Regional Differences?

[Cannonball]

I've noticed that in many threads, my opinions or my child's experience playing does not fit the "norm" of noted posters. In fact, when I read the various posts, I think that we are very dissimiliar to most poster's experiences. I think a part of that stems from many posters being from California. Those experiences are not similar to ours at all. I wanted to post some observations and then others can either agree, disagree, and/or post their observations.

• We don't play much ASA in our area. Instead, we play NSA and USSSA. Our team did qualify and actually won an ASA Regional but to qualify, we had to drive about 3 hours from home.
• High School Ball and Travel Ball get along well. Now, in saying this, we are far behind most areas in the travel ball experience.
• I can't name a team that I know for certain is "gold." Many posters have posted comments or rebuttals to some of my posts commenting that we must not be a gold team. NOPE!
• Many of our kids play on these select team from the same high school. In doing so, the coaching staffs of these various high schools work hand in hand with the travel teams. My dd and one other young lady are the only 2 girls on her new travel team that aren't from one particular high school.
• We use our HS facilities when we practice. That means we never have to compete with rec programs or other teams to get fields.
• We don't pay as much as some people have stated on this site to play travel. Our current team charges $750. We've played one league this past fall and 2 indoor tournaments so far this year and have not paid any more.
• We have Middle School Softball. The Head Coach of the HS has input into this program.

This is a partial list. I'm sure I'm leaving a lot out. Your thoughts?

[Judd]

Well I seem to notice alot of talk about how the rec leagues are so good, and girls shouldnt be playing TB till 12U etc. In our area, rec is primarily girls who have not played before or have limited experience. Also my DD has been playing TB since 8U.

In our area school ball is played in fall, so it doesnt compete that much with TB. Some TB teams play only a couple torunaments during fall.

I think our fee for summer is 750 and that includes 12 tournys

This is all 12U

[Fuddrules]

One of the better gold teams around is Southern Force out of Johnson City. St. Louis Chaos is another, although not being familiar with the St. Louis area softball, I'm not sure how good they are.

If you venture up to the Bloomington/Normal and Springfield, Decatur area, they are typically ASA. Mattoon also has some good teams and they go both ways, ASA & NSA. Those areas aren't too far.

[jblabs]

I would say the experience you describe is in the minority most places, not just CA. In the MI, IN, IL, area, ASA is the strongest with NSA not far behind. Our High School programs and travel ball for the most part do not really work against each other, but there is also no cooperation between the 2 either.

Compared to the travel ball in our area, the Rec leagues and Little League are way below the level of travel ball, sometimes far enough that comparisons are not possible. In this part of MI there is no Middle School ball but I can't say whether that is the norm other places around MI.

As far as fields go, indoor facilities for winter practice are in shorter supply, but for the right $$ they are available. When spring comes there are no issues with practice fields, or fields for large tournaments, without using High School fields.

[coolstuff]

I disagree that ASA is stronger than NSA in Indiana. There are far more NSA tournaments than ASA. Just look at the Indiana Jr. Olympic site, and compare to the PlayNSA site. USSSA is even smaller than ASA in Indiana.

I'm not sure what you mean about HS and travel "getting along." They seem to co-exist comfortably. 16U and 18U teams go on hiatus during the HS season as all the travel ball girls go play for their HSs. And some 14U teams lose their better players, too, who are HS fresh(wo)men.

I am not sure of any true "gold" teams in Indiana although some teams use the word "gold" in their team name. They still play in the same tournaments as everyone else and get beat just as often as anybody else.

I know of several travel teams with ties to HSs. In Indiana, the Edgewood Blaze and Carmel Sting organizations only take players from their HS districts. Some HS coaches put together travel teams and take them to a few tournaments in the summer, not to win nationals, but to develop players.

Some teams in the Indianapolis area have access to HS fields for practice. I'm nearly 100% certain that none of the local HSs in my area allow that, but there seems to be adequate practice fields at local parks and some rec orgs allow others to use their fields.

We paid $800 team fees this year, but have also had to pay extra for mandatory batting instruction and are now participating in our second fundraiser. We played 3 tournaments in the fall, two indoors, and will play an indoor next month. We already have the spring/summer schedule and have six confirmed and two tentative tournaments, not including state and national tournaments.

Some middle schools in the area offer softball but not in our school district, but I've heard that there has been some discussions so it may happen in the future - too late for DD I'm afraid.

