Welcome to Fall: It’s A New Season & Start for Softball Players To Realize Their Dreams

At Extra Inning Softball, we love it when coaches, players and parents share their insights and experiences and today we feature an article from a parent of a college-bound athlete (wishing to remain unnamed) who believes that the Fall and the beginning of another year of school calendar year of softball underscores the fact that there are many paths an athlete can take to realize her dreams in softball–whatever that dream may be!

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Welcome to Fall.

For much of America, it means a crispness in the air, leaves donning their brightest colors, back-to-school and impending holiday seasons.

For the softball community, however, it is a return to high school ball in some states, college camps and visits for juniors and seniors only–thanks to the new recruiting rules—and the kickoff of the fall recruiting season.

The pictures are all over social media: players posing at this school’s elite camp or that school’s elite camp. It happens everywhere, but one thing sticks out: the colors and logos that blaze from the jerseys in those photos from elite camp after elite camp after elite camp tend to run along the same lines.

The signature script of the Batbusters, the bright blue of the Corona Angels, the red-white-blue combo of the Texas Glory, splashes of orange from the EC Bullets and Beverly Bandits organizations, the purple and gold that means the Thunderbolts are here, cornerstone green from the Vipers and Lasers, the red and black of the Georgia Impact…you get the picture.

From the window of social media looking in, it seems that to get into the elite camps, you have to play on an elite team.

But, while that’s not always the case—although it is a common path—it is, however, not the ONLY path. Every player has a journey to travel, a dream to chase, and her own growth curve.

Package that in with financial restrictions, geographic boundaries, and even—gasp!—downtime, and soon there are more variables to balance than room to balance them. It leaves players—and their parents—in a muddled mess more often than not.

There are several noticeable striations in the travel world:

1. Teams that have the relationships, play the big events consistently and get the best players for those teams regularly. They attract talent to their tryouts: kids with D1 talent, financial support from their families, and the no-obstacle-is-too-large mentality to accompany it.
2. Then, there are the smaller organizations who are trying to build what the “big names” already have. They’re often new, or are a single standout team, built from the ground up or, perhaps, from a region that doesn’t have access to a franchise-level organization.
3. Often, there is a mix of “Power 5” talent with a lot of mid-major or smaller D1-bound players on these teams.
4. Then, there are smaller regional or local teams who might end up with a player with meteoric talent from time to time, but their goal isn’t to travel frantically across the country playing every big event to get players seen. They find homes for their players too.

Not every player wants to play for a highly-ranked Division I program, which is part of the beauty of the collegiate softball world.

Players can go to Army West Point or Harvard or Stanford or Dartmouth or Cornell chasing their academic or career dreams while also in pursuit of glory on the clay.

Not every player wants to—or can—work as hard as it takes to be ready to walk into a Power Five program and that’s OK–it’s about finding the place that’s the best fit, not just athletically, but academically and socially as well.

It’s all part of each player’s journey—none of it wrong or right—just right for your player (or not). Because it really, truly, isn’t about the name on the front of that jersey or the colors sublimated onto it. It’s about how bad you want it, especially today.

No matter what excuses people offer up, there is a solution for everyone: work harder! (On a side note, it’s the same remedy for the “my-kid-doesn’t-get-playing-time” complaints that hit so many travel ball coaches.)

While every kid can’t get private coaches, huge team names, or exposure on the premiere fields at the best showcases, most have access to the internet. On the world wide web, players can find agility workouts, swing videos, fielding instruction, and drill after drill after drill to improve their skills.

Yes, there are obstacles.

But for every obstacle, there is a solution: fundraisers, sponsors, or funded teams, if you’re willing to work hard to get it done.

Because, to be honest, kids can go to camps, get seen, and get recruited by universities across the country. Here’s the secret: stand out.

Find your strength and be the best with what you are gifted. There are so very many places to play after club ball, players shouldn’t lock into one “dream” school and hope Tim Walton or Patty Gasso loves them, because they don’t have many spots open.

Players wait and look past solid offers from other schools hoping that on September 1^st of her junior year, Coach Tim or Coach Patty is going to call, while possibly losing solid offers from other schools in the meantime. But there are so many avenues if your mind—and your options—stay open.

Thanks to the new rules, there isn’t as much time anymore. Early recruiting put pressure on some kids, but the new rules will exert pressure in new ways:

• How long should I wait?
• What schools are interested in me?
• Am I on the right team?
• Are we in the right events or on the right fields?

It is a different pressure, but it is pressure nonetheless.

College camps are more important than ever. It’s a way to let your player see schools, meet coaches, and perform. It can gauge interest—your player’s and the coaching staff’s. It can create a following as coaches hope to watch the potential recruits in action, which can elevate the interest level for teams that may not have national-brand status.

Those camps pose another obstacle, however: travel, cost, and schedule can be difficult burdens to manage.

There are different roads to get to the dream school too:

• every year, players transfer to schools they didn’t verbal to because they had outstanding freshman or sophomore years.
• Every year, players get their AA degree at junior colleges and go on to have careers at the D1 level.
• Every year, players who thought a Power 5 D1 was right for them when they were young leave their teams to play elsewhere—or hang up their cleats forever.

Find your journey and your work ethic along the way. Don’t make excuses, work every day to get better somehow. Don’t erect barriers, find ways to overcome obstacles.

After all, every parent who has a daughter playing this sport loves to watch her play. In the end, no matter the journey, the challenges, or the cost, parents want to watch their daughters bloom into the amazing person she can and will grow to be and know it was all worth it!