Taking a year off from travel

[coolstuff]

There was a similar thread to this a little while ago, I know, but this is more specific. DD may not play travel ball this year. She is a freshman honors student, and is currently playing JV volleyball, and plans on playing HS softball in the spring. The problem is, she turned her ankle during volleyball practice and sat out two key tryout weekends. I've just now begun to look for a team with an open spot, and there ain't much out there. Lots of teams seem to have offers out and are waiting for commitments. She's an OF with good speed and a lefty slapper, so it's not like she's competing for starting SS. Driving distance plus her current volleyball practice/game schedule is problematic. If she took a year off from travel it's not like she's not iinvolved in any sports and will most likely be playing softball, albeit HS. I wonder if it would make much difference if she just concentrated on HS academics and sports during her freshman year, then jump back into the travel ball pool a little after HS ball, maybe as a fill-in, then go through the tryout mill a year from now. Is it really going to make a heck of a lot of difference if a college coach sees her for the first time at an exposure tournament as a sophomore instead of as a freshman?

I await words of wisdome from the heybucket sages.

[Blind Squirrel]

I'm far from a sage but I'll give my opinion. The answer is no it won't make any difference. Even the highest echelon of colleges very, very rarely make offers until after the sophmore year. They may see and take note of freshmen and subsequently track their progress but the bottom line is if they see your kid during her sophmore year or the following summer and they are impressed you usually won't have any problem. Yeah, ASU, UCLA and a couple of others may make up their minds a bit earlier but if she has the talent, she will not have a problem. I just went down this road a year ago and I doubt things have changed much since. Best of luck to you and the spawn.

John