Softball Club Teams

[cyard31]

I have seen lots of these off season club teams offering to go to tournaments with x amount of college coaches at them.
Has anyone out there had a child play on a team that goes to these & is it worth the team & travel expense for these kids?
are they getting contacts from college coaches? This is all assumed that this is the sport the girl wants to focus & get better in. thoughts or experiences please.

 

[cidhawkeye]

The key is the right group of parents on these teams. It makes the travel all worth it..moo woo

 

[Pokybball]

We currently have 1 girl playing Club Softball and she would tell you it is worth it. Softball is her favorite sport and she travels a lot for practices and games but her parents have told me about the coaches that come watch these events. Depending of the level of play, but it sounds like in softball they are given so much time in each game to show what they can do. Obviously the better you are the more you get noticed. It doesn't take the place of your school team, but it does allow for a lot of practice throughout the offseason.

If your daughter is someone that wants to practice more, commit more time, and truely wants to focus in on that sport then Id say it definitely has value. You would hate to sign up though and find out it is way more time consuming then what they want to commit to.

 

[Lyoncounty]

As a former college softball coach, it is way easier to scout,recruit at this club tournaments than your local high school games in Iowa. I could go to a weekend tourney and see multiple hundred kids (most i didnt want to see) vs driving to a town in Iowa to watch 2 teams face off.

 

[Rose bowl or bust]

Why would you go to a single game? Depending on the level you are recruiting for, you could easily go to a tournament day on any weekend of the year and see numerous DIII caliber players, many DII players, and occasionally the DI level recruit. It's not odd to see Dowling, Fort Dodge, Solon, Winterset, Ankeny, etc. at the same tournament. That doesn't mention the sheer number of kids from small schools like Akron, St. Eds, Newell-Fonda, Martensdale-SM, Earlham BCLUW, Highland, etc. that always have good teams and players. Again, part of this depends on the level you would be recruiting for, but it would be really silly to go see two teams when you could see 8-16 teams in one day.