Why is Playing Summer Ball Important?

A majority of the recruiting goes on during the high school offseason.

It’s a concept that seems fairly simple, but a lot of student-athletes and families don’t understand this.  Think about it; the softball season is the same in college as it is in high school.  Softball staffs are very small and most of the recruiting is being done by coaches that are also coaching during games.  Football staffs and basketball staffs are often much bigger, and they have coaches that can go out and recruit during the season.  Softball programs do not have this luxury.  Because of this, the only time a coach can personally watch a girl play is during the summer.  Coaches at lower levels may also have some other duties with the school.  They may not have enough time to adequately recruit during the season when they have other things to do.

The competition in travel ball is top level.

Playing softball for your high school is great.  However, the competition at the high school level is not always top notch.  Some schools are very small and do not have a lot of options to choose from.  A lot of those schools are so small that softball is a no-cut sport, and they are forced to field some players that may not really be at that level.  Coaches don’t care that you can compete with kids that don’t belong on the field.  They want to see that you can separate yourself from kids that are also high level players.  If you are serious about playing softball in college, this is a must-do to get yourself on the radar of college coaches.

It’s the best way to perfect your skills.

At this point in your playing career, you need to be all in.  If you want to play college softball, you have to be serious about the sport and be willing to put in the time and effort to get better.  The best way to do this is game action.  Like any sport, you can practice all you want, but the best way to improve is through game action.  Yes, basketball players shoot and do individual drills, but they also play in as many pick-up games as possible.  Baseball players take infield and outfield practice, but they also do live batting practice.  It’s the same concept with softball.  You can do all the individual drills that you want, but the real improvement comes when you play games against the best of the best.

If you have any other questions or comments please comment below!