16U or 18U??

[playball13]

One thing I have noticed is that the move from 14 to 16 is by far the easiest jump between age groups. The girls have pretty much stopped growing and the very best 16s are playing 18. I believe a good 2nd 14U team should play a majority of their games at 16U. Having said that I believe the jump from 16U to 18U is the largest jump after 10 to 12. The 18U girls are primarily girls who are dedicated to softball. You will now see the best 16U and the better 18U girls. The majority of serious 18Us are now strength and conditioning training and are just more accomplished hitters. One thing we did as a 2nd year 14U was play up locally and play at your age when traveling. You tend to get more games in when on the road.
BTW: The best way to get coaches to see your games is to have your players contact them and express an interest in their program.

 

[Cannonball]

DD could have played 16U this year on a very good regional team. We decided to have her play 18U on a very good local team that offered so much in the way of facilities, coaching, training ... Still, she played in front of hundreds of college coaches. She has a few offers or interest from all levels of play. IMO, the trick is whether you play the appropriate exposure tournaments that really put coaches in the stands. Also, if you mention the name of your team, will a college coach recognize the program? If not, what does your coach do to get recognition? It isn't as simple as 16 or 18U.

 

[LadyCharger]

I am 16 years old and i play 18u for a team that does not win a lot.
I have to say from experience that winning is not what gets you looked at by college coaches. i played in a showcase this year and we did not win a single game but our catcher got an offer by Morgan State University (division 1) to be there starting catcher. Also that same weekend i got an offer to play for to play 2 years fully paid at a junior college, i know that's not much but it helped with my confidence.
So i would recommend playing 18u, it can only help.
And if your worried about your girls getting looked at by colleges they need to contact the colleges they want to go to by emailing them and letting them know that there interested. The girls should send out an email with the tournament schedule attached to it.

 

[SBFAMILY]

Talk to college coaches its 16U. But as many have posted you have to play in the right tourneys. Our 16U team never lacked having college coaches watching us. Even though our team was a 15U team, many girls got letters from D3 coaches this year. On reason we played up on a 16U team instead of 14U last year.