[Demonboy]

I disagree that ASA is stronger than NSA in Indiana. There are far more NSA tournaments than ASA.

I've never understood where that matters. ASA is way stronger at nationals (and draws way more college coaches) than anyone else. To me that is the dominating criteria. I don't care or even notice who hosts the local tournaments we play in.

[jblabs]

Guess it depends on which part of IN. We are from MI but with the exception of The Dome tournaments in Ft Wayne, all the ones we have played in were ASA, both in IN and IL.

Maybe I am just not noticing the NSA ones outnumber the ASA tournaments. I do know our best competition comes at ASA qualifiers and the like.

[coolstuff]

Yep, I've heard that the college coaches go to ASA. DD is on a 14U team and I've been told by knowledgeable sources that college coaches don't watch 14U teams at ASA tournaments. So at that age level playing ASA or NSA doesn't make much difference (and we've played both and I don't seen much difference in competition - except the blues are better in ASA). One experienced coach told me that the 14U level is the "last chance to have fun." because after that it becomes "a job" because of the effort needed to get noticed by college coaches.

[coolstuff]

Guess it depends on which part of IN. We are from MI but with the exception of The Dome tournaments in Ft Wayne, all the ones we have played in were ASA, both in IN and IL.

Maybe I am just not noticing the NSA ones outnumber the ASA tournaments. I do know our best competition comes at ASA qualifiers and the like.

When have you/will you play in the Dome? We were there last month (14U) and we'll be there again first full weekend of March.

[artomatic]

I've noticed that in many threads, my opinions or my child's experience playing does not fit the "norm" of noted posters. In fact, when I read the various posts, I think that we are very dissimiliar to most poster's experiences. I think a part of that stems from many posters being from California. Those experiences are not similar to ours at all. I wanted to post some observations and then others can either agree, disagree, and/or post their observations.

• We don't play much ASA in our area. Instead, we play NSA and USSSA. Our team did qualify and actually won an ASA Regional but to qualify, we had to drive about 3 hours from home.
• High School Ball and Travel Ball get along well. Now, in saying this, we are far behind most areas in the travel ball experience.
• I can't name a team that I know for certain is "gold." Many posters have posted comments or rebuttals to some of my posts commenting that we must not be a gold team. NOPE!
• Many of our kids play on these select team from the same high school. In doing so, the coaching staffs of these various high schools work hand in hand with the travel teams. My dd and one other young lady are the only 2 girls on her new travel team that aren't from one particular high school.
• We use our HS facilities when we practice. That means we never have to compete with rec programs or other teams to get fields.
• We don't pay as much as some people have stated on this site to play travel. Our current team charges $750. We've played one league this past fall and 2 indoor tournaments so far this year and have not paid any more.
• We have Middle School Softball. The Head Coach of the HS has input into this program.

This is a partial list. I'm sure I'm leaving a lot out. Your thoughts?

Your list seems to cover the differences.
ASA Nationals is the goal for most teams around socal. Up until ASA championship play, which starts in May, ASA doesnt do much. Mainly just the Turkey tournament in November, except this year they did an HOF tournament in the fall. All the other organizations (tc, usssa, afa, etc) put on the majority of the tournaments in the fall and spring, and they all have their own championships in the summer. So teams play those tournnaments in fall and spring, mostly to get in some tournaments during the year.

Another major difference is there soooo many teams around, that they aren't always tied in to a specific league, school, or region. Many 1st year teams will have the majority of players that come out of a specific local rec league, and then it seems that each year after that that they survive, they become less and less from one area. Some people will drive 2 or 3 hours to play on a top team, regardless if there are closer teams.

I don't know about other parts of the country, but in socal, there are many strong rec leagues, and it isnt that important to go to travel until 12's, although many do start in 10's. Travel ball doesn't exist before the 10's around here either.

As far as practice fields, my team is fortunate to have a local jr college field on Saturdays. There are many teams who have contacts in the high schools or colleges that are able to get similar arrangements on weekends. Weeknights are another story though for us. We have to compete with not only the rec leagues, but also the adult slow pitch city leagues for fields. We are usually able to get a weeknight practice most of the time, but the fees can be pretty hefty, especially if you have lighted fields. Many teams only practice on the weekends also, so the long drives aren't as bad as a weeknight.