Benefits of playing up?

[Judd]

DD is 1st year 12U. Didnt like how things were going on her team, so tried to start our own. Didnt have the right mix of girls, and there were no 12U teams nearby needing players. The day after our tryouts, we were asked to tryout for a 14U team. DD has always performed better when playing with better, older girls. It was her choice to play 14U and not start our own team.

So far it has worked out well. The girls accepted her well despite the drastic size difference. She is small for 12U. Maybe the drastic size difference played a role as the girls took her on as a little sister. Also she is very outgoing and does real well when playing pick up with new teams etc. And she has hung tough and it has made her a better player.

Of course some of the conversations about boys is a little much for my liking but shes a good kid.

FWIW thats why my DD played up.

[Blind Squirrel]

All kids are different and the choice on whether or not playing up would be beneficial is one that depends on the individual. Its a choice that should involve careful consideration of the kid's ability, personality and desires and NOT on parent ego. The same thing goes for playing on an elite team. I've seen kids playing up or on elite teams when they had no business doing so. It usually wasn't pretty and typically did more harm than good. I would not have had my son play up because he simply doesn't have a burning desire to be among the best. He plays because he loves playing. My daughter has a different attitude/personality and has clearly benefited from playing up. The obvious benefit is accelerated improvement. But that doesn't magically happen to all kids who play up.

John

[Demonboy]

I do understand why you would have your DD play up if she started for that team, but what are the benefits of playing in older age bracket when you are sitting the pine and could start for most teams in your age bracket. It seems you will lose alot of experience and when those younger girls all meet up in HS they have a better chance of being more prepared based on experiecne.

I see some girls that might get put in OF but could play infield on younger team but are not getting the reps and will never get a chance to play infield. Dont get me wrong I think OF is very important and if you dont have a Good OF then you will go no where.

In my opinion alot of it is EGO on the parents, that can say my DD is playing up.

You speak as if infield is something "better" than outfield. Very 12u.

[Demonboy]

Regarding playing up, you obviously want to play at the highest level that you can compete at - in some areas, probably the competition is strong enough at your kid's age level. But to our way of looking at this, once your kid is in or about to enter high school, you play 18u. Other than trophy hunting, if you are a freshman, or even an 8th grader, you need to get ready to help your high school team, and that is 18u. We live in Texas and community bonds are pretty strong - support your local football, softball, baseball, whatever team is important here. I know thats not true everywhere but here it is. So we hope to have our girls ready to contribute to the local high school teams success - and having the girls face 18u pitching, hitting, everything else makes it much easier. What I would like to see is that no matter where the girls go in the high school playoffs, they never face a pitcher that they havent seen before, or is better than what they have seen before - I want to see the confidence in these girls faces that says 'hey, seen that before - no big deal'.

In our own family's case, having the younger kid play up simplifies our traveling because we keep the 17 y/o and the 14 y/o on the same team.

Tell that to all the NCAA all americans that "trophy hunted" on Doug Myers 16u team as sophomores over the years.