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Tri-Valley Girls Softball League (TVGSL)Everything to know about the Tri-Valley Girls Softball League is right here on this page. This is an ASA (American Softball Association) Recreational 'B' softball league for girls ages 5 - 18 who live in and around the Ventura, CA area played between the months of March through May, with All-Stars extending the time of play for certain select girls through the 4th of July and beyond. The Tri-Valley Girls Softball League is also known as the Tri-Valley League or Tri-Valley Softball League or known by just the initials TVGSL. Tri-Valley may also not have the dash or have the words together as Tri Valley or TriValley. Scroll through the page for all the information or use these links to take you to the information you want.
When and where to sign up for Tri-Valley Softball? Does my daughter have to try-out? What Age Group is your girl in? Is there any fundraising required? How is Umpiring done in the league and how can I be one? Who to Contact (People in charge of league) History of the Tri-Valley Girls Softball League Is there a Fall League (Fall Ball)? High School Softball in the Area Sign-ups this year for the league are being done online! Visit their website and click on "registration". You'll need
to register for Tri-Valley Girls Softball by going to their website tvl.clubspaces.com here.
The day you sign up you should have your daughter ready to tryout if she's over 8 years old or if she's going to play in the 10 and under division and above. This is nothing to fear. Regardless of ability, every girl gets to play. Tryouts are a way to try to let the coaches get a view of each of the kid's strengths and weaknesses so as to hopefully even out the teams as much as possible. They will rate the girls on their ability to field grounders, catching fly balls, hitting and throwing (and for pitchers, their pitching ability). The girls will not need to slide during tryouts. What Age Group is your girl in? The age cut off is January 1st of the year the league is playing. So even if your daughter will turn a certain age during the league or even before the league starts, but her birthday is January 1 or after she will be considered the age she is as of December 31st for "league age" purposes. There are leagues for T-ball, 6 years old and younger (league age), Midgets, 8 and under, Mini-Minors, 10 and under, Minors, 12 and under, Juniors, 14 and under, and Seniors, 18 and under. Where can you live to be in Tri-Valley Girls Softball? While most of the girls live in Ventura, California, there are no restrictions or boundries. Although rare, there are girls playing in the league who live in Oxnard, Ojai, Santa Paula, and Port Hueneme even though they all have their own leauges in those cities. For the girls playing in 6 & Under it is $75. For the 8 & Unders it's $85. And for the rest of the players it is $90. Is there any fundraising required? In efforts to keep fees relatively low for people, the league relies on money coming in from snack bar sales, fundraising, and sponsoring teams. To keep the burden off of just a few people everyone is encouraged to help out in any way they can, including fundraising. If fundraising is not your thing, you can opt to pay an extra fee to waive participating in it. A great way to help the league raise money is getting businesses to sponsor teams. The businesses get to help the community's kids and get some advertising in return. If you're a business person or know of someone who is, contact the person in charge of the league. You can find them under Who to Contact (People in charge of league) How is Umpiring done in the league and how can I be one? The Tri-Valley Girls Softball League uses paid umpires supplied from the Gold Coast Umpires Association, with their fees being covered by the league itself. This is one area where they don't need volunteers, with the exception of in T-ball, where it's more or less pointing the girls in the right direction and putting the ball on the tee. The association is always looking for more people who are willing to be umpires. They even train you and are willing to take people who qualify as young as 15 years old. They would especially like to see more girls and women added to their ranks. Until I find the right number for you to call, call me at (805) 642-5827 and I'll get you in touch with them. Coaches are chosen to coach in the Tri-Valley Girls Softball League from the group of people who sign up to be a coach. You need to fill out an application and be reviewed by the board of directors. Background checks are performed on people who will interact with the girls. Preference is given to returning coaches, but there is always room for new coaches. Former players are especially encouraged to apply, as are parents, but neither is a requirement. Officers of the league are voted upon each year and serve one year. And they can be re-elected for succesive one year terms if voted upon to do so. The current board members as well as e-mail addresses and phone numbers are listed on their new website http://tvl.clubspaces.com/ (no www), you can then click on Board Members up at the top.
