Thoughts, opinions and ideas please...

[Eric F]

Oh, he said playing time would be limited because the other 9 girls played 10U ball with this team and she had to prove herself to earn a spot...which leads me to another question I have, what does 'earn a spot' typically mean? Seriously, my intent was never to steal a starting position away from a girl, only to share a regular spot with someone. Instead, my girl got playing time in multiple positions (never a bad thing, but not great when you are trying to prove yourself and playing mainly one position is the strategy/culture of a team) but only for minutes at a time...& never on second or S.S. where he consistently had her running drills each week for the last 18 practices.

In my experience, "earn a spot" means proving that you are the best choice. For a player trying to take the spot of an established starter, this usually means what I said before - be so good you can't be ignored. However, if you aren't being given a chance to prove yourself, accomplishing your goal can be really challenging. Maybe even impossible.

Being that the rest of the team is moving up, but your DD is staying in 12U, it sounds like you have an opportunity to find a team for her where she might have a better opportunity to earn a starting role.

What part of the country are you in?

 

[CMMom1740]

Somebody said this in a recent post (I don't remember where, so I can't give him/her credit): If a player at 12U is sitting the bench 50% or more of the time, it's time to find another team. That sounds reasonable to me as a parent for sure; I guess the coaches on here can say whether that is a good rule of thumb or not. Given the time and expense involved, I would definitely agree with it.

 

[Mike Alwine]

I reread the whole string, I saw nothing mentioned about hitting. Do not get me wrong, I believe Defense is more important, but at 12/14, hitters seem to find a way into the lineup, over the kids that work on Defense. Might be wrong, but I have seen it. Other than that, Look for a team that will grow with your child, as her (and their) abilities grow. The kids will form a bond, and trust, that cannot be measured.

 

[canyonjoe]

I don't care what level you are playing, if you have 11 players no one should ever sit more than 1 game in pool play. If you have to bat them all or even 10 with 1 sub they should bat in 2 or 3 of the games. Teams that only play 9 on Saturdays often wonder how they are 1 and done on Sunday when they were number 1 seed. Even on Sunday the ones not starting should change unless you have 9 studs and 2 duds.

In your case you need to really analyze your DD's ability. You might look and say the SS makes a lot of errors, but maybe there isn't a better choice. We had a kid who made 4-5 errors a tournament playing SS, but is a stud at 2B. She had to play out of position and it showed. Is she really better than the starter?

The other factor is does she get a chance at practice. On our team if you want to play a position we'll almost always let you practice at it but never promise you PT there unless you show you can play it.

I will say that when we played on a 12U team we had a kid try out for us who wasn't very good at the time. She batted last when she played and was terrible in the field. Now on the same team (we don't play on them any more) she is their cleanup hitter. It took a lot of work but it paid off.

 

[HITRUNPALYHARD]

Again, thank you. I'm in Michigan. Trying hard to stay open-minded knowing there are dynamics and politics surrounding the situation I truly don't understand. Nothing is ever cut and dry. It's nice to know that others out here have some of the same thoughts and I'm not being completely irrational here. For anyone reading this, I will say that your daughter, no matter how good she is should think long and hard about playing up. Give her the time allocated for her age level and watch her grow to be a strong player, there are a lot of things other than better competition that come along with it.

 

[HITRUNPALYHARD]

Good call, thank you. She had a bit of slump early on in the season but worked out of it. She has a good eye, a beautiful swing, makes contact 85% of the time. Of course she has strike outs but makes base hits more often that not. She can't whip it high into the outfield but has solid hard line drives to center field often. Yes, am looking for another 12U team...

 

[butcher-boy]

Unless I missed something is seems like most of the discussion centers around playing different positions in the field. Obviously defense
is important but equally important is offense. How is her hitting compared to the other players. Maybe some daddy/DD time in the batting
cage would alter the balance of playing time. I don't care how old she is if she can hit for average the coach will find a way to get her into
the game.

 

[sluggers]

Give her the time allocated for her age level and watch her dominate, the things that come along when playing with the big kids just aren't worth it.

Watching your kid dominate is mostly for your own ego. An occasional outing where the kid is head and shoulders above the competition is OK, but regular doses are counter-productive.

Some kids are so good they have to move up. (You might recall Samantha Findlay. She hit the HR for U of Mich to win the CWS a few years back. She played 18U at 12YOA. Playing high level 12U competition for her was little more than coach pitch.)

The key is to find a team where your child will play at least 60% to 70% of the innings. If your kid is playing 100% of the innings either (a) you are the HC or (b) the team is a little weak.

On an 11 player roster, your child should average playing 4 to 5 innings a game. A weak player on an 11 player team should play all of any "friendly" games during the week, 50% of the innings of pool play games, and 25% of the innings during the eliminatino tournament.

 

[grcsftbll]

I'm mostly in favor of letting them earn their spot. They should use it as motivation to work hard. I think it's detrimental to kids to think they should just have things handed to them because they want them. You want to play X position, you work hard and earn it. BUT. Coaches are human and they are not always fair. About halfway through fall we could tell our DD was not ever going to get a fair shot with the coach we were with, for whatever reason. So when spring season came we switched teams. She spent all fall working hard and doing very well, but it didn't matter and was never going to. In that case I don't see any reason to stick around, but we also made sure to discuss with her why we were leaving. It wasn't just "You're not getting to play X position enough." There was a lot more to it. We didn't want her thinking if she didn't get to play her chosen position we'd quit and go elsewhere. It's about finding the right balance and, hopefully, a coach who is mostly fair and smart.

 

[Ken Krause]

One thing to keep in mind with that team if a judgment criterion is she's the youngest player. If the team remains the same, that's the one thing she can't change no matter how hard she works. She will always be the youngest player.

Sounds like a moot point, however. If the team is moving up to 14U and you're staying at 12U you'll need to find another team anyway. Be sure to choose one where your daughter can get ample playing time to demonstrate the skills she's worked so hard to acquire.