Iluvblue wrote:Just because you are a 140 Lbs doesnt mean you will smack the ball and if you played down south in 10U then you did face pitchers that can throw 55-58. So lets not knock any of these young 12U's. You might just regret it later.
Softball mom, i am speaking from experience, you are probably speaking as the parent of a young player who just moved up from 10u.
And I dont thinking I was knocking anyone.
There was a discussion during last Summer about the "Top 14u teams, and many people were talking up this team or that team. problem was, this was PRIOR to the HS season ending. i said when the HS season ended, the entire division would change and those 2nd year 14u teams would be the top teams.
Well guess what happened, when the HS season ended, those teams people were talking up stopped winning tournaments, just like I said.
trust me, 2nd year 12u players are better as a whole than 1st year.. that is a fact, not a guess.
And I am not knocking a young player for being young. fact is as you get older, you get stronger, faster, BETTER.
And i wont regret anything.
When the HS season ended there was one team that was winning a lot of 14U tournaments, in fact undefeated, until the HS season ended. Their first tournament post HS they finished in second place to the eventual national champions. And I guess that I should add that that loss was the next game after they lost their team leader and arguably best player in northern california if not all of californina. That team after HS season only went on to win their metro and finish third in 14U nationals. Without two of their top players. You are right they didn't play in 14U tournaments once the HS was over. But I do recall them finishing undefeated in a couple of 18U tournaments and finishing in the top ten playing 16U in Colorado.
Also the question stated early about are there too many teams in NorCal? Considering that 2 of the top 3 teams at nationals were from NorCal, I guess I will let you draw your own conclusions. Individual there is no doubt that we have talent. The problem is the willingness to be on the same team, possibly take a lesser roll to be on a better team. I think that is more the problem. We have too many parents and players that want instant gratification and results they they bounce around from team to team where their DD's can be the star. That however is not a problem only facing NorCal teams. At last count immediately following nationals there was significant movement of players and coach switching from one team to another. At last count of the top 10 teams at nationals from california more than have of them either change to different organizations, changed coaches or disbanded. Go to the posts from the norcal sections.
IMO the diffence that we have is too much Daddy ball. But I'll leave that discussion to another thread.
