OT: 8U travel softball team has openings..

[preachermatt83]

Diamond Xtreme, an 8U team is looking to fill a couple of spots for the fall and the future. We are looking for kids that are committed to hard work. 2008 or 2009 birthdays. We are based out of Philadelphia MS. For a personal tryout text Matt 601-507-3475.


This is an established team and one that is used to being very competitive. We have several 1st and 2nd place finishes already this Spring. We will hold a group tryout in about 2-3 weeks. If you had prefer a personal tryout then we can work that out as well.

[fishwater99]

Under 8 girls traveling.. That's just a little too much IMO...

[Percho]

:) U8 committed or parents committed? :)

We started at 7,8,9 playing U10 had a ball. Kids in or near 30 now.

[Really Clark?]

Under 8 girls traveling.. That's just a little too much IMO...

At that age in Mississippi very very few teams leave the state or travel more than a couple of hours away to play tournaments. Our local rec all stars for tee ball had to go 4 1/2 hours away just to play the state tournament plus subdistrict and district tournaments . Granted that's just one tournament compared to travel ball play who play a dozen or so. 12U softball and especially above 12U is when you start seeing teams travel further, if they are pushing for college showcases and such. Baseball start playing off more at a younger age if you are playing AAA or Major level in USSSA events. Personally, we didn't push to play travel until our child wanted to play more and against better competition. That started at second year 10U. Also, remember that softball recruiting starts extremely early (13-14 year olds are committing all the time and yes that's too soon but is what is happening right now).

[preachermatt83]

Lol, we play 10 tourneys in the Spring and 5 in the Fall. We never travel farther than 2 hrs away and 99 percent of our tourneys are saturday only.

[preachermatt83]

At that age in Mississippi very very few teams leave the state or travel more than a couple of hours away to play tournaments. Our local rec all stars for tee ball had to go 4 1/2 hours away just to play the state tournament plus subdistrict and district tournaments . Granted that's just one tournament compared to travel ball play who play a dozen or so. 12U softball and especially above 12U is when you start seeing teams travel further, if they are pushing for college showcases and such. Baseball start playing off more at a younger age if you are playing AAA or Major level in USSSA events. Personally, we didn't push to play travel until our child wanted to play more and against better competition. That started at second year 10U. Also, remember that softball recruiting starts extremely early (13-14 year olds are committing all the time and yes that's too soon but is what is happening right now).


Nailed it!

[Spiderman]

Diamond Xtreme, an 8U team is looking to fill a couple of spots for the fall and the future. We are looking for kids that are committed to hard work. 2008 or 2009 birthdays. We are based out of Philadelphia MS. For a personal tryout text Matt 601-507-3475.


This is an established team and one that is used to being very competitive. We have several 1st and 2nd place finishes already this Spring. We will hold a group tryout in about 2-3 weeks. If you had prefer a personal tryout then we can work that out as well.

Travel ball and Hillary Clinton's Supreme Court are gonna be the death of America

[preachermatt83]

Travel ball and Hillary Clinton's Supreme Court are gonna be the death of America

Wow!

[Maroon Blood]

At that age in Mississippi very very few teams leave the state or travel more than a couple of hours away to play tournaments. Our local rec all stars for tee ball had to go 4 1/2 hours away just to play the state tournament plus subdistrict and district tournaments . Granted that's just one tournament compared to travel ball play who play a dozen or so. 12U softball and especially above 12U is when you start seeing teams travel further, if they are pushing for college showcases and such. Baseball start playing off more at a younger age if you are playing AAA or Major level in USSSA events. Personally, we didn't push to play travel until our child wanted to play more and against better competition. That started at second year 10U. Also, remember that softball recruiting starts extremely early (13-14 year olds are committing all the time and yes that's too soon but is what is happening right now).

Great post. You are exactly right.

[Johnson85]

Travel ball and Hillary Clinton's Supreme Court are gonna be the death of America

"You cannot give reputation to the same post twice."

This is the first post I've agreed with enough to try.

[Really Clark?]

