What level are we?

[JAD]

I believe, as I'm sure most dads do, that my dd and several others have the ability to play A level ball. Unfortunately, some of our families are either not able or not willing to travel more than what we do now, which is limited to about 2 hours. A few are not willing to put the work in necessary to play at a high level.

No one likes to talk about it, but the quickest way for a team to get better is to "churn" the bottom 1/3 of the roster. While everyone loves a fairy tale about 12 girls who play 8U-18U together, that is not reality in high level TB. Find a core of @ 6 girls and build on that.

 

[MsDinosaur]

Yes, I'ld be ok with that . I have complete competence in my dd and her work ethic. If another pitcher beat her out I believe it would push her even harder. And we would have a great duo!
What I'm not ok with is our current situation where she throws 70% of our innings beacause we don't have a second reliable pitcher.
And our catching situation is a little more difficult.

Great! Yes, sometimes having someone push you to be better is a win-win for everyone!

On the catching, I think a B level team that needs a starting catcher is also going to be far more attractive to a catcher. I know when she was initially moving up from rec, my catcher DD was open to any level team. But after she'd been on a B team, she was not interested in playing on a C team. Also...if you lure in a pitcher, she may have a favorite catcher she'd like to join her. That can happen.

Do you have the NECC dvd? :-D

 

[undergroundga]

Great! Yes, sometimes having someone push you to be better is a win-win for everyone!

On the catching, I think a B level team that needs a starting catcher is also going to be far more attractive to a catcher. I know when she was initially moving up from rec, my catcher DD was open to any level team. But after she'd been on a B team, she was not interested in playing on a C team. Also...if you lure in a pitcher, she may have a favorite catcher she'd like to join her. That can happen.

Do you have the NECC dvd? :-D

Yes, I have it and other catching videos. The catcher position is something we have committed to improving and have been holding catcher workouts outside of practice, once a week during the winter. We have some kids driven to improve and we are providing them with that opportunity.

 

[Otto]

No one likes to talk about it, but the quickest way for a team to get better is to "churn" the bottom 1/3 of the roster. While everyone loves a fairy tale about 12 girls who play 8U-18U together, that is not reality in high level TB. Find a core of @ 6 girls and build on that.

At the young ages when teams roster twelve, the bottom third almost always takes care of the churning process.

Many many teams post the same add every single year: "Looking to add a few talented players to our great 'core' of girls."
LOL!

 

[Top_Notch]

No one likes to talk about it, but the quickest way for a team to get better is to "churn" the bottom 1/3 of the roster. While everyone loves a fairy tale about 12 girls who play 8U-18U together, that is not reality in high level TB. Find a core of @ 6 girls and build on that.

Oh man, I'm sending that my the AC of my DD team. Couldn't agree more.

 

[Little Angels Softball]

No one likes to talk about it, but the quickest way for a team to get better is to "churn" the bottom 1/3 of the roster. While everyone loves a fairy tale about 12 girls who play 8U-18U together, that is not reality in high level TB. Find a core of @ 6 girls and build on that.

I don't mind talking about it.

I tell all of our girls and families right up front that the idea is to keep as many as we can and move them up together. I also add that if a girl doesn't measure up either talent, commitment or attitude-wise, she won't be asked to return.

It works OK for us, and I have never had the same 12 girls on two different teams. Ever.