You have made it to the higher level of competition. You have a pool of potential players but are unsure how to organize them into a travel team. You know that the players would get a lot out of it, but you’re afraid to start. This is very typical!
It might seem simple to organize a travel softball team. You recruit some players, purchase some uniforms, and compete in a few events. Nope, it’s not that easy.
My experience coaching a girls’ fastpitch softball travel team has been eye-opening. To be clear, I want to use the word “program” here.
According to Statista, around 8.1 million Americans participated in softball in 2021. It’s the time of year when parents consider travel teams for the future year, so I thought some guidelines could be helpful. All of these rules have exceptions, so don’t overstate them.
So, without further ado, let’s go into some suggestions for starting a travel ball softball team that will take your coaching experience higher.
What Is Travel Softball?
Let’s start with the very basics.
First up, travel softball is a lot more intense than traditional one. Most travel softball teams include between 10 and 12 players chosen by the appointed coaches. Unlike recreational softball, travel teams don’t play a set number of games every season.
Travel teams “travel” to play weekend tournaments like the Ball-of-field our recreation teams just participated in. Travel softball is a lot like the end-of-the-year All-Stars.
This is the “next level” up from softball leagues for fun and exercise. It is more demanding in terms of skill level, dedication, and playtime.
Distances and age groupings vary in each program. Some travel groups hardly go beyond their own backyards or state to compete.
First up, travel softball is a lot more intense than traditional one. Most travel softball teams include between 10 and 12 players chosen by the appointed coaches. Unlike recreational softball, travel teams don’t play a set number of games every season.
You often hear coaches do this and that. But what do the managers do? Do they have a bigger role? Here you will get to know What Does A Baseball Manager Do which is explained by a real coach.
Travel teams “travel” to play weekend tournaments like the Ball-of-field our recreation teams just participated in. Travel softball is a lot like the end-of-the-year All-Stars.
This is the “next level” up from softball leagues for fun and exercise. It is more demanding in terms of skill level, dedication, and playtime.
Distances and age groupings vary in each program. Some travel groups hardly go beyond their own backyards or state to compete.
Wait! Do you know all the tricks ad tips of softball? You don’t! Well, don’t panic because here are some of the best softball tips for you.
Figure 1- How to Start a Travel Softball Team
Getting Started With Travel Softball
After spending four years as a First Team All-American at the University of Michigan, I played professionally for another six. Now that I’m a coach, I know that if it weren’t for travel softball, I never would have gotten where I am today.
At age 10, I made the jump from Little League/rec ball to travel ball, and I have played at the highest levels ever since. By the time I was thirteen, I had already decided to play softball at the collegiate level (specifically, in the National Collegiate Athletic Association).
Playing softball at the travel level takes a lot of effort and money. To be an excellent softball player, you must prepare and work hard. Nonetheless, I have to confess that softball is fascinating. Therefore, I will share some softball basics with you if you are just starting out.
I played for some fantastic coaches who encouraged me to be a better person and player, and others who didn’t. And although it’s ideal to have a coach that believes in you and nurtures your skill, I learned and grew in both contexts.
Before getting into the main topic, it’s crucial to know why you should play travel softball (and why it’s not the ideal decision for every player).
How to Start a Travel Softball Team
Are you wondering how to start a select travel softball team to take on other travel teams?
Your path won’t be so smooth. You will be well on your way to starting a successful travel softball team if you follow these steps.
Know the Age Groupings
Typically, different age groups play travel softball.
Softball uses even-numbered age divisions, such as 8U, 10U, 12U, etc. You cannot participate in a younger age group than your chronological age.
It is a different case in Baseball. Teams begin at the youngest age, 6U, and increase in age increments.
Little League revised the age threshold to August 31 because so many 13-year-olds played in the World Series.
Check the Player’s Age
Take a good look at your player’s age when you are building a softball travel team.
The players’ ages may compel you to shuffle them about on different teams or “play up” to compete with more seasoned squads. While playing up is a status badge for some, it may be funny to witness 13-year-old boys play 1st high school students.