Not sure of what specifically Spiderman was alluding to, but after being involved for a fairly long time some of the key issues with travel ball is kids are too sport specialized. They don't play multiple sports enough. Watched a very sharp travel baseball team a few years ago take infield. They were very fundamentally sound. Very crisp. But I found out that what I thought was a younger team was actually 16u's. Several players while being very fundamentally sound lacked explosiveness even with their throwing because most of them have specialized since they were very young.

Also, as a parent you have to find the right fit with a coach who is interested in developing players NOT just winning trophies. Not saying you want to lose all your games but if they are being developed at multiple positions, the wins will come. I have a pitcher child and am very very cognizant of the amount pitches she throws. Especially in softball where so many still think they can throw all the time and not hurt themselves because it is a natural underhand motion. For slow pitch, that's probably mostly true, but Fastpitch has a lot of torque as well. The #1 issue is severe overuse of just one pitcher on a team. Dr. Andrews and others are publishing more and more info about how many girls they are seeing with shoulder, elbow, rotor cuff, etc injuries strickly from overuse. Tommy John surgeries have taken a jump up as well. A lot of similarities with overuse in baseball with young pitchers as well. Until those growth plates have matured, you have to be very careful. You HAVE to take extended time off to rest the arm. Those are perfect times to play another sport and be a more well rounded athlete.

For the ones who have going through the older age travel circuit, especially ones playing at a fairly high level, the tone of the games change fairly significantly VS young teams, rec, and even high school. The chirping of parents vs other parents, coaches, etc. does not happen as much. Especially at showcase and big tournaments. College coaches are watching all of that so the atmosphere outside the field is usually more relaxed.

I do think travel has its place and we have been a part of that for some time. But parents and coaches of those teams need to really be very self aware of what the purpose really is for those players. As far as the dream of playing college ball it's a two edge sword. Especially to play at a Power 5 school, you have to play in big events to get noticed. They are not scouting a high school game. But that cannot be your only focus (big time college scholarship) because the fact is you are better off saving that money for college than dreaming of an athletic scholarship. It has to be the players dream and you are just there to help them achieve that dream if they have the desire and talent.

[Maroonthirteen]

Kinda off topic of the off topic........So, I see Softball arranges age groups by calendar year (Jan 1- Dec31), correct? I heard USSA may go back to a school year calendar. IS this true? I have one with December birthday. But she will play rec for a few years. Been there and done that on the competitive deal.

[Really Clark?]

Kinda off topic of the off topic........So, I see Softball arranges age groups by calendar year (Jan 1- Dec31), correct? I heard USSA may go back to a school year calendar. IS this true? I have one with December birthday. But she will play rec for a few years. Been there and done that on the competitive deal.

Haven't heard about them changing that. They did adjust the season calendar and eligibility a few years ago. The season runs from 8/1 to 7/31. So for example if your player has a 2005 birthday starting this fall they are to move up to 12U (technically 11U but there are very few teams classified by single year like that in softball). Where as a few years ago, they could still play 10U in the fall and move up in the spring. Now I have seen tournament directors allow one or two pick up players who are technically moving up be allowed to play some in the fall with a younger team but you don't see a whole team who will be aging up allowed to do that any more.

[WPDawg]

Diamond Xtreme, an 8U team is looking to fill a couple of spots for the fall and the future. We are looking for kids that are committed to hard work. 2008 or 2009 birthdays. We are based out of Philadelphia MS. For a personal tryout text Matt 601-507-3475.


This is an established team and one that is used to being very competitive. We have several 1st and 2nd place finishes already this Spring. We will hold a group tryout in about 2-3 weeks. If you had prefer a personal tryout then we can work that out as well.

I am assuming when you say "committed to hard work" you must mean they love to "play ball". Because IMO you should not turn it in to a "job" at 8 years old. 15 weekends (plus practice time) is a lot. What other activity do you commit that much time to with your kids? Lots of kids burn out on one sport after a few years of "working" at it. Just need to step back on occasion and read whether the kid loves what they are doing.