Our experience in 10U, the talent is spread way out. There are some girls who just develop their skills a lot faster than others. In 10U my DD stood out; we're 2nd year 12U now and she's still good but you see a lot of other girls who took a little longer to get there but have caught up now. Here at least, there are a billion travel teams and usually it's the big 3 orgs that have the stacked teams with the best talent throughout the whole lineup. That was even more the case in 10U. Find a team with a coach who can help her develop and with girls she enjoys playing with and let her have fun. Taking 10U way too seriously is a common mistake or so I hear
The sales guy coaches tend to be really good at recruiting and less good at coaching, IME. That's why they have to focus so hard on recruiting even to the point of being dishonest. They don't know how to take a talented but raw player and teach them the game and refine their skills. Parent coaches aren't all bad. My DH keeps ending up one through no fault of his own, and he's kind of the anti-daddy ball. I've also found that sometimes, coaches without a child on the team are less invested. We had one of those one year too. Good coach with a good head for the game but had a hard time relating to the kids (who were 9 and 10) and it just wasn't fun for anyone. The team fell apart and I had to wonder if the coach was relieved. It's an awful lot of drama for someone who doesn't have a personal investment.
Thanks for this. I wonder if we are taking too seriously. DD is developing but sometimes hard to watch and feel like we are waiting for most others to catch up.