When to play up

GunnerShotgun said:

16u is the most competitive level in softball across the board (more so than 18u and college). It has the most players and the most talent of any level. Just my observation. YMMV.

At 18u there are so few players that teams do take 16u and 14u (basically if you are in or will be in High School).

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Well bless your heart!

murphdog said:

16u is not big for recruiting in the North East. Most girls play 1 year of 14U and then move to 18U. Regardless of the age, if she wants to play in college she should be playing on a team that plays in showcase tournaments and where she will get plenty of playing time

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I think the new rules will deter most coaches from recruiting 14U.

I think there are two very different approaches with respect to recruiting. One is to be passive, attend showcases and hopefully coaches will initiate the first contact. The other is to be proactive, attend camps, contact a specific group of coaches and be the first to initiate contact. It is similar to mass vs targeted marketing. People should think long and hard about what will work best for their DD.

riseball said:

I think there are two very different approaches with respect to recruiting. One is to be passive, attend showcases and hopefully coaches will initiate the first contact. The other is to be proactive, attend camps, contact a specific group of coaches and be the first to initiate contact. It is similar to mass vs targeted marketing. People should think long and hard about what will work best for their DD.

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While I am a YUGE advocate of players and their parents taking the lead role in the recruiting process, I have to add that when my DD played in the 16U IDT in Colorado there were so many college coaches that you could have hit 20 of them if you swung a hockey stick around.

riseball said:

Well bless your heart!

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I don't get that post? Perhaps a bunch of curse words that were filtered out?

Around my area, most of the very good, well-know orgs will put their best 16U eligible players on their 18U rosters. It seems that 16U in these orgs are where the 1st year 16U’s who aren’t good enough to play up to 18U yet land. It seems like if they haven’t made the org’s “gold” or “premier” level team by their 2nd year 16U eligibility then they typically won’t. Some of the less competitive orgs will have girls skip right over 16U and make the jump to 18U. Tryouts around here for those orgs’ 16U teams are usually very poorly attended. To me it makes sense that if a girl is a freshman or sophomore and is starting on varsity then she should play 18U. It will only help since she’ll be facing those ages anyway.

It seems that in my neck of the woods, 18U teams have a good mix of 16s, 18’s, and a few very good 14’s on their teams. The college coaches do absolutely go to see these teams play in the showcases I’ve been to.

There are a couple of things to consider:

18U ball is usually quite a bit better than 16U ball. 18U kids are, of course, bigger, stronger, and faster. 18U teams sometimes have college freshman. A few years back a kid pitched in the SEC for a year and then played on an 18U team the next year.

(Of course, there are variations. A given 16U team can be better than a given 18U team. Generally, the winner of the ASA Gold 18U gold metro for Chicago will be better than the winner of the 16U ASA metro.)

So, your kid would be playing against better competition, which will make her a better player. You would be able to get a good read on how good your DD really is.

The downside is that most 18U players have already signed with a college, so college coaches don't go to the games to recruit.

If your plan is to target schools, then it doesn't matter if she plays 18U or 16U. You will send out a bunch of emails and videos. Interested coaches will watch her play no matter what.

If your plan is for her to play at exposure tournaments in the hopes a college coach sees her, then you would stick with 16Us.

My concern would be at the social level. My DD got a bit of an education when she jumped up to 16u. But 18U was another jump again. I have pretty open communication with my kiddo and she tells me a lot of what is said in the circle when the girls have a time outs, or during stretching etc. HS girls nowadays and not like when we were kids. Depending on her maturity it might be pretty eye opening. I know I was shocked by what is just normal locker room talk that was only shared with a best friend back in the day.

sluggers said:

If your plan is for her to play at exposure tournaments in the hopes a college coach sees her, then you would stick with 16Us.

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Again, I think it depends on the area. In the Northeast that seems to not be the case. The 18s get put on the better fields that are centrally located while the 16s get put at the satellite fields, sometimes a state away.

No matter where your DD plays, beware of verbal commitments. I’ve heard coaches will verbal 10-12 girls for a few openings. Girls that verbal also tend to stop the recruiting process. Then when it comes time to sign the coaches that got verbals from younger players will sign the best and tell the other ladies they didn’t develop enough.

Play the highest level of ball in the closest age range. Your DD is 14, have her play 16U. DD’s team is moving to PGF 16U this fall. She can play there for 3 years while she develops. I’m going to also have my DD do camps. Hopefully she makes her dream come true