Concerned about forced playup 12u v 14u

[Hustle LI]

The summer travel rec league we joined only had a handful of 14u teams and 2 12u teams register for league play. Our team is a 12u team. So they merged them and us and the other 12u will be playing the 14u league My girl is one of the few 1st year 12u girls on the team. She is likely 13th best hitter on a 14 girl roster and 14th best fielder. Our team does have 3 12u tournaments to play in from now until August.

I am seriously concerned my girl will be totally overwhelmed playing up. The team never placed higher than 4th in tournaments even though we have won more than we lost this spring and won another leagues 12u rec travel level championship.

I just don't know what to do fight now. I am just venting. I don't want her benched all spring and don't want her in a situation she won't succeed in either as both can kill her confidence. The thought of only doing practicecand tournaments against other 12us popped up, but I don't want her to be put off either. She just had a key at bat that sparked a rally to win the championship in the other league and really want her confidence to keep growing. I am just confused. I know the team did not intend for this l, but I fear this fan harm her and don't see how they can win more than 2 or 3 games in league play max this way. Clearly higher Llevel 12u teams beat them. Not sure the quality of the 14u teams, but certain they will be over their head.

How should I tell my girl to approach this?

 

[Chilixa]

It is different for every kid. I can tell you playing up on accident was helpful for my daughter.

She was supposed to be a 10u player but we moved her up early intentionally to 12u. This was right after Covid and we signed up for a new league we weren’t as familiar with because they were playing softball. They were only able to put two teams together as well and we played mostly teams from other areas in inter league games. But it turned out the Inter league teams were all 14u. My daughter was the starting pitcher and she had just started 5th grade. Her first pitch was against a freshmen in high school that was already penciled into her varsity team. She crushed the first fast ball down the middle off the top of the fence. Needless to say we got killed most of that season.

I was curious how my daughter would respond but it just made her want to work harder and she saw what level she needed to get to. She quickly realized the importance of locating pitches and the reason we practice off speed pitches. I wouldn’t call that season very much fun but I do think it helped a great deal in her development.

So you can probably expect the season to be full of a lot of struggles. But it may not necessarily be a bad thing it just depends on how your daughter approaches it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[radness]

How should I tell my girl to approach this?

Sports are about ability (skill level) not age.

 

[Hustle LI]

Sports are about ability (skill level) not age.

lol. i am sure this is not going to be very encouraging for her.

 

[nikkilugi]

I would just list the benefits to her - playing higher level competition does help you become a stronger player in the long run. If your daughter is worried about how she will hang then I would encourage her to practice more during off time. As far as fielding work, buy her a pitchback net and tell her to go out and just throw balls and practice fielding them into her glove. She can control how hard she throws them and she can progress on her own level. Then take her out a few nights and hit balls to her. For hitting she needs to get a tee and a net she can hit in to. Again she can do this work on her own after she gets some guidance on some drills to focus on. Then you can go out with her and help be more specific with her and maybe throw her some front toss. It doesn't have to be hours - these types of things can be done in 30 minutes, so a little at a time. Practice and reps is going to be what helps her at this point.

 

[_MIA_]

The main problem is she is (according to you) 13th out of 14 in hitting and 14 out 14 in fielding. First 14 players is a bit much for 12u and second while somebody has to be at the bottom, preferably it isn’t your kid…

 

[radness]

lol. i am sure this is not going to be very encouraging for her.

it is true that Softball is not an age bracket it is ability levels. It is common for three different age to play on the same team. Even younger players play on much older teams
The suggestion comment Actually has helped others when they are in a mixture of ages in the similar predicament as yours. Another example Like in high school when freshman start over seniors.

Your concern is probably prompted by not knowing this age mix thing happens. The rec ball league obviously thought it's okay to mix the age of the players tells me they also think it's okay.
Possibly because everybody has comparable Talent levels.

If you don't make such a big deal of it, it probably won't stand out. but now it's probably a big deal already

In actuality there are a lot of size and talent disparities just in 12u anyway
At least the rec league figure it out a way to get the girls playing a season.

You can try to be positive about the experience and let her know that she will get the opportunity could be around players that possibly she can learn from.

Otherwise you can go play travel ball on a starter first year 12 team.

 

[Bullseye]

The summer travel rec league we joined only had a handful of 14u teams and 2 12u teams register for league play. Our team is a 12u team. So they merged them and us and the other 12u will be playing the 14u league My girl is one of the few 1st year 12u girls on the team. She is likely 13th best hitter on a 14 girl roster and 14th best fielder. Our team does have 3 12u tournaments to play in from now until August.

I am seriously concerned my girl will be totally overwhelmed playing up. The team never placed higher than 4th in tournaments even though we have won more than we lost this spring and won another leagues 12u rec travel level championship.

I just don't know what to do fight now. I am just venting. I don't want her benched all spring and don't want her in a situation she won't succeed in either as both can kill her confidence. The thought of only doing practicecand tournaments against other 12us popped up, but I don't want her to be put off either. She just had a key at bat that sparked a rally to win the championship in the other league and really want her confidence to keep growing. I am just confused. I know the team did not intend for this l, but I fear this fan harm her and don't see how they can win more than 2 or 3 games in league play max this way. Clearly higher Llevel 12u teams beat them. Not sure the quality of the 14u teams, but certain they will be over their head.

How should I tell my girl to approach this?

Parenting learning curve let your daughter experience it and support her.

 

[Hustle LI]

it is true that Softball is not an age bracket it is ability levels. It is common for three different age to play on the same team. Even younger players play on much older teams
The suggestion comment Actually has helped others when they are in a mixture of ages in the similar predicament as yours. Another example Like in high school when freshman start over seniors.

Your concern is probably prompted by not knowing this age mix thing happens. The rec ball league obviously thought it's okay to mix the age of the players tells me they also think it's okay.
Possibly because everybody has comparable Talent levels.

If you don't make such a big deal of it, it probably won't stand out. but now it's probably a big deal already

In actuality there are a lot of size and talent disparities just in 12u anyway
At least the rec league figure it out a way to get the girls playing a season.

You can try to be positive about the experience and let her know that she will get the opportunity could be around players that possibly she can learn from.

Otherwise you can go play travel ball on a starter first year 12 team.

i just want to confirm this rec league is not intramurals. this is a league of rec level low b/c travel teams. my daughter is on a travel team, this is not a intramural league.

 

[Hustle LI]

the funny thing, is she is the youngest on her team and only 1 of 4 kids still eligible for 12 u in 22-23 season. next year she will be one of the few remaining 12us on a team that will be made up of mostly 1st year 12us from the 10u team that will be graduating to them. likely going from a team that won a 12u rec travel title this year to getting beat up by 14 year olds to a team likely struggling against 12us in the fall due to overwhelming youth. iit is going to be one crazy ride.