What Is Travel Softball & Can a Sex Offender's Child Be Thrown Off Team?

This falls under the category of "the things we learn writing this blog." Who knows what "Club" or "Travel" fast pitch softball is? If you don't, it's not connected to any school or to any city recreational league. It's strictly a semi-professional organization where very young women (read older little girls) pay to join a team after auditioning for the honor. In case you didn't catch it, that last word is dripping in sarcasm. If this is the definition of female success, we're afraid that no one here at Shoalanda is even remotely successful.

Yet, we can see how to a child of a certain age who is talented athletically, this would be an important part of her life. Why are we writing about it today? We were all set to rip into a Cherokee (or nearby) team until we discovered what it actually is.

Remember the Cherokee sex offender who was working for the high school football team on the sidelines this year? It seems his step-daughter was a member of a travel team. What happened after his activities were made public? She was dismissed from the team. She was no longer needed since her family was detrimental to the success of the team.

Is this fair? As difficult as it is to understand, team members have to build up their group in every way. Girls who come from families who are a deterrent to building up the team are not wanted. Remember, this is a type of professional sport. It's tantamount to your kid cousin traveling to L.A. to a Dodgers practice and saying, "Here I am." The reply is always going to be "So."

To this young lady we say: You're not going to regret the loss of this junior career for very long. Invest the time you were spending playing a sport that is utterly meaningless to most of us in an intellectual or artistic pursuit. We promise you that you won't regret it.

To the parents of the young girls on these travel clubs, we say: Really?

For Halloween, I'm Going As A Softball Player...