To play rec ball or not?

My 12 yr old DD wants to play 12U rec ball this year and I'm not sure that she should. She has played this leauge every year since she was old enough. She has lots of friends that she has made through the years and wants to play with them. Most of the girls in our rec leauge are not travel ball level girls. She is currently on a very good 14U travel team and I'm afraid that she will be so dominate that it want be any fun for everyone else. Bcause of lots of practice and hard work she as realy grown in skill level since last rec season. I don't want her to be "that kid" that everyone talks about playing a leauge she's over quailified for just to dominate. I also don't want her picking up any bad habits. Am I over thinking here, should I quit worrying and just let her go have fun with her friends?

Our family is in the exact same position. DD is in her last year of LL softball, where she has played since she was 8. While she is on a 12U travel team, she does enjoy playing with and against her friends.

It will be a bit hectic for a few weeks from mid-June thru mid-July, but this is her last year playing LL softball and something she wanted to do. Travel will be there for the next 6 summers.

Just one family's opinion.

If the only reason you are concerned about her playing rec. ball is that she may be too dominant, unless she is a pitcher throwing well over 50mph I wouldn't be concerned. ...and the only reason I would be concerned about a flamethrower throwing to rec. ball hitters is the chance that someone could get hurt.

The kid wants to play with her friends and have fun - isn't that what softball is supposed to be? Fun?

Softball is a game and should be fun for the kids!
my 12U DD begged to play rec w/ her friends. I did move her up to 16U rec as she
would have dominated the 12U and IMO dominant pitching is bad for the rec program.
It is not fun for the rec girls to face a pitcher that they know will mow down their lineup.

Our rec leauge here has 8u, 10u, 12u then highschool. The highschool plays after everyone else in the summer. She wants to play in the highschool leauge come summer also. But she wants to play 12u also with her friends. She is big for her age 5'11'', about 180 lbs and throws in the mid to low 50's. If she plays 12u and sure she will I may have to just ask her coach not to pitch her all the time.

When would she find the time? Are you sure she will have it ? I can tell you all our girls have time to do in the spring/summer is practice, travel, and play. There is no break from Mid-May until after nationals in August. Practice hours and frequency really picks up when schools out, several hours almost every day not travelling or playing. There is not a single weekend off, there will be a tournament played somewhere.

I would worry about bad habits too.

I would advise against it.

First, as much I love softball, there is more to life than softball. She (and you) will need some downtime. You are already going to be spending every weekend all summer at some dog run watching softball, and at least one night a week playing travel softball. When are you planning on mowing your lawn?

Second, it isn't fair to the other kids on her team. She would be taking playing time away from kids who might not otherwise get a chance to play. Little Suzy, the 12th batter on the rec league team, might really want/need to play rec league.

Short story- I was in a golf scramble a few yrs ago, & the best golfer in the area didnt show (nearly pro quality golfer) There were 3 sad faces & 44 happy faces that day.

My daughter was in this situation last year - 1st year of travel ball (12U) but didn't want to miss out playing LL ball with her longtime friends. We had discussed options prior to trying out and talked to her travel coach upfront to get his thoughts. Basically his opinion was if she was missing a practice here & there to play in a game it was OK since it was building her experience. Our local LL is comptetive enough that I wasn't concerned about her outclassing any girls, so I signed her up. While she made all the LL games she only made a couple of practices so the fun-factor was diminished a bit. This past August we reviewed last year & talked to her new coach (14U) who flatly said it wouldn't work out due to the increased level of practice & responsibility, so LL ended. I think my daughter agreed since she didn't complain - she now knows how different (and more fun) the game is at the travel level.