How are All-Stars Chosen in TVGSL? Is there a Fall League (Fall Ball)? There is a league in the fall in Ventura, but it is not sponsored by Tri-Valley Girls Softball. Many of the girls who play in TVGSL are the participants, but it is a league that is run as a fundraiser for the Ventura College women's softball team. They provide a chance for girls to play in the fall. But they don't sign up the same way as the league does. Full teams are formed and enter as a team rather than individuals signing up and getting assigned a team. The teams are responsible for coming up with the fees, equipment and uniforms. This can be done by sponsorships, fundraising, and player fees and varies from team to team how much they spend or require you to come up with. Teams actually come from all over to play in this fall league. Teams from Ventura, Oxnard, Santa Paula and Fillmore, Ojai, Carpinteria, Santa Barbara and Goleta, and as far away as Santa Maria. The teams play 2 games in their age division each Sunday starting the 2nd week in September and running for 8 weeks. Games are played on the Tri-Valley Girls Softball fields as well as the local high school fields. If you're interested in playing, the best way is to find a team or create a team. Going to the fields when you see kids practicing or asking around as to who is forming teams is also a good way. If you have a team you'd like to enter in the league or if you have questions, you can contact Susan Johnson, the Ventura College softball coach by calling Ventura College and having them patch you through to her number. Fortunately for you, if this is your league and you want to hit better than you do now or need more personalized instruction than your team coaches can give you you have Andy Collins, the Internet Hitting Coach, available to you. He lives in Ventura and has a batting cage at his house or you can work out right at the fields. Phone: (805) 642-5827 Coach Andy Collins has taught many of the top catchers in the area. Many of whom have gone to college on softball scholarships. His top students have been All-League in High School, have caught for teams participating in national tournaments, with one acheiving 3-time All-National honors. And all of them that work with him for any length of time make the Tri-Valley Girls Softball League all-stars (and for the surrounding leagues, as well). Phone: (805) 642-5827 High School Softball in the Area Three of the local high schools benefit the most from the Tri-Valley Girls Softball program. They are Buena High and Ventura High which are public schools, and St. Bonaventure, which is private. Each of these schools have Varsity and Junior Varsity softball teams. If you want to play softball in high school, but want to attend one of the other high schools in the area, such as Foothill, Pacific or El Camino, you need to go to the school who's district you're in and sign up to play with them. This is a perfectly legitimate way to extend the love of softball you received from Tri-Valley Girls Softball. Ventura College is the only college with in Ventura to have a softball program. They are a junior (2 year) college. Recently, they've had a number of successful years winning their league. In a 50 mile radius there are Oxnard, Moorpark and Santa Barbara city colleges (junior colleges) and University of California, Santa Barbara and California State University, Northridge that play Division I college softball and California Lutheran University that plays Division II. The other colleges in that same area don't sponsor softball teams. The closest batting cage is Who's on First at 961 N Rice Ave. in Oxnard. phone: (805) 485-4001. They specialize in baseball and slo-pitch softball, so the fastpitch players go into the baseball cages at 40 - 60 mph. Camarillo Bat-R Up at 487 Dawson Dr. Ste 3S in Camarillo Phone: (805) 987-2287 does have a fastpitch machine, in addition to baseball and slo-pitch.
The player who's gone the farthest in her softball career, after playing in the Tri-Valley Girls Softball League, is Kim Maher. After her Tri-Valley Girls Softball career, she went on to help Buena High win a CIF championship and earned a scholarship to Fresno State, where she attained All-American status. From there she made it all the way to the Olympic team, playing for the national team for 5 years and earning a Gold Medal in the Atlanta 1996 games. She was their left fielder and their clean up hitter and one of only 4 players to play in every game. Kim is the holder of the all-time Home Run record in Major Women's tournament play with 5 in one tournament, breaking the record that stood for 40 years.
This information for the Tri-Valley Girls Softball League (TVGSL) is correct to the best of my knowledge as of this writing on September 15th, 2006. If you find information that would make this page better or needs to be corrected, please feel free to Be sure to find out how to be the best hitter in the league, by clicking on this link. |
