Thread: 12U Rec. 1st Complaint this Season – Team Size

DD’s Team has 15 players, a few too many, as long as DD is not one of the few. If DD is one of the few, perfect Team size.

We bat all the players in the order and it is not fair if the Coach has the same batting order every game, some players will only bat once a game. Since we play 2 games a week, a Player stuck at the bottom of the order they will have 2 at bats a week. 6 Players sitting on the bench each does not seem right either. Dugout is going to be a mess.

DD is going to play on this Team this year but she will need to work thru the games, with this many players it almost seems like the games are a distraction from practice.

Need to play more attention next year before she signs up.

Originally Posted by quincy

DD’s Team has 15 players, a few too many, as long as DD is not one of the few. If DD is one of the few, perfect Team size.

We bat all the players in the order and it is not fair if the Coach has the same batting order every game, some players will only bat once a game. Since we play 2 games a week, a Player stuck at the bottom of the order they will have 2 at bats a week. 6 Players sitting on the bench each does not seem right either. Dugout is going to be a mess.

DD is going to play on this Team this year but she will need to work thru the games, with this many players it almost seems like the games are a distraction from practice.

Need to play more attention next year before she signs up.

I'm sure you discussed this before, but have you ever thought of TB? There are a ton of good teams/programs around Chicago. I'm not saying jump into an "A" level team. I was just thinking 15 kids on a rec team is going to be a disaster. Your DD will not have the same experience as 11-12 kids. I do remember a rule in our rec league that says you have to bat everyone & you must rotate the line-up. So, yes, if you face good pitching some kids will be lucky to see 1 at bat per game.

TB would give her a chance to play more and have a better experience this spring/summer...Just an idea.

Originally Posted by coachtucc

Bottom line was I did the best I could

Patience and knowing the coach is doing their best is all we can do at this point, I am sure he will we like him.

Maybe I’ll bring a cornhole set to the game to keep the players busy.

Good news is we can play a scrimmage game against ourselves.

Originally Posted by marriard

Ugh, unless there are only two teams in the league there is no reason to have 15 players on a team.

One of my nightmares as a league administrator is having the 'middle' number between having an extra team or not. Ideally you want a number of registrants to allow between 11 or 12 players per team (so if you have 6 teams you want between 66 and 72 players).

The issue is with smaller number of teams where there is a big gap the middle number - so for 3 teams you want between 33 and 36. So if you only have 30 do you create 2 teams or 3 teams? If you have 42 do you have 3 teams or 4 teams? It is a hard call because you don't want forfeits but you also don't want a bunch of players not having a good time because they are sitting on the bench. Also we find more absenteeism in our 12U than we do in 8U and we want to take that into consideration as well.

That was the exactly what happened, the club ended up with 29 players signed up. It became a numbers Issue unless they turned some Players away.

Quincy, I'll have to agree with another poster on find a TB program. It doesn't have to be National's bound, but as much as you seem to enjoy this sport you need to branch out from this league you are in. 15 is just too many IMO. Start right now looking for the summer. I bet once your DD plays just 2 TB tournaments, she will fall in love with it. There is soooooo much more fun in TB than just what happens between the chalk lines.

What sanction of ball is this. A township league, LL?

Even for rec 15 is too many. 12 for rec seems ideal for 6 inning games.
Most rec leagues bat the whole lineup and allow free defensive substitution.

When I was a commis. for a Little League program,we kept it to 12 to 13 girls.If we where able to have more teams,then we would lower that # of girls on the team.Then we would have a pool of girls form the next lower level,that would be called up to help a team when they were short on players.It really worked out well,there were always girls and thier parents,that wanted more play time.Some girls played 4 nights a week and not only loved it but really improved thier game.

I have a great deal of admiration for those of you who take on these huge rec teams, as those in your organizations have to balance giving a little softball to a few more, while taking softball from the others as far as playing time and individualized coaching are concerned.

Our 12u program here had 42 signups, and at the time of the draft, there were only 2 coaches. So, the league drafted a 3rd team and all 3 teams were pretty well-balanced. There were no real stud pitchers in the bunch, but each team had a player or 2 who could do the job.

A 3rd coach did finally step up to take the team, but 14 girls per teams is too many at 12u if you really want to cultivate these kids' interest in softball.

I'm not saying to quit the team you're a part of, but I would suggest that your DD join another team as well. Think about how hard she's been working to prepare for a FUN season. She deserves that chance, from where I'm sitting and judging.