Travel BallFAQ
Answers about our softball travel ball program—from team rosters and coaching to practices, tournaments and season fees.
Your Travel Ball Questions, Answered
Learn about Riptide Softball teams, coaching, player development and what families can expect. Team-specific schedules and fees are confirmed directly with Riptide when the commitments are finalized.
Tournament schedules are selected for each softball team’s age, competitive level and development goals. Younger 10u/12u teams play in PG, USSSA, or TG tournaments. As kids age up, we will play local tournaments but we also start playing in USA, Tierone, PGF, etc. If we schedule a "showcase" scehedule, we will start playing in tournaments that they guarantee college coaches in attendance.
Teams that play in tournament where college coaches are in attendance
Travel varies by team, age group and tournament schedule. Review your team’s local, regional and destination events with Riptide before committing so you understand the travel expectations for the season. We try to play as local as possible with 1-2 destination tournaements.
Teams typically carry 10–12 players, depending on pitching needs and the competitive level of the team. Roster size may vary to support positional development and team needs. Sometimes older team carry more than 12 if needed
Contact Riptide to discuss recruiting guidance for high school softball players, including the support and team opportunities available for your athlete. Our softball coaching staff includes former collegiate players.
No, playing time is not always equal. Our goal is to have a team where everyone plays a role and not the same people sit, but coaches have the discretion to make changes game to game and tournament to tournament as needed.
Committed athletes who want to coached, and families who want their daughters to be coached fairly but with accountability.
Teams generally practice 1–3 times per week, depending on the time of year and tournament schedule. Practice locations vary between Durham, Cary, Raleigh and Chapel Hill. We do have a downtown Durham Indoor Facility For 2027, 12U is mostly a spring season with tournaments going March-May or June. Practices start late Jan. 14U have a light spring schedule getting heavier in practices/tournaments in the summer months, finish in June or July. 16U/HS will have some occassional off-season or spring workouts on the weekend. The majority of the season is in May-July after the HS season has finished.
We usually set a buget based on: the type of tournaments (some are more expensive than others), how many tournaments we play, and how many players are on the team. We set the budget based on the tournament and practice schedule and divide it up based on the number of players on the team.
Our team fees are higher than some, but not as high as others. The difference between our program and others are the PAID/Non-Parent Coaches. 12u was around $1000-1200, 14u was $1200-1400 and 16+ can be around $1300-1700, depending on how many showcase tournaments they do.
Our goal is to have at least two coaches at practices. Game-day staffing varies by team, age group and tournament. Sometimes we may only have one coach at games for older teams, but we always try to get at least 2 coaches at the games.
Yes, players get credits or lessons as part of the fees to get individual work or clinic work in with our coaches. Players also get 20% discounts for any programs, clinics, or workouts for being part of our teams.
