Taking Softball to the Next Level
Fast pitch softball participation couldn’t be better for college teams and high school teams throughout the United States and figures to increase in the future, with the start of the college season right around the corner.
According to 2010-2011 participation figures, high school fast pitch is offered to girls at 15,338 high schools in the United States, totaling 373,535 participants. Fast pitch is also offered to boys, but it is played at only 77 high schools and by 1,522 participants.
The NCAA, which took over college softball in 1982 from the AIAW, has more than 900 schools and universities sponsoring fast pitch in three divisions for women and has more than 18,000 participants. When the NCAA took over sanctioning college softball in 1982, total participation was around 7,000, meaning participation has more than doubled in the past 30 years. While the participation has gone up, the interest in the sport has increased considerably thanks to the efforts of many people and especially ESPN, which in the past tape-delayed some of the games from the College World Series in Oklahoma City. Now ESPN carries all of the games in the College World Series live from Oklahoma City, the Mecca of college softball, and also televises various games of some of the top-rated conferences. If someone wants to watch college softball, there are more than enough televised games to satisfy the appetite of the most ardent fan.
The increased exposure certainly has been a big plus for softball and has helped to generate interest in the sport for new fans who might have a daughter playing high school or travel ball and is aspiring to earn a college scholarship. Each Division I school is allotted 12 scholarships. Some parents, unfortunately, expect their daughter to earn a full-ride depending on her ability. While the parents have the best interests of their daughter at heart, in some cases the daughter isn’t as good as the parents believe she is, and therefore doesn’t warrant a full ride. College coaches have to use their full rides wisely and the ones we have talked to recently usually don’t give more than five or six full rides per year.
They usually watch the players in the summer also. Kelly Inouye Perez, the softball coach for 11-time NCAA champion UCLA, said she "can't remember" the last time she attended a high school softball practice to evaluate a prospect. "It's all about travel ball and watching summer training," she said.
Parents have unfortunately turned their daughters into commodities and want a return on their investment. Some parents spend thousands of dollars on their daughter’s softball career, anticipating that she will get a full ride from one of the top five or ten Division I schools. When that doesn’t happen, parents are disappointed and wonder what happened. Just because a parent spends thousands of dollars on their daughter’s softball career, there is no guarantee she will get a full ride or even start at a Division I school. Much can happen, and often does in some cases, during the four years of college softball. The scholarship has to be renewed each year by the head coach and, in some cases, that doesn’t happen. In some cases, players feel they are entitled to play a certain position or entitled to a scholarship. Wrong again. The player must earn that scholarship and position and the head coach will tell the player whether or not she has followed the team rules and NCAA policies to warrant another year of scholarship.
One high school coach told me at a recent clinic that he had a player who basically said she had better make the team, and this was before the team had started workouts. I guess the player wants to coach the team instead of the regular coach who has been coaching more than two decades. Of course the player is still in high school, but is unrealistic about her abilities to make such a ridiculous demand. The coach told me he didn’t respond to what the player said.
Parents, in some cases, don’t tell their daughters about her abilities or lack of abilities. They would be smart to tell them and be honest about how good they are or aren’t. If they don’t, the youngster will find out on her own soon enough how good she is or isn’t, and she certainly won’t be happy with what their parents should have told her years earlier. Not everyone is a great player. That is the most over used word in softball. This is especially true in college because there is a difference between college and the international level. Just ask some of the players who’ve played college softball, then made the USA National Team to play at the international level. The players on the international teams are usually veteran players who have played together on the same national team for years and usually are in their mid 20’s and early 30’s, some older.
While parents would be wise to tell their daughters the truth, the same could be said for travel ball coaches who want to get as many of their kids into Division I as possible. Youngsters trying out for travel ball teams have their parents spend hundreds of dollars, in same case thousands, to be on a certain team, but there is no guarantee that player is going to get a full ride to a softball powerhouse just because they are on a certain team. In some case, parents switch their daughters to teams they feel would be in the best interest of their daughters.
Parents, in some cases, also spend hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars on pitching lessons, hitting lessons and fielding lessons from people who are there only to take their money. The parents are gullible and need to check out the references of the people who are instructing their daughter. There are some excellent clinicians in softball who charge a fair price and have the athlete’s best interest at heart. And just because the athlete gets lessons from a top-flight instructor doesn’t mean the athlete is going to turn around and get a Division I full ride scholarship. Some athletes mature later in their career and softball is no exception. Sheila Cornell Douty, a former member of the USA National Team and an Olympian, for example wasn’t much of a home run threat until after she graduated from college (UCLA).
Parents also get upset when their daughter or daughters aren’t playing as much as they expect them to play, and in some cases will question the coach. Then again, this is a judgment call made by the head coach and his or her coaching staff. There are some outstanding coaches out there who know their business and understand what it takes to have a team and keep the team’s chemistry intact despite the antics of an unrealistic parent or parents. In some cases, the parents would be better off by leaving their child alone and let her discuss whether or not she starts on a regular basis with the coach and coaching staff. They will be honest with the athlete. In some cases, players aren’t going to start right away in Division I and that is understandable. Making the jump from high school to Division I is a big one and some players aren’t ready for it, athletically or mentally. Or maybe the head coach wants the player to play a different position than what she played in high school or travel ball because the coach feels the player would help the team more at this position instead of her favorite or regular position. It’s a team game, not an “I” game and the player will show what kind of person she is to the head coach and the coaching staff right away with a team attitude instead of a selfish I attitude.
There is life after college softball of course and some players go on to play internationally in Japan or the National Pro Fastpitch League. The Japan League salaries, from what we’ve been told, are outstanding ($100,000 plus) while the NPF salaries vary from $5,000 a season to more than $25,000. That is another level of play and unfortunately some players who dominated in college don’t do the same at either the international level or the pro level.
In the final analysis, it pays to be realistic and honest about your playing abilities. If you are, you will have a good idea of how long of a softball career you will have and you will be the person calling the shots instead of over-zealous parents.
College is an important decision, whether or not you play softball. If you play softball and get some type of financial help, then it’s even better. As Cheri Kempf, commissioner of the pro league told me recently, “It is a decision that with education and networking combined will likely have an effect on the rest of an individual’s life. Long after they are finished playing softball, they will still be utilizing their education and likely still be associating with friends, alumni and now colleagues from their alma mater. There is a lot to consider above and beyond the immediate concern of playing softball.”
