What do you consider a 16u "A" level player..?

[jag1]

didn't realize I had put my name on any of my posts, can't seem to find it either.! (but thanks for removing her name..)......not real sure what my dd's travel ball schedule has to do with your evaluation of an "A" ball player..? , but here it is..........



INDIANA PRIDE SUMMER SCHEDULE '09
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JUNE 12-14 ASA DIAMONDS OF THE NORTH PORTAGE, IN.




JUNE 18-21 COMPUWARE EXPOSURE CANTON, MI.




JUNE 26-28 ASA STATE GAMES PENDLETON, IN.




JULY 3-5 NSA STATE TOURNAMENT INDIANAPOLIS,IN.




JULY 10-12 STINGRAYS SHOWCASE COLUMBUS OH.




JULY 16-19 TN SUMMER EXPOSURE MURFRESSBORO, TN.




JULY 20-25 NSA WORLD SERIES CHATTANOOGA, TN.




JULY 29/AUG.2 ASA NORTHERN NATLS. ST. LOUIS, MO.

[Stratos]

It doesnt. Except NSA is typically for those borderline teams you speak of. (generalization, there are some good teams that play it)

[patches]

hey jag

i agree that we have a bunch of 16u teams i know that when i started the team i have now we started with 10b and 2a players in 14u, we lost a few players that headed a different direction we played NSA and played up when we could the secound year mostly ASA and the third season ASA only.

when we started all of the stronger teams played ASA that has changed but all teams need role players and if some of the players on the inexperienced teams can fill this role i think it helps both our highschool and travel ball in indiana .

now dont get me wrong when we are playing friday morn in pool play i will complain just like everyone else but long term it will help us all.

great topic

thanks
mark

[DrHeat]

Most of you make valid points, however, I wonder?

Does an ‘A’ player have to hit .400?
Do you have to have an era under 1.00?
Does your fielding percentage have to be above .900?
Do you have to have a home to first time under 2.9?
Do have to hit from the left side?
Do you have to be able to play more than one spot?

These are just some of the qualities that I have heard from parents and coaches say over the past five years that girls must have to play at the ‘A’ level. I don’t agree that you have to have all of these qualities to be considered an ‘A’ player.

I think in order for a girl to be considered as an ‘A’ player, she should have most of the tools that would make colleges want to recruit her. I also think that in order for your DD’s to reach that level, they have to play at that level. Take your lumps and learn from them, and keep pushing!

I think we have all seen ‘A’ girls or teams that play at lower levels for whatever reason they choose. It does not help them get ready for the realistic ultimate level of college.

Maybe, just maybe, a better list of qualities for a girl to have to be considered an ‘A’ player might be the positive forms of the following:

Ability, Aggressiveness, Attitude, Awareness, Academics

These are just my opinions. You don’t have to agree or disagree.


Jim

[gunshy]

This is a great topic and one that is a lead-in for the debate about number of teams in 16u A class.
As a coach in the 16u A division, there are several things I look at when evaluating players. The list of items takes into account the short summer season (7 weeks) and the limited winter schedule of my team.
1) VERY good form and fundamentals in throwing, catching and fielding.
2) VERY good hitting form and a history with a hitting instructor.
3) Overall athleticism; being big doesn't necessarily make one athletic.
4) Good academic record and academic focus.
5) Positive, competitive attitude.
6) Extensive travel experience, either A or B.
This is not EVERYTHING I look at, but it is the initial list. The short summer season doesn't allow for the time necessary to develop players that do not fit the above list; there just isn't time to fix bad throwing, bad hitting or bad attitudes in such a short season. This doesn't say that a player who has played only B cannot play A, nor does it exclude a "diamond in the rough" who has never played travel, albeit those cases may not be very common.
This leads to the next topic: Are there too many teams in 16 A? My belief is that there ARE too many teams in 16 A. Having seen many of the teams already who are calling themselves A teams, most of these teams have 4-5 good players and then 6-7 players who simply do not make the list above. Can these teams beat a true A team on a given day? Sure they can, but they will lose 9 of 10 to properly coached teams full of players that make the list above. I also do not agree that ALL get better by having more teams in the A division. It may help mediocre teams to play a very good team occassionally, but it DOES NOT help the very good teams to play 5 mediocre teams per weekend. Think about this scenario when your good 16u A team plays 2 poor teams on Friday morning at the first ASA Qualifier in pool games that don't count; coaches/parents have take Friday off work in tough times to make game times in the 35 team local tournament AND your team plays to the level of the poor competition. This will happen; not everyone benefits from having more teams in the A division. The A division will benefit from having tournaments with more true A teams in them. IMHO, we have somewhat diluted all classifications by allowing teams/players to move up when they were really not ready. There are some teams playing GOLD that are not the "best of the best", which pulls average/good players from 18u. The domino effect now kicks in, as 16u players move up to fill the void left in the less competitive 18u division. 14u teams that should be playing 14's are now playing 16's, further diluting that division. This is what I see, having coached 8 years of A travel and having my team compete on the national level.

