Great Article

[FastpitchHitting]

Here's a great article about players changing teams: http://www.softballexcellence.com/dugout/recruiting/team-jumping/

Changing Teams Can Cause Changing Minds

By: Cindy Bristow

I know it’s common for players to change teams, even high schools if things just aren’t going your way. And while that might seem great for you at the time – you might want to know it’s a HUGE Red Flag to a college coach!

Fastpitch Softball Team Jumping just might hurt your chances to be recuiting to play college softball

College coaches want to know what you’ll be like if you come to their school, by looking at what you’re like now. If you jump teams all the time and change schools a lot, that pattern tells coaches you’ll probably want to do that as soon as things get tough in college. And trust me – they WILL get tough in college. Every College!

So, what can you do to avoid the team jumping syndrome and stay the course? Well hopefully it’s the same thing you’ll do to actually pick a college – do your homework. Hopefully you won’t go to the first school that contacts you without looking into them further. You’ll find out what their staff is like, how long they’ve been there, what majors their school offers, how big or small their school is, what positions are already filled and what age are the players filling them. You’ll take your time in making your college decision since you know it’s a lifetime-type decision.

Well that’s exactly what you should do in picking a travel ball team. Be selective, take your time, check out the coaching staff, see how many other kids are playing your position, watch them practice AND play and see if it’s a situation that you can live with. And by that I mean STICK with. Pick a Travelball team or even a high school team with the mindset that once you make the decision you can’t change it. Take your time, do your homework, ask your questions and be sure.

Because when you don’t because you know you can simply switch to another team, it shoots up a HUGE RED FLAG telling college coaches that you’re a quitter, that you run when things get tough, and that you aren’t for them. Is that the message you want to send? Think about it…

[dis2760]

Thanks for sharing. Liked

Thanks for sharing. Liked it.

[krstwlkr]

Thank you

This is a great article and I think it is great for Utah particularly! We have some amazing talent here in the state and I love watching programs. I hope all girls reach their goals and I hope this resource helps.

Thank you SO much for sharing.

[jay finch]

team switching/great article

I beg to differ somewhat on the article about changing teams. The longer a player is on a team and the girls learn and grow together the better.
If a team doesn't have all the talent to be a winning team, and your player does, why stay on a sinking ship. I know a situation where a experienced pitcher had 16 strike outs and the game was still lost. I agree a player should stick with a team through thick and thin, unless there's no progress happening. We want the best for our girls so go with an organization that can and will support their dreams and ambitions. Winning is where the fun comes from in any sport...right??

[FastpitchHitting]

reply

You make a valid point that we all want the best for our girls, but constantly jumping from one team to another is not always in the kid's best interest. Sure if your kid is head and shoulders better than the other kids on the team and the team she's playing on does not have the same goals and direction your daughter has, then maybe look for another team. Sadly there are some parents that will look for a new team every year or even part way through a season, that's more along the lines as to what this article is addressing.

If a parent is more concerned about a team's wining record, and moves their kid from team to team so they can win more often - that will potentially hurt the player more. This attitude tends to create a player who feels they are more important than the team. Not a great life skill.

And about your comment on winning, I beg to differ. Winning is not the only place fun comes from in sport. There is so much more fun found in the thrill of competing, seeing those around you improve and improving your own skills as well as developing relationships and learning what it takes to be a great teammate.

Although winning is fun, growth, personal skill development and teamwork are so much more vital than simply winning a game. And those are far better life skills we can teach our kids.