I used to start with a pure 11U team and teach them what they needed to know. I was usually successful taking the core group up through 14U ball, but after that, it was really difficult. When you play in a major metropolitan area as we do, there are just SO MANY teams! And very few play 16U any more. Everyone goes right to 18U, and of course, if you're playing 18U, you must be Gold - or Elite - or some other nonsense adjective. When you're playing your last year of 14U, you see them everywhere. Coaches full of promises, and praise (often exaggerated) for all the DD's, and tales of the tournaments they travel to and the scholarships they've gotten for the players. It's hard to pass up some of those snake oil salesmen.
We did a great job turning rec league kids into solid, fundamentally sound players. And I believe we would have done well moving up through 16U. But I only took 2 different teams through 16U before folding before 18U. At any age (for me, most often after completing 14U), just too difficult to replace 4 or 5 core kids who played key positions. So, I'd start all over again with a new crew of promising 11 y/o's out of the rec league. Miss those days, to be honest.
