I'll probably be a minority on my thoughts......
As far a as "training" players, I believe they should mostly play within their age group unil 1st/2nd year 14u. There is SO MUCH to be learned of the mental game vs the physical, and that takes time. Fielders learn to field/throw along the pace of same age runners, pitchers develop their arsenal at the same pace batters are developing their counter measures, catchers are honing their skills via opponents their own age/skills/intelligence.
We played a few tourneys as 10u in 12u, a few as 12u in 14u, a few as 14u in 16/18u. Moving up( occasionally ) in the early ages is to see the the next level, the "speed" of the overall game is a target or your girls. State championships, national events ( pre exposure years ), we played in our age group............we were "trying" to show we were as competitive against equal competition as possible.........going for the plastic and glory. Same as HS and college, you have an "age group" to go for the gold, even though those teams are spread along 4 years, they are after the most developmental younger years.
Hope this made sense, gotta go cut the yard, rain coming the next 4 days straight.
As far a as "training" players, I believe they should mostly play within their age group unil 1st/2nd year 14u. There is SO MUCH to be learned of the mental game vs the physical, and that takes time. Fielders learn to field/throw along the pace of same age runners, pitchers develop their arsenal at the same pace batters are developing their counter measures, catchers are honing their skills via opponents their own age/skills/intelligence.
We played a few tourneys as 10u in 12u, a few as 12u in 14u, a few as 14u in 16/18u. Moving up( occasionally ) in the early ages is to see the the next level, the "speed" of the overall game is a target or your girls. State championships, national events ( pre exposure years ), we played in our age group............we were "trying" to show we were as competitive against equal competition as possible.........going for the plastic and glory. Same as HS and college, you have an "age group" to go for the gold, even though those teams are spread along 4 years, they are after the most developmental younger years.
Hope this made sense, gotta go cut the yard, rain coming the next 4 days straight.