What is the purpose of classifications? I watched a "B" team beat a "GOLD" team this past weekend 13-4. This is 16U. The "B" team didn't have there #1 Catcher who is also a .400 hitter. The GOLD team is a decent team but in my opinion this B team is classified correct as they lost to another "GOLD" team 8-1 and to another "B" team. This "B" team also has 6 girls that can still play 14U so they are very young. So without boring you with details I ask how are teams allowed to just classify themselves as 16U Gold without any pushback? I know the process for registering but why don't we just have age groups if you can call yourself whatever you want?
GOLD/A/B/C Why do we have it?
- Thread starter Jquick823
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Teams do call themselves whatever they want.
Rec. all-star teams can beat some of the Gold Teams in my area.
Parent and player beware.
Rec. all-star teams can beat some of the Gold Teams in my area.
Parent and player beware.
- Jun 12, 2015
- 3,848
- 83
I think it's a good thing, in general, so teams can play similarly talented/skilled teams. But in practice it doesn't seem to work often. We picked up for 2 tournaments with a supposed A team earlier this year who didn't win a single game IIRC, and that was facing a lot of B teams. That's just going to discourage girls, not because winning is everything but getting beaten over and over without ever getting a win plain sucks. Then you have the teams that are clearly A players, saying they're B and trophy hunting in B/C tournaments. To me that's even worse. I wish there were some better way to come up with the classifications, rather than just having the coaches label their own teams.
And some are like our new team. It's a brand new 10U team of 06 girls, in an A level organization. They try to get top talent to stay true to the organization's goals but you never really know with a brand new team. You pretty much have to guess. At the same time, I can look at our team practicing and see that we probably will be able to compete at the A level. I think we'll lose a LOT to the A level 05 teams this year, but our base of talent (and personalities of the girls) is such that facing those teams will help them improve rather than beat them down. But I've seen a couple of other startup teams in A organizations that I really don't think will be able to compete. I hope they can get there; I like to see girls meet their goals (and hope that it is THE GIRLS' goals and not the parents').
And some are like our new team. It's a brand new 10U team of 06 girls, in an A level organization. They try to get top talent to stay true to the organization's goals but you never really know with a brand new team. You pretty much have to guess. At the same time, I can look at our team practicing and see that we probably will be able to compete at the A level. I think we'll lose a LOT to the A level 05 teams this year, but our base of talent (and personalities of the girls) is such that facing those teams will help them improve rather than beat them down. But I've seen a couple of other startup teams in A organizations that I really don't think will be able to compete. I hope they can get there; I like to see girls meet their goals (and hope that it is THE GIRLS' goals and not the parents').
Softball is self-ranking, so coaches can call themselves whatever they like. I know an 18U Gold team who did not win a game in a qualifier all season....and they were run ruled in most of their games, but if you ask the parents they say "my DD is on an 18U Gold team!"
Call yourself "Gold" and you can charge $$$$$$$
Just IMO, Teams shouldn't be able to classify as Gold until they earn a Gold Berth. Heck I've seen ______ 12U Gold Team... Really????
Just IMO, Teams shouldn't be able to classify as Gold until they earn a Gold Berth. Heck I've seen ______ 12U Gold Team... Really????
Greenmonsters
Wannabe Duck Boat Owner
IMO, you are what you eat. FWIW, some top organizations don't have Gold teams. DFP Platinum Diamond Elite comes to mind.
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I thought we were DFP Platinum Diamond Elite....
Greenmonsters
Wannabe Duck Boat Owner
Had to shorten it to fit on the 6U's uniforms (less fabric to work with) and got confused on my post, which has since been corrected
I call my team, The Chosen One's.
In reality, I was calling them something else Saturday afternoon. They redeemed themselves on Sunday.
In reality, I was calling them something else Saturday afternoon. They redeemed themselves on Sunday.
- Dec 20, 2012
- 1,084
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I think too much emphasis is put on the label, regardless of which is used. Call a team Gold, Platinum or Manganese it just doesn't matter. Even being considered a top team in one part of the country does not necessarily classify the same team the same way in another part. If you want to measure your team then go to qualifiers for major national tournaments. Then based on your results of qualifying or not and how you place once in the national tournaments you can give your team a label, which still means nothing. Personally I think that there are only 30 or so teams that should be considered GOLD if you want that to be the elite level. They are the teams that are competitive in every major national tournament they play year in and year out. Sure there is occasional team that has been together for the length of the coaches daughter career that are Gold caliber but that is not the norm. But sitting up worrying about what a team classifies itself as is a waste of time. Play tournaments to your team's level or slightly higher as often as possible and occasionally test them against a much higher caliber team and keep on going.
