Team playing up too far?

[skreed]

Posted a while back about some concerns I had with my then just 12yo moving up too 14u and being too young. Well we decided to move up and I must say she surpassed my expectations. Did great, handled her self very well and it never phased her. As a pitcher and 1st base she held her own and batted over .300 the whole season. I am satisfied with the move and think she gained experience playing against much higher skill level, bigger, and older girls. My main concern at this point is more about the team as a whole and less about my DD. So my DD did well with the transition but I can't say the same for others. Some of the weaker girls got weaker and were in over their heads. We got beat up pretty bad this season winning only a few games against other weaker teams.
At the beginning of the season , HC and I (assistant) discussed staying at a C level to start with since the team is made up of 12 yo. He agreed but that quickly changed and we entered mostly b and opens. Well as a dad I was feeling OK because my DD was hanging in, but as a coach I was seeing the team get beat up all the time.
The rest of the coaches are great and I enjoy the team as a whole. But HC insists on playing way up. They are mostly 12 just going on 13 now and we are playing freshman and sophomores in high school. I see his point we are gaining experience but is this too much? He even suggested briefly this weekend possibly entering a 16u tournament, this troubled me greatly. Is playing up this far and taking our lumps helping or hurting the team? Any feed back would be great

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[JJS]

Losing competitive games is one thing, but being run spread is just a waste of time. If you are able to win about 50% of the time, and the other 50% you are within 2-3 runs(with maybe an occasional hiccup) then you are probably doing the right thing.

There are a couple teams in our area that play up all the time. They constantly get their butts whipped by the older girls. Then, when they move down they constantly get their butts kicked.

Some coaches use playing up as an excuse to lose when they really aren't a very good team.

 

[JJS]

One other question, instead of playing 14B why not play 12A? Once you get out of 10U the A level at the lower age is always harder than the B & C level of older age group. The 14A teams around here would run rule most of the 18B teams around here.

 

[JAD]

You need to strive to play A-level ball within your age group before you move up an age level. Is your goal to be an 18U C-level team? Shoot for a 40-60% winning percentage.

 

[sluggers]

We got beat up pretty bad this season winning only a few games ...
They are mostly 12 just going on 13 now and we are playing freshman and sophomores in high school. I see his point we are gaining experience but is this too much? He even suggested briefly this weekend possibly entering a 16u tournament, this troubled me greatly. Is playing up this far and taking our lumps helping or hurting the team?

He is killing the team. It was going to die anyway...but he has accelerated the process.

A little background: Go to any tournament, and you will see 100 12U teams, 40 14U teams, and 25 16U teams, and 16 18U teams. Where did all the girls go? For a variety of reasons, girls quit around 12YOA to 14YOA. They quit when playing softball other activities are "more fun" than playing softball.

You can probably identify the girls that are never going to be able to play at a higher level. Guess what? The girls know it, and they are not coming back next year.

On the other hand, girls like your DD need to be on a real 14U A team, not a 14U C team. You'll figure that out...and you probably won't be back either.

So, the team will have few players next year and die. If he had been less aggressive in scheduling, the weaker kids would have continued for another year before quitting.

 

[chrispots]

I'm all for playing up...

For 12U leagues around here, there are 3 options A, B or C. I play "A" within my age group. I'm all 2003 birth years. We are 0-8 in league...been mercied 6 times...hang on before you pass judgement

By all accounts we are a "B" team

We play appropriate tournaments for our level and do very well...

In 2 weeks, we are playing a 14U NSA qualifier...we are going to get creamed...

Why am I playing in it? Because I had no other choice. I was trying to play in a 14U B\C event and got booted because they didn't want an 11U team playing...my plan was to use the 14U B event as prep for the ASA B Nationals in York, PA that we are playing in 2 weeks later. It is what it is...my outfield will just get a little more work

We will go 0-4 at the NSA event and I'm OK with that because it will serve it's purpose to prep for the ASA Nationals...However, to JAD's point on winning %, we've won 63% of our games for the season (September to present 30-18). I was hoping for 50-55% winning based on the level of competition I was putting my team against...

I will add that I laid my plan out to my parents before the schedule was set and they were OK with it (I still get a little grief over the league losses)...it sounds like your plan is changing on the fly...

I realize trying to balance winning while playing against the toughest competition isn't easy but it sounds like the HC has lost sight of the balance...CP

 

[skreed]

Yeah we are not winning 50% of the time, its much less than that. Why not play 12ua? Because HC says we would have ruled the class and it was no challenge, I disagree.

We do have plenty of girls that are not into it, but some that are totally all in. I wanted to keep my DD in 12u but that would have meant leaving the team and I don't think my DD wanted that at the time. I also took the advice "the grass isn't always greener".

My other concern is my DD gets almost unlimited playing time, she is competing against other teams but not her teammates she is in the mix at the top of team in terms of skill set.

So the question is what do I do now? I have the ability to voice my opinion on what direction we should go now. It probably won't hold much weight in the end but I would at least like to put up a convincing argument. Now we have too play 14u due to age. I don't feel we made any real progress as a team, and I feel some of the girls should move on and are not cutting it. Do we keep plugging away at b class stuff for the next two years or what? Any suggestions? I would like to stay with the team but it seems almost impossible at this point. I am torn and so is DD.

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[JAD]

Yeah we are not winning 50% of the time, its much less than that. Why not play 12ua? Because HC says we would have ruled the class and it was no challenge, I disagree.

In your original post you mention a discussion about staying at the C-level, then the coach deciding to play B and Open. I do not know what the level of competition is where you are from, but in my area a C-level team and most B-level teams would not fair well in an A-level tournament in the same age group. Not to mention that the best A-level teams at each age group usually play up.

 

[skreed]

In my area there are limited A level tourneys so most classify as a B for the scheduling flexibility. The few A's just play up as u said.

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[CJ D]

I can tell you in our area, good 12U teams (strong 12B and 12A teams) will run roughshod through a 14U C class tournament. I've seen it happen too many times. I would suspect that is the same in most areas. I'd venture a guess that playing in 12U A, your team would have had less success than they have had, however limited, in 14U C ball. But the season is ending now. Too late for what ifs. Find another team and eliminate your stress.