Skipping 12U

Fort83 said:

DD is an above average outfielder in 10u and has been catching 14U pitchers during lessons for around a year. The thing I am worried about the most is her fitting in because of the age difference. I think she can play OF just fine but will struggle behind the plate a bit. Batting is one thing that worries me as well but if she works hard enough she should get down.

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Outfielders in 10U pick up the rollers that get past the IF, and see an occasional pop fly into the grass. At 14U, girls are spraying the ball to all fields and threatening the fence on a regular basis. The outfield goes from a place where you hide your worst players to the place where your best athletes find a home. Infielders may find that the ball gets to them quicker and the runners are faster, but for outfielders 14U is a completely different game than 10U.

What position does your daughter play? If she's a pitcher, I wouldn't do it. If she's an outfielder, I might think about it but not do it. Looking back at where my DD was at that age, I never would have considered it and she skipped second year 12u and went to 14u.

Fort83 said:

DD is an above average outfielder in 10u and has been catching 14U pitchers during lessons for around a year. The thing I am worried about the most is her fitting in because of the age difference. I think she can play OF just fine but will struggle behind the plate a bit. Batting is one thing that worries me as well but if she works hard enough she should get down.

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An above average 10U OF is probably a liability in 14U. As others have said, in 10U, OF is where lesser player get "hidden". In 14U, a mediocre OF costs your team games.

Unless your 11yo is exceptionally large and strong for her age, I would never consider putting her behind the plate in 14U. My 13yo kid is a strong 5'-6", 155 lb. She got her knee blown up by a girl about equal size on a play at the plate, and it took her out of the game for 6 weeks. For a younger, smaller, weaker player, it could easily have meant surgery. Also, there are some damn big 13-14yos out there. A teammate of my DD is 5'-11" and 180 lbs. Being small, but of the same age is one thing. Being small AND young is a different thing entirely.

Also mentioned by others...Dugout discussion topics change dramatically from 12U to 14U, let alone from 10U. Dramatically!

I agree with everything EricF said above. My DD was until recently the primary catcher on her team. She's good. She's fast, she has a cannon for an arm and the pitchers love her. BUT...she is on the small skinny side (5'3" and about 95 lbs). Once we moved to 14s it was obvious that her skill would be best used in the outfield. She is speedy, can track a ball and can use that cannon to fire home...but she isn't risking injury by being behind the plate. This summer she travelled to KC for the WFC where some of the best teams in the country compete. She travelled with her older sister team as their 10th player. They were by far the best 14U team in our state. It was very eye opening to see what is out there. Although DD's team placed in the top 25 teams the teams they faced were amazing. And the girls were BIG, and strong. DD was well used in the OF - robbing several girls of HRs. At this age OF is incredibly important. If the infield misses a ball it is a base, if the outfield misses it is easily a run. An average 10U outfielder is just not ready for 14U.

My DD played 1 yr of 12s and I wish to this day that she had played 2 years. She went from being one of the best hitters on her team at 10U and 12U to not being very effective at 14U. Her confidence struggled and it wasn't until about 1/2 thru last year (her 2nd yr of 14s) that we saw her confidence return and her hitting take off again (thanks to new coaching as well). Some of those 14U pitchers can throw some heat. Very different from 10U pitchers! Plus with the ball being bigger a good 10U hit can just become an infield dribbler at 14U. DD chose to stay at 14s again this year - even though she has already played 2 years at 14s. She is very capable of playing with older players (she made Varsity at her HS as a freshman on a team that carries 13 on Varsity and they had 6 returning seniors and 12 returning juniors) but after what she saw last year at the WFC she felt like staying with her current team (8 hs freshmen and 2 8th graders) and hoping to return to play in that tourney again at 14U.

All that to say...IMO you would be best off finding a 12U option!

I was never a real big on this idea from the start but the ex-wife thought it was a great idea. After much debate and lots of really fun discussions with the ex and DD they both finally see it as NOT a good move. I am glad it is over and DD has found a 12U team for the next year!

I would like to thank everybody for their input on this, it did help convince the ex that it was a bad idea

She won't have a great time in the dugout. 14 year olds leave 11 year olds out of a lot of conversations re boys and other things. If she is a great player they will accept her play but not her age.