My oldest, now 1st year 18U, has played for three organizations, the first one on two different occasions.
It's complicated. Very complicated., but the short version is below.
Our first club we joined pretty much by default. They were the only club that had a 10U team in town.
After playing on a really fun 10U team and two very good 12U teams, her first year 14U team was pretty bad. They'd lost most of their pitching and the supposed #1 pitcher regressed terribly; she and her mom were team cancers. After the season, the coach and his DD decided they were done with softball. A new HC was brought in from a rival club, and worse, a rival Little League organization. The new coach was bringing 8 of his girls with him. My DD went to the tryouts and she was furious when one of the new girls told her, "You should come play for our team." See, my DD kicked butt and was arguably the best player on her team the last two years. It was "her team" and she was an undisputed leader up to that point. She decided to move on. Four of her former teammates stayed.
My wife and I thought she needed to be pushed a bit and be on a team where she wasn't one of the top players. She got an offer for a 16U team which was made up of mostly second year 14U players like her. We kind of steered her to this team, even though she had other offers. In retrospect, I wonder if DD wanted to play anymore, but was afraid to tell me. During the last half of 14U there had been some signs and slippage in her play.
The new team played 16B and pretty much clobbered everyone. DD was the primary catcher on the team. We liked the coaches as people, but there were a few things they did that seemed unethical in youth sports. They'd bring in guest players and bench their regular players. A new SS was brought in. The starting SS was suddenly an outfielder every inning, every game. A parent questioned the scorekeeper on a triple that was marked as a single. Their DD was benched the next game. Details are a little fuzzy in my memory, but I remember at one point the coach saying everyone was going to be invited back the next season and then we never heard another word about. We kind of got the impression DD had been cut.
The next season, an AC from the original club DD had played for, asked her to tryout for the team. He had been her first ever coach, in coach pitch. His daughter was one of the 8 new girls that had come over from the rival club. Out of respect for him she went to the tryout. All but one of her former teammates were cut from the team, but the one remaining player she was pretty close with and she convinced DD to return. The AC we knew assured us there was no favoritism.
Well, right from the start of the season (first year 16UB), five or six of the girls including the head coach's daughter, started talking about how they were going to leave the team and play A ball the next year, so the team pretty much folded before the first spring tournament. The team played out the season, but we would have left even if hadn't folded. There was definite favoritism; the coach never lived up to his promise to play the nine on Sunday who hit the best on Saturday. It wasn't a completely bad experience. DD made a lot of new friends with girls who had previously been "the enemy". She and four other girls left that team and now play together on DD's third team.
DD's third team she had tried out for three seasons in a row. The first year, she was offered a spot, but the offer came a bit late. She had already accepted another. The second year, she was not offered a spot and then last year it finally worked out and she was offered a spot and accepted. Of course, the 2020 season was wiped out by COVID 19, but after considering whether to play or not this summer, she's back with the team.
Sorry, that's long. There's actually a lot more to it, but those are the basics.
I will say, it was never our intention to team hop, but I'm kind of glad we did. It has broadened DD's softball world (and mine) quite a bit.
It's complicated. Very complicated., but the short version is below.
Our first club we joined pretty much by default. They were the only club that had a 10U team in town.
After playing on a really fun 10U team and two very good 12U teams, her first year 14U team was pretty bad. They'd lost most of their pitching and the supposed #1 pitcher regressed terribly; she and her mom were team cancers. After the season, the coach and his DD decided they were done with softball. A new HC was brought in from a rival club, and worse, a rival Little League organization. The new coach was bringing 8 of his girls with him. My DD went to the tryouts and she was furious when one of the new girls told her, "You should come play for our team." See, my DD kicked butt and was arguably the best player on her team the last two years. It was "her team" and she was an undisputed leader up to that point. She decided to move on. Four of her former teammates stayed.
My wife and I thought she needed to be pushed a bit and be on a team where she wasn't one of the top players. She got an offer for a 16U team which was made up of mostly second year 14U players like her. We kind of steered her to this team, even though she had other offers. In retrospect, I wonder if DD wanted to play anymore, but was afraid to tell me. During the last half of 14U there had been some signs and slippage in her play.
The new team played 16B and pretty much clobbered everyone. DD was the primary catcher on the team. We liked the coaches as people, but there were a few things they did that seemed unethical in youth sports. They'd bring in guest players and bench their regular players. A new SS was brought in. The starting SS was suddenly an outfielder every inning, every game. A parent questioned the scorekeeper on a triple that was marked as a single. Their DD was benched the next game. Details are a little fuzzy in my memory, but I remember at one point the coach saying everyone was going to be invited back the next season and then we never heard another word about. We kind of got the impression DD had been cut.
The next season, an AC from the original club DD had played for, asked her to tryout for the team. He had been her first ever coach, in coach pitch. His daughter was one of the 8 new girls that had come over from the rival club. Out of respect for him she went to the tryout. All but one of her former teammates were cut from the team, but the one remaining player she was pretty close with and she convinced DD to return. The AC we knew assured us there was no favoritism.
Well, right from the start of the season (first year 16UB), five or six of the girls including the head coach's daughter, started talking about how they were going to leave the team and play A ball the next year, so the team pretty much folded before the first spring tournament. The team played out the season, but we would have left even if hadn't folded. There was definite favoritism; the coach never lived up to his promise to play the nine on Sunday who hit the best on Saturday. It wasn't a completely bad experience. DD made a lot of new friends with girls who had previously been "the enemy". She and four other girls left that team and now play together on DD's third team.
DD's third team she had tried out for three seasons in a row. The first year, she was offered a spot, but the offer came a bit late. She had already accepted another. The second year, she was not offered a spot and then last year it finally worked out and she was offered a spot and accepted. Of course, the 2020 season was wiped out by COVID 19, but after considering whether to play or not this summer, she's back with the team.
Sorry, that's long. There's actually a lot more to it, but those are the basics.
I will say, it was never our intention to team hop, but I'm kind of glad we did. It has broadened DD's softball world (and mine) quite a bit.
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