Opinions on moving up....

[GOINGDEEP]

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.

 

[YOCOACH]

It sounds like your DD thinks she is ready to move up. Thankfully, as her parents, you get to make this decision with her input but, the final decision is yours. Personally, I would much rather have DD playing in the same age group as her peers. First of all, there is a huge maturity gap, both physically and emotionally between the 12u's, and the 14u's. The 14u's are starting to get interested in boys, starting to try to assert their independence and starting to find their sexuality among other things. Needless to say they are talking about all this while warming up, between games and during practices whenever they get a few minutes of downtime together.

Also, I have seen some absolutely HUGE 14yo playing second year 14u. My DD is one of them. How would you like to play your DD as pitcher against a team where the smallest girl is 5'7" and 160 lbs of solid muscle with the entire team bigger and all of them can smash the ball? How would your DD handle getting shelled pitch after pitch?

I understand you're going to stay at the "C" level. However, as a parent and a coach, I would much prefer my DD stay in her age group and move up in skill level to a solid "B" team or even an "A" if she were good enough. As I say, playing better competition makes you a better player and you will more than likely find better competition to play against in the same age group at a higher level of play. At least around our area, I know that most 12u TB A and B teams will put a real hurtin' on most 14u C teams.

 

[skreed]

Getting some good advice here....Its starting to look more like most are saying stay within the age group. That is pretty much what I have felt in my gut since I was approached with this. My 4'9" barely 100lb. DD is already pitching to girls near 6 foot 160 solid muscle at 12! Never mind 14. I dont know what they feed these kids! Anyway I don't doubt my DD can hang in there physically because small or not she works her butt off...but its the growth and maturity she still needs. Thanks for all the comments..We as coaches are going to discuss this as a group this weekend. I need to hear what is said but i dont know if im going to give them the answer they want to hear.

 

[longball00]

My DD is an '02 12U player who was asked to fill in for a '99 14U team in a 7 game non qualifier. She jumped at the chance with no suggestion from me. She primarily played the outfield for the team, and made some great plays including robbing an HR over the fence. She also proceeded to lead the team in batting that weekend. 2 weeks later, she got a call to come fill in again from a team she had played against that first weekend. Was there a significant physical difference? Heck yes, but it didn't phase her. I'm a firm believer in playing up, and playing the best competition to get better. I would have never let her play up if I didn't think she could .

 

[canyonjoe]

One question that comes to mind is what does playing up really mean.

I would think that moving from a 12U B team to a 12U A team is a bigger jump than moving from a 12U B to to a 14U B team?

Any thoughts?

 

[longball00]

In my DD's case, it was 12U A to 14U A, so it was worth it in my opinion.

 

[jacman]

Pitching is the primary decision point IMHO. We had this very discussion with our PC yesterday. My DD is easily ready for 14u batting and fielding, and is pitching very well against good teams in 12u. PC wants her to become even more proficient so she can expect the same kind of success as she moves up. At his recommendation, we are staying down. If pitching is your DD's bread & butter, perhaps patience will have longer term benefits.

 

[skreed]

Jacman you are correct my main concern is her pitching the HC wants her to stay a pitcher and first base. While she does quite well she Def has a lot of work to do... a 14 or 15yo would have had more time to develop. She has a hard time staying mentally strong sometimes and forgets her mechanics. That will come with time and I don't want to push to hard and burn her out. I want her to be able to compete with top girls in her age group (which she is)...but competing with top girls 3 years older might be asking too much too soon. If she was just a first baseman I would be much more likely to say yes.

Seems like almost a 50/50 split here ...All good advice but I'm still torn. I'm gonna talk to her PC on Sat then coaches meeting on Sun. They are probably gonna want some sort of answer then so we can move forward by August.

 

[pizza-boy01]

I'm a firm believer in playing up, and playing the best competition to get better .

I agree, but bold above is the key part of the equation. More than likely, she will not be seeing it at 14u"C".

 

[PA SB Dad]

When my DD was younger, I would not have moved up my DD to an older C level team. A or B, but not C. There is no point to it.