Provisions on age groups?

[crshaw08]

I have an open slot for our 12u team and there is a perfect match to fill the spot. She catches, she pitches and is a great utility player. One catch, she turns 13 in a few days making her ineligible for a 12u for the 2014 season.

I have heard of provisions where a certain number of players can play outside of their age range. (2 per team,etc) Just tell me I cant so I can move on haha, I feel like I'm making excuses to get her on the team. It would be nice since she barely misses the age deadline.

 

[CPEM]

Depends on your level of play (rec vs. travel) and/or what you are playing. Examples:

1) Your team is a recreational level fall ball team and you will be playing other recreational level fall ball teams. Your team will most likely not be together for the Spring 2014 season. The girl has a birth year of 2000. While she is technically still eligible to finish the year in 12u, it is highly recommended that she "play up" in 14u as that will be her age division in the Spring 2014 season. Now, if there are no 14u teams available with room, then playing 12u is better than not playing at all. Rec ball leagues have a lot of lee-way in where girls play. The age-divisions are guidelines, at this level, and I've often seen older inexperienced girls "playing down" so that they won't be overwhelmed right away and leave the game. From your description, however, I don't think that's the case here.

2) Your team is a travel-ball team playing other travel-ball teams in friendlies and tournaments with plans on continuing together through the Spring and Summer 2014 season and tournaments, including championship play in the various alphabet-soup organizations (ASA, PGF, USAAA, WWE, DPRK, YOLO, etc...). She could continue to legitimately play for your team for the remainder of this calendar year, and you might get away with having her on your team while playing friendlies next year, but once you hit those tournaments and they start checking birth certificates, she won't be able to play. Again, it would be in her best interests to find a 14u team (basically a team made up of mostly 2000s) so that she can begin making the adjustment to that level of play.

This is just my experience, and may be different based on your locality.

 

[ConorMacleod]

In my region, the cutoff is January 1. So, if she will be 13 before January 1, 2014, then she must play 14U ball this fall (now). So, there are actually girls here that do not turn 13 until after fall ball is over, but before Jan 1, and had to move up to 14U right now.

 

[CJ D]

Mostly USFA ball here. You can play 12u as a 13 year old (not 14 before jam 1) until the end of the year. But that's it. After January 1, you must play 14U.

 

[canyonjoe]

We had an 11 year on on our 10U rec team one year. Many leagues will give a waiver, but generally only if the player isn't very good. I can't imagine any sanctioning body giving you a waiver for travel ball.