Exposure at 14U

[pitcherzpop]

Is it too soon for fresh to start thinking about this? Help!

One qustion:

Why is she playing 14U if she is a fish?

We just felt like that was the best place for her. The team from DFW with the best finish (5th place) at Midland this year was all freshman. (Also the highest finish from all of Texas) Should those kids have been playing 16U?

[longbat]

Is it too soon for fresh to start thinking about this? Help!

One qustion:

Why is she playing 14U if she is a fish?

We just felt like that was the best place for her. The team from DFW with the best finish (5th place) at Midland this year was all freshman. (Also the highest finish from all of Texas) Should those kids have been playing 16U?

And that's all that matters. You know your kid the best so pay little attention to the so-called experts on here. There's plenty of time for a freshman to get good looks.

Better yet, PM jonbovi. He's got all the right answers....

[onedownonetogo]

14u shouldn't even be allowed in showcase events.

14U showcase events? WTF? If your dd is a freshman in high school, she shouldn't be playing 14U, unless she is not good enough to play 16U which would mean you better start saving money for her to go to college anyway.

Out!

My DD played on a 14U team as a Freshman. The team won ASA State Championship and competed well at Nationals. Now she is a Senior and 4 players from that team are committed to Top D1 schools. On her Official visit this fall she talked to the other commits from her class and they all also competed at that Nationals as 14U in their Freshman year. I think parents need to get their egos out of the equation and let the kids play where they should. Playing 14U and then playing in 16U showcase events works very well.

Personally, I think this happens more than people want to admit. I can name a dozen kids who are Div. I commitments who played 14u as 8th graders and freshmen and then jumped to gold as a sophomore. Are then played 14u as a freshman, played on a great 16u team and got recruited off of that 16u team. Too many egos and too many good 14u players on terrible 18u teams. Actually, too many terrible 18u teams in general.

[outofnowhere]

14u shouldn't even be allowed in showcase events.

14U showcase events? WTF? If your dd is a freshman in high school, she shouldn't be playing 14U, unless she is not good enough to play 16U which would mean you better start saving money for her to go to college anyway.

Out!

My DD played on a 14U team as a Freshman. The team won ASA State Championship and competed well at Nationals. Now she is a Senior and 4 players from that team are committed to Top D1 schools. On her Official visit this fall she talked to the other commits from her class and they all also competed at that Nationals as 14U in their Freshman year. I think parents need to get their egos out of the equation and let the kids play where they should. Playing 14U and then playing in 16U showcase events works very well.

Thats quite an accomplishment considering she wasn't available to "her" team until after high school ball was over. Of course, if your chasing hardware, that is definately the way to go. Good job on the State Championship. Where is that trophy now a days?

Out!

[Realist]

14u shouldn't even be allowed in showcase events.

14U showcase events? WTF? If your dd is a freshman in high school, she shouldn't be playing 14U, unless she is not good enough to play 16U which would mean you better start saving money for her to go to college anyway.

Out!

My DD played on a 14U team as a Freshman. The team won ASA State Championship and competed well at Nationals. Now she is a Senior and 4 players from that team are committed to Top D1 schools. On her Official visit this fall she talked to the other commits from her class and they all also competed at that Nationals as 14U in their Freshman year. I think parents need to get their egos out of the equation and let the kids play where they should. Playing 14U and then playing in 16U showcase events works very well.

Thats quite an accomplishment considering she wasn't available to "her" team until after high school ball was over. Of course, if your chasing hardware, that is definately the way to go. Good job on the State Championship. Where is that trophy now a days?

Out!

No chasing hardware involved and where the trophy is now is of no matter. Just letting you know good players do play at all levels and you do not have to play Gold as an 8th grader or a Freshman to get recruited. As far as not being available to "her" team, (not sure why you felt the need to put that in quotes) that would have been the case no matter what level she was playing at. Since High School Teams drop out of the playoffs at different times even Gold teams start up without all of their girls so your statement of it being quite an accomplishment is not really very relavant.

Out!

[outofnowhere]

So your statement of it being quite an accomplishment is not really very relavant.

EXACTLY!!

Out!

[longbat]

If your dd is a freshman in high school, she shouldn't be playing 14U, unless she is not good enough to play 16U which would mean you better start saving money for her to go to college anyway.

Out!

You're an idiot with a bit of an elitist attitude thrown in for good measure.
We had a team of all Freshman that played ASA 14u Nationals, then as Sophomores they all played 16u.
13 of the 18 girls committed with never playing 18, with 5 of them going to the Pac-12.
So I guess they weren't good enough to play 16u as Freshman in your world.
Out!

A California transplant for sure....

[Battle]

Are there any 14U teams that are REALLY getting exposure. My dd team played in college looks but we got zero exposure. I admit i know nothing about it. Who are the teams that are actually getting looked at? Is it too soon for fresh to start thinking about this? Help!

IMO, play your 1st year of 14u in your age group and then move up to 16u in your 2nd year of 14u for the exposure/showcases and make sure that it's the 16u team that you want to be with as you move through to 18s together. I also think it is important to be on a team that is nationally competitive with coaches that know the recruiting process and can help you when you get to that point. Personally, I wouldn't move too fast at 1st year 14u if that is even the case here. For me, I felt like a rookie at DD's 8u/10u years only to find that as I enter the recruiting process I feel like a rookie again. Your DD's time will come so don't rush the years that you have because once they're gone...they're gone. (cliché... I know) LOL