BEWARE Teams Bringing players "down" for Nationals

[anonlooker]

Kept hearing about a organization that brought 6 (age-eligible) players down from their Gold team to compete at PGF in 16u, effectively bumping 6 kids who had played on the 16u team all season into back-up and garbage time roles.
Is this prevalent, or more likely an isolated event?

(and no it wasn't DD's team, so save the sour grapes commentary )

[anonlooker]

So the organization gets a trophy, but what does that do to the kids who get bumped? I know life isn't fair, but come on.

We hear that players should be loyal, but doesn't that sword cut both ways? Throwing half your team under the bus to try winning a trophy is pretty slimy. IMO

[Skarp]

Which team? So I (and they) can know who I'm bashing.

[J Fierce]

Which team? So I (and they) can know who I'm bashing.

viewtopic.php?f=401&t=26770&hilit=cal+lite

[MTR]

I doubt this. Or should I said I doubt this was done legally. Or were there no roster rules for PGF?

[Skarp]

There were at least two that did so.
In other parts of the country it is more common for 16u teams to have incoming seniors on their teams, like Southern Force this summer, so I guess the SoCal coaches thought they would try the same.

It's one thing to have a team comprised of older, age-eligible girls. Just because we (California) move our girls directly from 8u to 18G, doesn't mean others need to (or should) follow suit. But it's quite another for an organization to move down a bunch of 18G players for championship play, displacing players the 16U team rostered all season.

As far as the team itself is concerned, the move displays a stunning lack of loyalty toward its committed players. No way I would associate with an organization like that.

As far as competition goes, the move is both underhanded and chickenshit. Recruit a team, roster it, and play with it. If you are really shorthanded, pick up a player or two. But moving players around wholesale within the organization in order to chase trophies? Pathetic. How many were rostered on these 16U teams?

[CharlieHough]

We played both the teams quite a few times during the home stretch and had multiple battles. We lost and we won.

The interesting thing is, we beat them both on the way to the PGF title. All Freshman, and 4 Sophmores got it done.

It was interesting to watch one of the teams at the Aurora Fireworks in Colorado have either 3 girls or 9 girls in the dugout while they were playing the field, depending on the 18 gold teams schedule in Boulder.

They are age eligible and they are not cheating. Trophy hunting at the expense of the loyal players looking for exposure and loyalty back from the team and the org???.....perhaps...

[J Fierce]

Congrats on winning the 16u Premier Title Charlie!

[southbaysoftball]

One of these teams was Mizuno Pride. Although my daughters playing time was not affected by any of these 6 age eligible girls, it was a very tense atmosphere. Instead of parents enjoying this final tourney and players bonding together to give their all, most were concerned if the ringer they brought down for 18G going to take my spot. Needless to say, the focus on the dugout was not completely on the task at hand. Rather, how could I be the starting player for the last nine months and now at one of the first big exposure events (for us anyway), share my time with someone who already had their chance at ASA and went 1-2.

In my opinion our girls worked the entire year and only to be disrespected by the organization. Most of the team have been together for 4 years. I doubt that you will see many of them return for tryouts in the upcoming weeks.

[anonlooker]

One of these teams was Mizuno Pride. Although my daughters playing time was not affected by any of these 6 age eligible girls, it was a very tense atmosphere. Instead of parents enjoying this final tourney and players bonding together to give their all, most were concerned if the ringer they brought down for 18G going to take my spot. Needless to say, the focus on the dugout was not completely on the task at hand. Rather, how could I be the starting player for the last nine months and now at one of the first big exposure events (for us anyway), share my time with someone who already had their chance at ASA and went 1-2.

In my opinion our girls worked the entire year and only to be disrespected by the organization. Most of the team have been together for 4 years. I doubt that you will see many of them return for tryouts in the upcoming weeks.

I can't imagine anyone aware of this would bother attending their tryouts.

Mizuno should drop their sponsorship of these clowns.