Choosing a 14U team

[grcsftbll]

Our team may or may not continue in the fall (definitely a coaching change coming at the very least). Whether it does depends on several things, and whether we'll stay if it does continue depends on several more things. So, in the meantime, we're looking around at the options and trying to figure out the best course for the kid. In 10U I got excellent input and made, overall, a good decision to put my pitcher on a team where she'd be seeing good competition, but getting lots of circle time.

Now, I have a short stop/utility player (not pitching anymore) going into 14U. She's a late 06, grad year 2025. Her main priority is to try to stay with several of the girls from our current team, a couple of whom she's played with for 2+ years. She doesn't want to play low-level, but isn't set on playing super high level either. She doesn't care about college ball, at least right now, but the girls she wants to stick with do care about it, also at least right now.

So for those of you who have had to choose a 14U team at some point, any words of wisdom for a kid like mine? We've told her she gets to make the final decision, but she will at least take our advice into account when choosing. I'm about 75% sure of that, anyway. Is "I just want to play with my friends" still ok in 14U? She's not even 13 yet. It seems like a reasonable way for a 12 year old to pick a team.

 

[Strike2]

It seems that you already know what you're looking for. Find a decent team that plays mostly local. Travel should be infrequent, for good reason (i.e. world series / nationals), and within a day's driving distance. Unless the player has some serious talent, prioritizing playing with friends is fine, and that should be doable with a local tournament playing 14U team. If you have a decent selection of tournaments close to home, don't get talked into frequent long trips...between the cost and rainouts, it starts to suck really quick.

 

[OK04dad]

Kind of hard to say without knowing what your options are, like number and quality of teams in your area. We were faced with a change when our DD was similar in age. We came up with a checklist of 5 to 7 things that were the most important to us and then rated the team options as they became available. Can't completely recall how/why we made our choice, but knowing which teams filled in most of the boxes was a help. Best of luck!

 

[sluggers]

She doesn't care about college ball, at least right now, but the girls she wants to stick with do care about it, also at least right now.

So for those of you who have had to choose a 14U team at some point, any words of wisdom for a kid like mine? . I'm about 75% sure of that, anyway. Is "I just want to play with my friends" still ok in 14U? She's not even 13 yet. It seems like a reasonable way for a 12 year old to pick a team.

It is fine at any age to play softball for with her friends. It will get more difficult when hits 14YOA. (If this is your first teenager, good luck with that.)

If her friends are serious about playing in college, they are going to play on a team that is competitive. In order for her friends to play on that team, they are going to have to get personal coaching and spend a lot more time practicing.

Your DD won't be competitive very long if she doesn't also do the personal coaching and practicing. (I'm not criticizing her....millions of perfectly well-adjusted, successful women never played an inning of softball.)

My guess is that your DD will drop out of softball when she hits HS. It is OK. The world will continue to turn.

 

[grcsftbll]

She may lose interest, who knows. She isn't my first teen; my oldest is 15 and she quit baseball at 13, hasn't played a sport since. My younger one is a lot more invested though; for my older one it was just something to do. My younger one has loved softball since she first started when she was 5. I think she's less likely to quit, but you never know. We've always made it clear this is her gig, no pressure to keep playing.

She's got enough natural talent that she hasn't had to work all that hard outside of team practices to stay in the top of the mid-level teams she's been on. I have wondered if it might spark her interest to be in a more competitive environment where she isn't able to coast by. She loves the game, for sure. She gets annoyed anytime she has to play with girls who don't take it seriously, who goof off at practice or don't go all out. If her buds go the higher level team route (and that's certainly possible though I think it may be another year before they do) I'm happy to let her give it a go as well, even with the extra cost and travel. She'd just have to decide if she was up for the extra work, or extra bench time.

We have a potentially really good situation with our current team. Ideally that works out. I'm a planner, so I'm thinking about back up plans, and also generally wondering if there are things I haven't considered. I appreciate the input

 

[marriard]

You are in the Atlanta area right?

First - if you can, you want this resolved before the end of the season. Once you get into the tryout mill.. ugh. And really you have no need to do that if you have a core of girls to offer.

This is somewhat of a different idea.

There is bound to be several teams you probably play against in local tournaments in a similar position. If you can find one you like with a good coach and do a merge into one team thing with the players who want to REALLY play, you could solve everything in one shot. Most of the time this doesn't work because of coaches egos, but if your HC is moving on, this sounds like it is out of the equation.

Go through your last few local tourneys and consider which teams may be a good match and approach them to see if there is interest.

 

[grcsftbll]

I think the organization is working on something along those lines, which would be great. We like the org a lot and it'd be nice to already have the spirit wear (I'm kidding but only kind of).