Another Spring League

Could it be they are looking for summer dates? If it is the same post I just looked at, there are no specific dates he is trying to fill... he may just be looking for a full summer schedule..

Bulldog, It says he is looking for games. I would assume he is looking for them now. You never know.

Most fifteen year olds aren't varsity players. USSSA has 15U tournaments in the spring here.

RJM,
Your state must have different rules. If you are on any HS team you cannot play with any other team in AZ. I know it is that way in Cali. Different states have different rules I guess, but I believe that Illinois is the same. At least it was when I was in HS.

The rules apply to varsity players. A varsity player needs authorization from the state athletic association to play on other teams. Team USA athletes are typically the ones who apply.

The way for travel teams to get around the rule is schedule weekend (wink) scrimmages or round robins with other teams. When my daughter played high school softball they would have four teams play with the winners playing for the scrimmage championship (no awards).

Interesting way of doing things. Most teams in AZ play or practice 5-6 days a week during the HS season. I think the HC would be a bit PO'ed if his kids weren't resting on Saturday/Sunday and possibly risking their eligibility with a "scrimmage".

quote:

Originally posted by Doughnutman:
Interesting way of doing things. Most teams in AZ play or practice 5-6 days a week during the HS season. I think the HC would be a bit PO'ed if his kids weren't resting on Saturday/Sunday and possibly risking their eligibility with a "scrimmage".

High schools never play on Sunday. Travel teams would scrimmage on Sunday. They weren't risking eligibility based on the way the rules are written. My daughter's high school coach was a travel coach. She didn't have a problem with the situation. My daughter's class won four conference titles. The entire starting lineup played travel ball. How tiring is it to play two games in 55-70 degree weather?

In 8th grade my son played middle school ball and travel concurrently. He was on a travel team with mostly kids who didn't have middle school programs.

Apples to oranges RJM. Softball is not baseball. Eigth grade is not HS. Completely different beasts.

Rules wise, Varsity sports are varsity sports. You must have either different rules for outside competition or your coach just got away with it. If you break the rules or exploit the gray areas here, somebody will call you out on it and there isn't any reason to risk eligibility on a gray area. 6 days a week is plenty of baseball. As you know, pitching is different in SB than BB.

Doughnutman,

I'm pretty certain that the team you are referring to is a summer travel team looking to complete its summer schedule. Most travel teams are finishing their schedules now (if they are not already complete).

There are no 15U spring travel teams that I am aware of in Illinois. If this team is a spring team, I'm guessing they have a lot of open dates.

Mike F

Looks like you right Mike. I googled them and nothing on the site I found mentioned spring ball. Maybe it is just a west coast thing.

quote:

Originally posted by Doughnutman:
Apples to oranges RJM. Softball is not baseball. Eigth grade is not HS. Completely different beasts.

Rules wise, Varsity sports are varsity sports. You must have either different rules for outside competition or your coach just got away with it. If you break the rules or exploit the gray areas here, somebody will call you out on it and there isn't any reason to risk eligibility on a gray area. 6 days a week is plenty of baseball. As you know, pitching is different in SB than BB.

When varsity athletes scrimmage with travel teams in the spring they are not breaking the rules. There are too many travel players doing it for it to fly under the radar screen. My son has high school and travel practice until the Sunday before his high school season starts. Everyone else on his travel team is in the same position. His high school coach looks at it as more reps. Both his high school and travel coach told him to be sensible about the amount of pitching. He can opt out of pitching drills in either program on a given day.

The state has a rule an athlete can't compete in the season starting until the current season ends. This impacts athletes whose teams make it to states. However, since hockey is a club sport and not a state association sanctioned sport, one of my son's baseball teammates can do baseball in the afternoon this week and play hockey at night. The hockey uniform has the high school name on it.

It's all in how the rules are written. Responsible coaches and/or AD's check with the state association. Our high school places a lot of athletes in college sports. They don't screw up. They know the rules.

Whether they are within the rules or not, I would be PO'd if I was a coach and I had a player playing in these "scrimmages" on the weekends when the players should be resting. When are these coaches going to expect a kid to pitch in these "scrimmages?" And then the high school coach can't throw the kid during the week???

BTW, IHSA does not allow ANY high school athlete to compete with another team during the season. In fact, they can't even compete in skills competitions related to their sports. Freshmen-Senior is not allowed.

The scrimmages I was talking about were softball. Three pitchers would split fourteen innings. It's not a problem for a softball pitcher. It didn't happen every weekend. Games aren't scheduled on Mondays. The travel coaches know high school has priority. If a pitcher said she couldn't pitch, she didn't.

My son is practicing high school and travel similtaneously. The high school coach has no problem with his pitching work coming from the travel pitching coach. He's seen the improvements he's made with my son. Travel practice stops mid March until the third week in May.

My son's high school team has two scrimmages the week of the 9th. He'll ask the high school coach whether or not he should do a bullpen on the 8th with the travel pitching coach. I'm sure the response will be based on when he'll be pitched that week.

For some reason there are people who think travel and school do nothing but butt heads and the coaches hate each other. That's never been the experience with my daughter or son. In both cases the high school coach's thought process was/is, do everything possible to become a better player.