16U vs 18U

[RubberBiscuit]

In the eyes of college coaches what is better?
Case being your DD is a sophmore or junior in hs.

I have seen allot of parity between the skills of 16U and 18U. I have seen allot of 18U teams where the solid majority of the team players are already committed. I have also seen 18U be the container for the "un-scholarshippable" players.

If I were a college coach I might be better off finding a recruitable candidate in 16U.

Am I off base in this way of thinking?

Thoughts?

 

[sluggers]

Coaches don't wander around softball fields watching games trying to find players.

Usually, the parent or team coach contacts a college coach, and gets the coach interested in the DD. The college coach then might show up to watch the DD at a tournament. It doesn't matter if the team is 18U or 16U.

If a coach is browsing for a player (and this doesn't happen very often), he/she will go to a 16U/18U tournament and wander around watching a game here and there. If a coach has an immediate need for a player, she watch 18U teams. If a coach is "planning for the future', she might watch a 16U team.

 

[JAD]

I am a newbie to college recruiting, but it is my understanding that most D1 schools have filled their quotas of seniors and in most case juniors as well. Therefore, they are concentrating on sophomores and juniors, and 16U is probably the best place to find them. Also, a lot of really good players will play 18U Gold, so regular 18U is probably watered down a little.

 

[jacketsfan]

I will be honest, I think my thoughts on this have evolved. Back in the day, I always heard "play at the highest and best level you can.". We took our 14u team straight to 18u, skipping 16u altogether.

Last summer, though, I went to a nearby showcase tourney to visit with an old college coaching buddy who was in town for the tourney. I went to the 18u fields to look for him, but didn't see him. So, I went to the 16u fields, and there at least twice, maybe 3 times the number of coaches there.

With all of that said, we always got looms for our kids because we had an aggressive contact program, and I helped them write emails, develop lists, etc. Still, that was eye-opening.

The counter is that DD played last summer, after her freshman year of college. She officially withdrew from her previous school at the end of the season, and had a release. Really, her plan was to quit collge softball, and transfer to Luther the degree use really wanted.

Evidently, there's a lot of folks looking for transfers, because she ended up with several offers last summer.

So, I guess as a HS soph, I might go 16u if I had it to do again. Once older, though, if you're looking for a late pick-up, 18u might be better.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

Coaches don't wander around softball fields watching games trying to find players.

Usually, the parent or team coach contacts a college coach, and gets the coach interested in the DD. The college coach then might show up to watch the DD at a tournament. It doesn't matter if the team is 18U or 16U.

If a coach is browsing for a player (and this doesn't happen very often), he/she will go to a 16U/18U tournament and wander around watching a game here and there. If a coach has an immediate need for a player, she watch 18U teams. If a coach is "planning for the future', she might watch a 16U team.

So based on this along with my thoughts I think I might be making the right decision leaving my junior DD on the 16U team (they are better than the 18U anyways in our club). I too think that coaches will go to events either looking specifically at somebody they are already keen on or in the case of 18U they might have had a recent drop-out in their "commits" and they are looking to refill the spot. In the latter case they would be looking specifically for that senior and my junior DD would get a pass.....

This leads to another question. If a school loses a senior "commit", and they lose her for whatever reason, does the school definitely refill that spot? Another way to ask this is - Do schools have a fixed number of candidates per year and they will stick to that hell or high water?

 

[Cannonball]

1st, I think this is a great topic because every parent is going to have to ask themselves this question.

My dd started playing for a 16U that played both 16U and 18U when she was 14. The reasoning was that if she started varsity as a freshman, she would have to play against these girls anyway. So, we found that there really isn't a steadfast rule. We went to exposure tournaments where you would find D-I coaches following some of their recruits but still looking for one more piece of the puzzle. Often they would go get a team brochure to look at the graduation years of the players. Both organizations my dd played for at 14 and after made sure to always have individual and team brochures available for college coaches and by our bench area so that the coach could see who picked up a brochure.

You will constantly hear that D-I is done recruiting by the time your child's grad year is a senior. For the most part, I would agree with that. However, one young lady from our school was recruited in the spring of her senior year by a mid major D-I and signed. She had thought that she was going to have to go JUCO. My dd received offers from D-I schools up to the NLI signing date. On that date, she had a phone call and email from a Big -12 school asking her if she had signed, told her not to sign until she looked at their offer and then asked her to fax the NLI if she agreed to sign with that school. So, again, I figure we are not special and thus no steadfast rules.

I'd like to wrap this up by saying for you not to leave it up to a college coach to happen upon your child. Most respectiable tournaments have a list of coaches who will be in attendance. Have you dd make a contact, tell the coach her interest and then make sure to email to them a copy of the schedule. (Schedule at least of pool play.) Make sure your travel coach knows this as well so that the travel coach can be looking for coaches.

 

[starsnuffer]

Does anyone feel that only 17 and 18 year olds play 18 gold and all the 15-16 year olds play 16u?

-W

 

[RubberBiscuit]

FYI on DD's experience here:
First year 14U played 16U.
Second year 14U played 18U (wish I could take this back for many reasons...)
First year 16U, as a sophomore, played 16U again. (bad year for DD and quit for 2 months before SHE determined her error with this)
Now second year 16U is playing 16U again for the third season,...but I am wondering if this was the right decision....
DD will be a definite stand-out in this bracket & this especially this upper midwest state but will she get the best "looks" by colleges here.....?

We have recently had VERY GOOD results from some exposure camps and I feel DD will get some sort of mid-D1 offer now BUT only ~3 schools have had good exposure "follow-ups" to her since her re-dedication this last fall.

I am thinking though that the best action for DD is going to be her contacting coaches prior to the couple good exposure tourneys we have scheduled and maybe keeping an eye open for any and all school-sponsored camps that I assume restart again in summer too...? (not sure what exposure events are available during summer that wouldn't conflict with TB...)

 

[RubberBiscuit]

Does anyone feel that only 17 and 18 year olds play 18 gold and all the 15-16 year olds play 16u?

-W

I hesitate answering this as in my state I don't think "gold" means much. Some regular 18U teams can beat the doors off some 18U gold ones here....

As for the age thing in general - I am undecided on this based on my confusion here with the topic I started. If a super-star 14U player jumps to 18U but doesnt get the best college "looks" there then why..??

 

[sluggers]

RB, I think you are having trouble getting your head around the recruiting process. It is the parents responsibility to get the DD seen by a bunch of coaches. Then, it is the parents responsibility to make contact with the coaches and follow up. If coaches don't see your DD or don't know your DD, then it is *THE PARENTS'* fault.

If a super-star 14U player jumps to 18U but doesnt get the best college "looks" there then why..??

Because the parent did not make contact with the right college coaches. The parent may not have contacted anyone. Or, she may have decided that the DD was so talented that only U of AZ or U of AL or UCLA was the only place for her.

It is important for the parent to honestly appraise the talent level of DD and then to understand what DD wants to do, and then help the DD find a place to play.