In softball, there are several different ball sizes, and grounds are used for games aimed at various age groups.
If you want your team to do well in competitions, you must wear the right gear and train on a field that’s the right size. You will find all the requirements of the field and gear on the sponsor’s webpage.
Tournament organizers in baseball strictly enforce age-based pitch limits, while softball games are played without such restrictions.
Get Fastpitch Softball Travel Team Coaches and Volunteers
Members of the coaching staff, other volunteers, and the board of directors play an essential role in the success of your team. Here are some ways to locate dedicated volunteers to ensure out during your team’s inaugural year:
Parents – Parents are the simplest way to find new program volunteers. Make sure parents understand the time commitment. The level of parental dedication should be high enough.
Current and Former Players- High school or college players may assist get your new squad started. High school and college students are often excited about volunteering or leadership experience. They have the desire, competitive attitude, and player development recommendations your team needs to thrive. Former players can be role models for your athletes.
Remember, coaches and volunteers must understand the yearlong commitment. Give them a realistic picture of how much time and money they will be committing to practices and trips.
Want to perform at the blogger stage like Major Softball Division? You may wanna know what is baseball/softball tryout. Know it from a real coach’s perspective.
Create a Budget and Financial Plan
Once you’ve assembled your team of coaches and volunteers, it’s time to develop a detailed financial strategy and budget.
To have a successful travel softball program, you must put in the time and effort to create a thorough financial plan and budget.
Check out these suggestions:
Projected Expenses: Consider travel expenses, tournament fees, practice facility/field fees, league play fees, team gear, uniforms, and registering your team when building your financial plan.
Plan Fundraising Campaigns: Player registration fees will likely be your primary source of revenue when it comes to fundraising. You could also approach nearby companies for sponsorships and contributions.
Quite frequently, local companies are more than happy to contribute to the success of youth initiatives. You may generate more money for your program by providing sponsors with logo displays, tax benefits, and goodwill advertising.
A well-thought-out budget can determine the success or failure of your project. Try to keep player registration fees low and account for potential costs.
After settling on a budget that won’t break the bank, you may begin advertising your travel softball team and recruiting new members.
Player Fees
When starting a travel softball team, you’ll also need to settle on a pricing structure.
The most important thing for parents is that the prices to play are clear and reasonable. Therefore, you must have a solid understanding of the tournament and uniform expenses.
If you can’t practice outside year-round, you may also need to pay for inside time. Travel ball expenses are often $1,000 or more per player, not including transportation costs.
Travel Expenses
Travel expenses include hotel rates – which can be close to $150 per night for three-day tournaments- and food, gas, and equipment you need for softball.
Many weekend tournaments begin on Thursdays or Fridays, so parents usually miss working to attend their children’s events. If your team attends three tournaments requiring traveling, your parents could spend over $3000 on travel ball fees and expenses.
Fundraising and Sponsorships
Some clubs will find methods to mitigate the expenditures of travel softball. They will provide gamers with chances to hold fundraisers. Others will solicit sponsorship from local companies. In this situation, businesses often want to be promoted someplace, such on the uniform or a team flag.
Car washes, flower sales, and golf tournaments are common team fundraising activities. Some teams can pay nothing out of pocket if they organize successful fundraising campaigns.
Teams who raise a lot of money often utilize it to hire top coaches to conduct clinics. These can help the whole squad build togetherness as players learn about their favorite game together.
Injury Concerns and Substitute Players
There are always players missing from a travel squad for a single event.
Most travel softball team coaches have a few subs on call. Many coaches keep the extra jersey for the substitute to wear.
Most subs want to avoid wearing the extra jersey as they do not have their name on it. So it is up to you to carry the expense of their jersey or have the player in your team.
Injuries
Unfortunately, injuries are among the most frequent issues you will have to face in a travel softball team.
They happen often and often enough to change the way your season goes. Injuries are inevitable, which is why many competent trainers keep first aid kits supplied.
