Our Club Team – Turning away players

[MTR]

I know it is a numbers game, I just hate telling a player they cannot play.

I have an issue with this point, from an discussion point.

I think the "numbers game" is a perception created by selfishness. So what if there are players on the bench, move players around. Not everyone has to play every inning of every game. I used to avoid parents and player who had that belief. If you think you are too good to sit every now and then, you probably are not a "team" player and individuals do not win games.

This is even more true in fall ball.

JMHO

 

[quincy]

14 Players on the Team can be pretty hard on everyone; HCs had a really hard job trying to juggle everything,

 

[tsryan71]

Are we talking club ball or rec league? Many club ball teams in my area of Illinois try to keep the numbers around 11 or 12 at the 10U and 12U ages. May expand the roster a bit at 14U and carry a bunch of girls at 16U and 18U/18Gold/18Premier since at 16U+ they are exposure teams.

In club ball the coaches are looking for the best girls to fill their needs at certain positions. In rec ball players should not be turned away unless there is absolutely no way of fielding at least 9 girls for a team.

 

[InsidePitch]

I'd carry more in the fall as that seems to be a less dedicated time for softball around here competing with Xcountry, VB and soccer.

 

[Axe]

We don't like turning kids away from our Rec league but we have to do it sometimes. To keep growing your program you have to protect the quality of the product and the quality of the experience for the players. It's better to upset one family than to dilute the experience for everyone. 10U Rec is slow enough without spending too much of a 4 inning game on the bench. We'll usually try to wait list first and see if we get enough for another team but in fall ball we are severely capacity constrained on account of having to share fields with football teams.

 

[CoogansBluff]

10U Rec is slow enough without spending too much of a 4 inning game on the bench.

God, ain't that the truth. ... I've lobbied hard to find ways of speeding up 10U rec (fewer coach pitches, coach behind home to stop passed balls w/ no one on base). That transition level loses players, IMO. Got to find a way to make it more fun, imo. Small rosters are a must.

 

[Axe]

God, ain't that the truth. ... I've lobbied hard to find ways of speeding up 10U rec (fewer coach pitches, coach behind home to stop passed balls w/ no one on base). That transition level loses players, IMO. Got to find a way to make it more fun, imo. Small rosters are a must.

If you think of something let us know. It's torture. This fall we are breaking in new pitchers across the league so its especially painful. We were lucky to get in 3 innings in our first game.

 

[Momo'sDad]

I don't like turning away players either, but there's no one solution on roster size that can apply to all teams everywhere. Last year, I rostered 14 on my comp team in the fall and had 13 players to get in every weekend. That was tough to do 'fairly' when you only had 8-10 innings to work with while also trying to keep the team competitive. We were a developmental program that was trying to keep the games close.

This year's 10u team only has 10 on the roster (had 11, but 1 quit). It was great last weekend, but we're having to use a pick-up player for a tournament this weekend.

At 12u, I'd definitely carry 12, and by 14u, I would think a team could carry a couple more players, and I would strongly recommend a 3rd pitcher.

 

[Wheels]

Can they move a few of the most talented kids up a level to balance out the rosters? You'll probably risk damaging some parents ego.

 

[quincy]

At this point it is done with, Rosters are set.

I know the player I recommended is not playing this fall which is too bad, I know she wanted to.