12u Fall Teams to watch

[Momo's Dad]

Generally speaking, I agree with some of your points. My girls are older now, with the oldest just finishing college and the youngest just beginning. From my experience, and to make an over generalized statement, the girls that wait too long to get in to TB often end up being too far behind to catch up to the middle to top level players.
As far as your comment about my tone being the problem with society. Wow! That's a bit much. I might argue that overly emotional people that make much to do from nothing contribute to greater social issues than whatever tone you may have perceived.

How much, really? Just looking at the NorCal region alone, our economic woes are directly tied to a growing unwillingness to accept delayed gratification. Have you ever heard anyone around here talk about how 'greedy' the lenders were during the pricing run-up? What about the people who bought overvalued properties and then took cash out to buy expensive toys that began depreciating before they even got them home?

You honestly think the mindset driving so many of the parents to 'escape rec hell' is only about softball?

You do personally have a lot to be proud of (congratulations to both your daughters) and I take nothing away from that, but when I look at my yearly state tax obligation and the annual increases in municipal fees because of mismanagement by those hired for the tasks, it's really hard for me not to see how all these elements are a part of the same picture.

You could argue it's a case of overthink on my part and maybe you're right, but I still think patience is a virtue that should be stressed more, not less.

Getting back to the direct points of the top, I don't disagree that 16u is really late (to get into TB) for those who might wish to play for a large college program. But there is no shortage of college players who started during 14u and certainly 12u. The burnout rate of girls moving over in 10u, however, is high. I can't give you an exact number, I can only give you what I've observed. A player starting TB at age 9 doesn't have any discernible edge over a player starting at age 11 by the time both girls are 14. It's apples and oranges, but the same is true on the baseball side.

Yes, I'm speaking in generalizations, but I'm willing to bet you could relate to what I'm saying there based on what you've seen as well over the years.

[watchtonsofsoftball]

I tend to agree with a bit of both the above posters. You cant start TB at 16U. Its just to late, however 14U is fine IMO. My dd started TB as a 1st year 14 and all worked out well for us. She was a bit behind, but caught up VERY fast in the spring of her 8th grade year. By summer she was a top player on her team. It really gets down to the kids drive, nothing more. I will say, I have seen quite a few 10U TB players over the years no longer playing by 16. My dd never really got burned out with TB. I wish I would have started her at the time as a second year 12U but at the time I was in panic mode. Everyone was saying I waited to long at that time as well. It got down to my dd outworked everyone all the time and got better, while others were getting lazy or not putting the work in. The best advice I can give 10u-12u parents is relax. I know everyone says that, but if your kid works hard, is progressing as a player, everything will fall into place. We always believed that, and we were not let down

[In it to win it]

Well said!

[AdmittedBias]

If they get the dads out of the dugouts the sport will cease to exist.

Agreed, so it is a necessay evil but a fact none-the-less.

[Vipers99]

FYI this weekend in Stockton the E.B. Vipers beat the Grapettes-Norwood and the Crusaders.

[girlshaveballs]

Who won that Bratz tourney?????

[Vipers99]

KG Tracy ended up winning the tourney. Our girls were spent after getting a raw deal on brackets from Saturday. No excuses though we just were not deep enough in our roster to play 3 games in a row with no break. That's coaches fault not the girls. It will not happen again once we get a little more backup and not have to play Ironman with only 9 girls all weekend.

[Wilson Bats]

Please explain how you received a bad deal from your Saturday finish.

[Vipers99]

The t.d. let the grapes team pick the game to discard. They opted to play a 4th game since they were not coming on Sunday therefore creating an uneven bracket. I agree with throwing out A game but all of the tournaments we have played it has always been a blind draw not hand picking the game. By taking our game away from them they were ranked 2 and we were ranked 3 making us have to play 4 in a row to win the ship game. It's still our fault that we are playing ironman with 9 for the weekend but our girls beat the grapes fair and square and should have been placed in that slot especially when by them not coming on Sunday it left a lower ranked team with a 1st round bye. I just think it's a little strange to throw out a head to head game when it comes to ranking and also when that team wasn't even planning on coming on Sunday anyways.

[Iluvblue]

I have been in RR and Grapettes tourneys for 14 years and typically was handed an extra game if they had one to give. I was NEVER, EVER asked which game I would discard as far as the "Extra" game.

Did you hear the conversation with the TD that told the team they could CHOOSE which game would be the one that would not count against them? It is typically that teams 4th game of the day that doesnt count, or the game that was played in a different bracket.

And like anyone can foresee who would play 3 or 4 in a row? Cmon, go play the games, win the ma ll and not worry about where you are in the bracket. if you are good enough, it doesnt matter where you are.