Struggling to make decision about next steps for 10U

Hey. My '06 10U daughter is at that point where I think she's ready to make the jump to a travel/tournament team from Little League. She's has one full year (Spring and Fall) left in minor (10U) in LL but over the past 3 seasons it's become clear that she needs to make a change for more competition/development. The team she is on (which I have been an assistant coach for the past 3+ years) has won the league championship every season since we added teams. We have decided to move the team up to the Majors even though we have a year left at this level.

We are kicking around the possibility of putting this team in some 10U tournaments even though we are playing in a 12U rec league but none of us has ever done much with travel/tournaments. My concern here is that this will fizzle out and we'll just be stuck playing LL again. (I honestly don't think I can do both unless it's in this type of situation. Practicing with two different teams will be impossible as I have other kids in other sports.)

During this season I have exposed my daughter to a couple of travel teams and one asked her to join but we didn't want to abandon our LL team. That team is a younger team (07 and 08) and I'm concerned that a) the level of play is going to be below her age after she adjusts to the differences between TB and Rec and b) she'll have to age up to 12U and start the team finding process all over again in a year.

I think the best situation would be to find a team with players who are mostly 06s so she can grow with a team. The problem with this is I haven't been able to find "That team". The other option is to just play LL at this 12U level for a season and make a change later. I think going travel sooner rather than later is best but I really don't know.

Has anyone been in this situation before? Anyone have suggestions? Thanks in advance!

Where I live there are a ton of 10U teams, though not as many 06s as there were 05s. Is there a shortage of travel teams there? I'd feel the same way an want to get her on a mostly 06 team so that hopefully you won't have to start the search over.

grcsftbll said:

Where I live there are a ton of 10U teams, though not as many 06s as there were 05s. Is there a shortage of travel teams there? I'd feel the same way an want to get her on a mostly 06 team so that hopefully you won't have to start the search over.

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There aren't as many teams around this area as there are in others from what I'm being told and believe me I've been looking! And of the teams that are around here, most of them are far away for practicing. Like I said, I have other kids in other sports so I need to have something close enough to get her there and back.

What's far away? In the spring we drove about 1:15 each way to practice. There are at least 3 girls on our current team that drive an hour or more each way though this year it's only 35 minutes for me to one, and 15 for the other. If there's nothing interesting in a reasonable driving distance (whatever that means for you), might be worth trying to take the current team into some tourneys and see how it goes. Maybe the parents will get hooked. That's what happened to us

Once your DD starts playing TB you will probably never want to go back to REC ball...

1) You are not going to find the perfect TB team for your DD in her very first year playing TB. Once you get around TB and see how it works, you'll make a better decision. In other words: You will make a mistake in team selection. Everyone does.

2) If you are trying to develop your DD, then she has to play TB. At her age, you could wait another year before you "get serious". But, you have to understand that your DD is not progressing playing rec ball.

3) Except in SoCal, rec ball is not close to TB. It is very, very doubtful your rec team can be competitive at a TB tournament unless you played a very low level TB tournament. An A-level TB team would crush your rec team. So, you will probably get embarrassed playing a TB tournament.

grcsftbll said:

What's far away? In the spring we drove about 1:15 each way to practice. There are at least 3 girls on our current team that drive an hour or more each way though this year it's only 35 minutes for me to one, and 15 for the other. If there's nothing interesting in a reasonable driving distance (whatever that means for you), might be worth trying to take the current team into some tourneys and see how it goes. Maybe the parents will get hooked. That's what happened to us

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30 mins is as far as I can go for practices at this point. I know there are other options out there that are probably better but I have already been accused of paying more attention to her because of my love for the game vs. soccer, which is what my other daughters play. (BTW I have 4 daughters.)

I feel your pain. My older one plays baseball and I like it, but I don't love it the way I love softball.

Around here there are C and rec/all stars tournaments you could do with your rec team and probably not get killed. Look around at what's available there, you might be able to go that route. But if she's a pretty solid 06 playing with rec level 07s and 08s, she's still not likely to grow as much as she could on a more challenging team.

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sluggers said:

1) You are not going to find the perfect TB team for your DD in her very first year playing TB. Once you get around TB and see how it works, you'll make a better decision. In other words: You will make a mistake in team selection. Everyone does.

2) If you are trying to develop your DD, then she has to play TB. At her age, you could wait another year before you "get serious". But, you have to understand that your DD is not progressing playing rec ball.

3) Except in SoCal, rec ball is not close to TB. It is very, very doubtful your rec team can be competitive at a TB tournament unless you played a very low level TB tournament. An A-level TB team would crush your rec team. So, you will probably get embarrassed playing a TB tournament.

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I agree with each of these points. There is no question we would get crushed. Which is part of my concern, after that happens a couple/few times how likely is it that the girls want to continue?

What would be your feelings about your daughter playing as the oldest on a team like this? I think the team, because of age, is playing lower tiered tournaments but I really don't know for sure. I'll ask.

grcsftbll said:

I feel your pain. My older one plays baseball and I like it, but I don't love it the way I love softball.

Around here there are C and rec/all stars tournaments you could do with your rec team and probably not get killed. Look around at what's available there, you might be able to go that route. But if she's a pretty solid 06 playing with rec level 07s and 08s, she's still not likely to grow as much as she could on a more challenging team.

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The last sentence is my concern. It will definitely be fun for her but would she develop at the rate she should? Maybe I should err in favor of fun?