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I can see both sides of the issue. My daughter played for some pretty crazy club ball coaches, but none of them come even close to the workouts she does in college. At most, club ball practiced 3 times a week, college is usually 6 days a week plus weight lifting, conditioning etc. And when they arent practicing, they are out fund raising.
Are they paid? Not in cash, but they are exchanging playing softball for an education any other student would have to pay some amount of money for. Some colleges are $30k+ per year.
ASA does not allow players to drop skill levels once they have played in qualifiers. An 18 gold player can not drop to 18's, and a 16 player that has played up in 18's can not drop back to 16's. I would tend to argue that a lot of college programs are a level above gold. Are they all? Not even close, but where do you draw the line?
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