1st tournament next weekend are minimal.
2. Team selection and placement of players - Lesson #1 that all 17 girls who were interested in the team learned was "The try-out process" and "How to try-out for a softball team"...if they are learned something from the try-out, whether they were selected or not, that's a step in the right direction.....maybe this isn't important to girls who have gone thru this process already, but in our situation, only one of the seventeen interested had ever gone thru any travel ball try-out....most of these girls will go thru this in the next two years if they stay interested in the game.......unrealted to softball, but DD tried out for travel soccer for the 1st time last year....DD had no idea of what was expected at the try-out as on one had said you will do X,Y & Z.....she did ok, but knowing what is expected at a try-out is important for all the girls interested in taking their games up to the next level.

3. Nothing to complain about.....ahhh...how about the grief from the parents of the girls not selected.....great fun and ongoing.

We have another practice tonight to prep for next weekend....What can be said so far is the support received from our League, League Director and local Recreation Dept. to get this all together has been phenominal....they've done whatever possible to make available practice fields, insure we had proper procedures in place and reviewed our supplies lists so we didn't miss anything important.

[Dontknownutin]

I would suggest you hold off on moving them to TB until they are second year 12U.

I would have to agree with Sam. Your kid will lose nothing by playing rec another 1-2 years. I see kids coming out of rec all the time that fit right in with travel players. Keep her focused on getting better with her all around game and make sure she can play multiple positions. Teach your kid to become coachable and be strong mentally because on some teams she will need it.

[Skarp]

In 5 words or less: Play hard, have fun, learn!

If you must summarize on Heybucket, make it biting sarcasm, not vacant platitudes. Sort of an unwritten rule.

[Judd]

I say play travel when you are ready. Whether its now or later. I know in our area, they have teams that range from rec level up to A level and you can find tournies that are competive at all levels. Some people dont understand is that some girls just want to play MORE, not 10-11 games like in rec ball. Even your worst travel team will play 30-40 games a summer

[anonlooker]

In 5 words or less: Play hard, have fun, learn!

If you must summarize on Heybucket, make it biting sarcasm, not vacant platitudes. Sort of an unwritten rule.

They're RAS playing their first TB tournament. We know they are going to get massacred, be completely demoralized, and learn only what "Oops, bad decision" truly means.

But do we really want to tell them that?

[Hitmechanic]

In 5 words or less: Play hard, have fun, learn!

If you must summarize on Heybucket, make it biting sarcasm, not vacant platitudes. Sort of an unwritten rule.

They're RAS playing their first TB tournament. We know they are going to get massacred, be completely demoralized, and learn only what "Oops, bad decision" truly means.

But do we really want to tell them that?

What Skarp said You could be more positive. Example "Our REC Rookies are gonna slam-kiss("Play hard") all the smellpuff Cal/TX teams and laugh("have fun") without even thinking ("learn!") about it.