Pros & Cons of players playing up

[IRONMAN]

Not in Southern California, lol.

Completely understand. Sounds like you guys will be fine.

In my DD's situation, stayed in our age group and chased a Nationals berth through 1st year 14U (and got there every year). This past fall, we jumped to 16U before freshman year and it really paid off for her. But it's really been a combination of playing top-notch competition, in your actual age group or playing up. Good luck

 

[Shelbylynn]

You might also want to consider the leadership aspect of this. Regardless of how skilled a younger player is, she will have a difficult time being a formal or informal leader on the team with older players. She may miss out on a chance to mentor a younger player, to be the motivator, the stand-in coach, the team captain etc. These are often overlooked experiences that can help a young person grow into a leader outside of softball in their high school, college, or in their eventual career.

^ This. Also, if she's not one of the better players, she may not get a lot of playing time. DD is 13 playing on a 16U. The experience has been invaluable as we love the coach, the girls are all very mature, driven and dedicated, with no drama whatsoever on the team. Parents are incredible too. But DD is not one of the stronger players, so never sees IF play, and when she does play it's in the OF. Overall, it's been wonderful. It's also on DD that she didn't get a lot of time - we both know that.

 

[JAD]

I would suggest moving to a stronger team within your DDs age group before moving up an age group. Playing on a 12U A-level team is better than playing on a 14U B-level team.

 

[marriard]

I would suggest moving to a stronger team within your DDs age group before moving up an age group. Playing on a 12U A-level team is better than playing on a 14U B-level team.

Totally agree - we are a 14U-A team and there is a local 12U-A team that gives all the 14U teams absolute fits (they are probably a top 5 team nationally).

If you don't have that option please consider not just mental maturity in your decision but also physical maturity. You should be able to confidently say that your DD has both of these before moving up age groups. I have seen some highly skilled players try to play up and just get totally dominated physically.

My DD played up in 10U and in her 2nd year of 12U played a lot as a guest in 14U - but keeping her with teams with players that were her peers age wise was the best decision I made in terms of keeping her playing. I see a lot of players who played up and ended up quitting - I think primarily because it got way too serious, way too quickly.