by softball65 » Tue Jul 16, 2013 4:36 pm
I think what you folks who want to rank these players at 10U and 12U will see is that some kids peak early and some peak later. I could name a dozen girls off the top of my head, who I thought were studs at 10u and 12U and now are just middle of the pack. At a young age, the pure athleticism is on display. At 14, 15 years old...all the work starts to show itself and the athleticism alone, is no longer enough to set them apart. See this around the 14u and especially the 16u ages when these girls are coming into their bodies, strength, maturity etc. That's one of the reasons you don't see many coaches watching 14U showcase teams, they know that even in that 1-2 years between 14U and 16U, the girls can change a lot.
Some kids are studs from birth, but what I've seen is the vast majority of these young studs, get caught around 14U. And the late bloomers in particular, they come out around 8th/9th grade and you say "who is that again?". So whose a stud at 12u may not translate AT ALL at 16u. Just my observation confirms dozens of times over.