[Scooby26]

I have one more year of 14U before my daughters enter the world of 16U, so I certainly don't claim to be an expert on "the happenings of all things 16U in Indiana". In my opinion your just seeing an extension of what seems to happen all the time at 12U and 14U.

Thru the past 4 years it seems VERY,VERY rare that any team we've come across has been made up of 100% top-of-the-line players. It's not that our area doesn't have enough talent to produce those type of teams, the talent is there. I think it's more a matter of getting the parents and kids on board. Given the choice, how many parents at 12U or 14U would put Little Suzie ( who could play shortstop and bat 3rd for any other team in the area) on a team made up of 10 other girls of equal ability---knowing that she may be playing the majority of her defensive innings in the outfield and hitting 7,8 or 9 in the batting order. I'm not suggesting that they would be wrong for doing so, but I guarantee a lot of those parents would chose another team over the SUPERTEAM for their daughters.

As a coach, it would be a whole lot of fun to be working with that kind of talent but I think it would potentially come with a whole lot of head aches attached. I realize that the focus changes at 16U, to getting these girls in front of as many college coaches as possible but I have to believe ego's still will still be a driving force for many of the parents and players when deciding what 16U team to play with.

[looking in]

Gunshy,
You nailed it!! To many teams, and you also will have the brackets at the ASA events loaded at the top with the best teams! Meaning, somebody goes to the losers bracket early and some of the weaker teams move on because they get the lucky break! Then we will end up sending some team to nationals that go 0-4 and come home! Not the best teams repesenting this State!
Happens every year with ASA! But we have to play it!

[coolstuff]

So is the question "what is an A player" or is it "what is an A team?" I've been under the impression that any team can decide to be an A team. Is that true, or is there set criteria?

[da60]

Pretty interesting topic...jag 1 how many teams are we talking about that are not competitive at 16u..I've read some of the prior posts about ranking current IN 16u teams...I assume these teams are exempt, or are you including some in this...I really believe we have a number of very talented players here in Indiana(not just on the 3 gold teams)...given what I have seen the past 4 years of being involved in travel ball are parents not wanting to admit their child lacks the talent to play competitively as they progress thru the age groups...being great at 12u is no indication of success at 16u...a second observation is some coaches lack an eye for picking talent during their end of season tryouts...combine the two and you have a travel team that will not compete in a tournament...a great point made by another poster, I think gunshy, touched on the domino effect of moving up in age groups...bottom line for me is I still believe there are alot of talented girls playing softball in Indiana on some talented teams who are fun to complete against...great topic jag1.

[jag1]

I really liked Gunshy and Scooby's replies..........overall, I think there alot (12-15) of good teams with 6,7,8 legitimate "A" players at 16u. Personally, I would rather see 7-8 really good teams at the big tournaments that could/would be in contention on Sunday instead of the usual 2-3. This would have a positive impact, maybe push Indiana softball into the next echelon, and garner the kind of interest that many of our premier players deserve but aren't getting. There are too many kids playing "A" ball that aren't putting the work in, going through the motions, that would be content being a star on the local h.s. team. If these kids don't have the skills or desire to move on to the next level and be willing to put forth the effort to get there, they should go play "B"...(regardless of what mom/dad want them to do..)!