Starting a travel team?

What all would be needed to start a travel team? The age would be 10-U. Do you need to even play travel ball at this age? Do you do tryouts from the entire county and beyond or do you try to find a core group that go to school together and could play together from this age up thru high school. Input from those who have started a team from scratch would be much appreciated!

 

BLESS YOUR HEART!

ALL JOKING ASIDE...IN MY OPINION, ONE OF THE FIRST AND FOREMOST IMPORTANT THINGS TO HAVE IS - A COACH THAT WILL BE DEDICATED AND OBLIGATED TO HIS/HER GIRLS FROM THE AGES 10Y/O THRU 18Y/O......I STARTED WITH MY GROUP AT 10/U AND NOW WE'RE A 1ST YEAR 14/U....THIS IS MY SECOND GO AROUND WITH ALL MY LAST GROUP GRADUATING AND 3/4 OF THEM WENT ON TO PLAY COLLEGE BALL. IT'S SORTA LIKE A PET...BE LOYAL TO THEM AND THEY'LL BE LOYAL TO YOU...AND MAKE SURE YOUR IN FOR THE LONG HAUL! THIS ISN'T JUST A 3MONTH DEAL.ITS A PART-TIME JOB...WE PRACTICE YEAR AROUND ..HOWEVER,WE DID TAKE 3WEEKS OFF IN DEC..LOL! ALSO KEEP IN MIND , COACHING IS THE EASIEST AND THE MOST REWARDING PART-IT'S THE ORGANIZING , PRACTICING,WORKING THE SCHEDULES, ETC..THAT GETS TO YOU. EITHER WAY ABOUT IT...I WISH YOU ALL THE LUCK!

HIT-N-RUN

http://carolinahitnrun.googlepages.com/

PS...ALSO,GREAT PARENTS HELP ALOT !

 

1st of all rec ball is a great place to start, but if rec ball is to boring or just beneath her, TB is the next place to go, you will not believe how much they learn and grow in that 1st year. 2nd of all, you have to be dedicated and commited to the team, it does take a lot of time and you have to have the time to give to it. If you have 4 or 5, or know of 4 or 5 girls from the same school, that is a great place to start, if not, you need to start by having several tryouts and hopefully you will have a good turnout and a good group to chose from. TB started up in March, and I have seen a lot of 10U TB playing so you may not have a lot to chose from at this point in the season, but you may get lucky and have girls that are not happy and looking for a new team, it is a chance at this point in the season. When you chose, chose well, try to pick girls that are not needy, that have to be given a lot of time because they don't listen and chose parents wisely, one set of bad parents can tear a team apart. It is great to keep a team together, the longer they play together, the better they are, but you will lose a player or 2 every year, cause you can not please them all. This is my 4th year and I love it, I have a great group of players, and it has been very rewarding!!

Hope I have been of some help and good luck!!

 

First Question ???

Do you have a dog in the fight ?? That will be one of the issues you will have to deal with right off the bat with parents, but at any rate make sure you are qualified to take these little minds,and develop them into ball players. Start good habits young, and stop bad habits young..catch my drift ?? Drills,drills,drills..T-work very important at this age, develop proper throwing and swinging, this will help alleviate stress down the road. Make sure parents understand your goals / visions for the team,and have good organized practices teaching fundamentals !! Set up stations such as bunting, soft toss , T-work, throwing distance, infield / outfield drills. Agreed a good core of girls can make a good base for the team, then you can build around what you have to complete the mold !! My experience with going back to younger girls they have more respect of who you are but by the time they turn 16---LOOK OUT !! You might want to consider going back to 10's again---LOL !! I have been able to really enjoy the younger kids though because I finally learned this is a game and not the end of the world win or lose. I LOVE this game as well as anybody just ask the people that know me personally, but I've learned to enjoy it more than ever, but I will always have a deep compassion to see my kids get to the NEXT LEVEL if this is what they want to do !!

Guru

 

this is perhaps the biggest thing when you are playing below showcase level, based on my experience, 11 players in the magic number.. any more and there will be PT issues.. any less and you run into issues of having enough with injuries, vacations etc.

... take this one to the bank.

 

Hey great advice by all, also just wanted to say, it was great to meet you GURU, hope your daughter made it, and we will be seeing you around!!

Coach Tammy

 

Pleasure Was All Mine !!

I really enjoyed talking to you also. It's always nice to meet the person behind the thread name....Tell Crazy Casey HELLO !!

Guru

 

I'm not trying to rain on anybodys parade.
Why are you starting a travel ball team? I mean, if you will truthfully answer that question before doing anything else it will save alot of problems that are garaunteed to come up.
If you want your DD to play ball there are MANY teams out there to join.
If you have a group of girls that you want to develop together in order to make a school team better, forming a team is a good way to do it.
It might make sense for you to join an established organization instead of starting a completely new team(organization). I'm sure financially you will come out ahead.
If you want to pm me I would happily talk with you about it.
I can promise you there is alot more to it than saying to a dozen young ladies "lets play some ball".

 

Opinions on this are as vast as the ocean and certainly as plentiful. I have starteded 10U, 12U and 14U teams for a couple of organizations as well as one stand alone team. I have seen TB at it's absolute best and at what, at the time, seemed like the absolute worst. Sometimes, the difference between the two can be only one game away and that applies to both sides of the backstop. I would be glad to give you any advice you may need as I have learned much oer the years. It is trying, taxing and troublesome. But in the end, in each team I have had, it is worth it all. Feel free to PM me if you have anything you would like to discuss.