Coaches who are responsible also make sure that their teams have insurance. The USSSA offers travel team insurance, among others. This is another charge component that should be accounted for.
Obtaining Jerseys
Who doesn’t like great looking and durable uniform?
Your softball travel team will require at least three pairs of trousers, three jerseys, three sets of socks, a cap, and a helmet for long weekends.
To maintain team unity, you can use the same brand and model of cleats and provide each player with a practice uniform.
Players like selecting their favorite jersey numbers. Some believe the numbers will bring luck. They also appreciate having their surnames prominently displayed on their shirts.
In addition, trainers will need apparel, including but not limited to jerseys and caps. Finding reasonably priced, high-quality uniforms for a travel baseball team is easy.
Online buying and personalization are available from Boombah, Mizuno, and Nike. You can buy team uniforms from local merchants, too.
Performance Requirements
The P.L.A.Y. Fastpitch Softball program focuses on teaching softball basics to create a fun, competitive atmosphere that inspires girls to return each year. Minimum Standards of Performance (MSP) outline the most significant abilities the players at each age level should have achieved.
To maximize your chances of success, you must devote attention to these areas throughout every practice and during the “off” season. The Softball Board will provide the coaches with materials to teach these abilities.
8U & 10U MINIMUM STANDARDS OF PERFORMANCE
The 8U and 10U teams’ MSPs should be:
1. Using the correct overhand throw
2. Fundamentals of catching
3. Baserunning fundamentals
4. Know how to hit and bunt properly
5 Sliding fundamentals
6. Softball basics
12U MINIMUM STANDARDS OF PERFORMANCE
For 12u squads, these should be the MSPs:
1. Correct overhand throwing posture.
2. Correct catching techniques. Using two hands, elbow and hand placements, and catching fly balls
3. Basic foundation running abilities. Concentrating on the posture of hands and body
4. Learn the fundamentals of hitting and bunting.
5. The Basics of Sliding
14U MINIMUM STANDARDS OF PERFORMANCE
The following should be the MSPs for the 14U teams:
1. Improve positional throwing. Training the ball’s spin, grip, and snap with a focus on the wrist
2. Develop catching techniques that effectively place the body. Focusing on elbow and hand placements, good stance, utilizing two hands when and why, and catching fly balls
3. Advanced base running abilities. Concentrating on body and hand posture, knowing when to lead off, rounding bases, turning, and stealing
4. Improve batting and bunting techniques. The focus of this drill is on mastering the bunt and developing a more precise swing and bunt placement with the use of drag bunts.
5. Refine sliding skills
Isn’t the fact make you think that softball swing and baseball swing are different? It does make me think. So, how are they different? Here are detailed reasons for Softball Swing VS Baseball Swing.
Make Contact with Other Area Sports Groups
A fantastic way to network with local athletes is to reach out to other local athletic organizations. You can spread the word about your program by enlisting other coaches/volunteers to promote it to their players.
If you want to increase your chances of getting a response, you can contact recreational softball programs. Some of their existing players might be interested in pushing their skills to the next level by joining a travel softball team.
Create Social Media Accounts
You’ll need a site to publicize your new team. Creating a social media account (or two) is a simple and fast option for spreading the word and attracting attention.
Setting up a Facebook page or an Instagram account to share photos, announce tryouts, and keep parents and players updated on the season’s happenings is simple. Try not to spend all your time on Facebook since there is a good chance your parents aren’t checking it.
Travel Expectations
When you build a softball travel team, obviously, you would have some expectations. To participate in league games or tournaments, fastpitch travel teams are required to travel to other cities. League games are usually played in nearby cities.
However, games can often be rescheduled. If parents and players have a problem rescheduling game, they should make arrangements with other parents or players.
Every team needs players to show up to every game and practice.
Travel Softball Vs. Little League
The things I like in recreational softball and travel softball are you will learn many life qualities, such as collaboration and sportsmanship. But they may vary drastically in terms of time commitment and level of competition.
