It varies.
My kid played with Lasers for a coupla years, I think it was $600.
Didn't pay much, if any at all, after that.
Didn't go to tryouts either.
Just kinda wait for them to call.
And what exactly is it that makes "an upper level program"?
Ask the guy running the show what he would have without you.
Tell him to be specific.
Went through travel baseball a few years ago and now starting to go through travel softball.
One thing that I did not like about travel baseball was the increased costs of tournaments for the older age groups. Thought it was a bit of gouging but I understood it because the size of the field was much larger and fewer facilities to handle these type of games.
For softball, that shouldn't be the case. 8U softball to 18U softball basically use the same size field. Also, there are no "super fields" to play on. There are no equivalents in softball to the Minor League parks that charge excessive fees to play baseball on their fields. Even the college baseball fields are significantly nicer than most of the college softball fields. Plenty of HS softball fields are just as nice as most college softball fields. Can't say that for baseball most of the time.
So the question becomes, what is the added expense for older softball attributed to?
I think it's the "showcase" principal in softball. The tournaments that can claim to draw the most college coaches are definitely the most expensive. We've found that sometimes those claims are valid and other times not so much.
Anything decent 3-4 years ago was over $1.0K plus travel costs. Still a better deal than JO volleyball which for a national team is now pushing north of $3.0K plus travel expenses; also this level includes travel that is roughly 50% through air. When all is said and done you are looking at $5.0K-$6.0K for a teen to play a sport.
I would have thought the Lasers would be a lot higher than $600 but great for you and your daughter that it wasn't. Maybe upper level program wasn't the right terminology, but there's definitely a difference between playing for the Lasers, Hawks, Outlaws, Doom, Bandits, as opposed to a lot of other organizations. The names alone tend to draw the better players. But I agree, it's not necessarily the organization that makes it upper level but the players in that organization.
I think it's the "showcase" principal in softball. The tournaments that can claim to draw the most college coaches are definitely the most expensive. We've found that sometimes those claims are valid and other times not so much.
Is there additional hidden cost to a showcase? Do they pay the coaches to be there to recruit? Or is it simply that they can charge more if the impression is that there will be coaches there?
Anything decent 3-4 years ago was over $1.0K plus travel costs. Still a better deal than JO volleyball which for a national team is now pushing north of $3.0K plus travel expenses; also this level includes travel that is roughly 50% through air. When all is said and done you are looking at $5.0K-$6.0K for a teen to play a sport.
Mike you have to admit your daughters team was very inexpensive compared to most high level teams. The op was asking about the cost and I would say generally team cost are $1200-$1500. There are exceptions like Mike daughters team, there are also teams out there that cost over $2000.
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Lasers tend to have one team per birth year.
The coaches tend to stay on board from 9-18.
My number is 419 420 5017. Let me know how many D1 kids start as freshmen from the team your kid is playing on today.