Recreational Softball/Little League: Low-Stakes, Low-Cost, and Less-Competitive
By hearing recreational league, you may think the game is not serious. At least, I thought the same.
Recreational baseball includes the Little League Softball and the leagues played at the city level. Playing once per week and twice weekly for workouts, the regular season typically spans from March through May. Your typical commute to and from games and practices will be around 30 minutes.
Girls of all skill sets are welcome to join Little League, the most popular rec ball organization, which recruits players aged four to sixteen. Parents or grandparents usually take on the role of coach, and unpaid volunteers officiate games. It is so fun to watch!
This is a beautiful way to learn the rules, determine whether your daughter likes softball, and have fun teaching sportsmanship and fundamentals. Typically, the price is approximately $100 and includes a matching top.
Gifts are always special. People remind you every time when they see the gift. Here are some Softball Gifts for your travel softball team to make the players happy and boost their morale.
Travel softball: Better Games, Greater Quality
When I was growing up, travel softball meant you were a dedicated athlete who wanted to make it to the highest levels of the sport.
Today, softball is so popular that teams are devoted to giving top players the finest competition to hone their skills.
More girls are playing trip softball for fun, often participating in more than rec ball’s 20-game schedule.
In contrast to “regular season” sports, travel softball often does not have a set season. It takes place throughout the year, with weekly club practices in the spring and autumn and a packed schedule of weekend competitions in the summer.
Teams play anywhere from five to ten games throughout a typical weekend on a travel softball trip. On Fridays and Saturdays, teams compete in “pool play,” when they meet and play a select group of other teams before being “seeded.”
Double-elimination bracket play begins on Sunday, and the victors take home nifty prizes like trophies, medals, plaques, and rings.
Why Do Girls Play Softball And Boys Play Baseball? Is it sexism or law? Your confusion will be cleared if you go through
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What Is the Highest Level of Travel Softball?
More and more top-tier travel softball teams have two 18U sides, with the top team being called “18 Gold.” These teams compete in the same elite events as A-level teams. Hence there is no need for them to be designated as “18 Gold” to enter.
2. What Is the Best Travel Baseball Organization?
Many of the best and most well-known travel softball teams play for USSSA, AAU, Triple Crown Sports, and Perfect Game. Travel baseball teams often participate in tournaments run by many of these groups.
3. What Age Should You Start Travel Baseball?
Typically, a group will need participants between the ages of 6 and 18. However, this requirement can vary widely. You can search the organization’s website or directly contact or phone them.
Unlike Little League, where games are played every week, travel baseball is dominated by weekend tournaments. But some leagues are only for the best baseball teams.
4. Can High School Baseball Players Play on Travel Teams?
The CIF recently allowed high school athletes to play high school and travel ball or AAU.
5. What are the main differences between travel softball and recreation softball?
At the outset, it’s important to emphasize that the GCAA will NEVER stop prioritizing recreation. The purpose of travel softball is not to replace recreational softball but rather to provide local and regional girls access to a higher level of competition.
Conclusion
Your lesson on How to Start a Travel Softball Team is complete. As you can see, organizing a new travel softball team is no simple task.
It takes a lot of time and effort. Putting up a travel softball team from scratch may seem overwhelming, but it isn’t as difficult as it may appear.
There are a number of factors to think about before a game, including who to choose, where to play, and how to get there.
What matters most is the happiness you provide to the kids and the memories you establish with them (and with yourself). Please share your success stories and additional advice if you have started a travel softball team.
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Confused about How to Start a Travel Softball Team? Take a few things into consideration like players’ age, budget plan, travel expenses, sponsorship, etc.
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Hello everyone. My name is Jason Butler, and I live in California, America. I was a professional AAA Minor League Baseball player. I lost my chance of playing MLB for injury issues, but I did not lose my love for baseball. I attended the coaching training program and am now working as a coach in a small school in San Diego.
I always love to share my experience and knowledge if that can help you. Play baseball, and stay fit.