10U ????

[MVPETE]

T-Shark - Not meaning to pick on 10U - not my intention. What I was picking on was some of the posts that are claiming to be the best 10U team - my point being that many factors - some that older teams don't have to deal with as much come into play in 10U and the play of teams can really depend on these factors. I give props to parents and 10U's that have made the committment to Travel - it's hard for little ones. I have a friends with 10U daughters on several of the what has been said to be the top teams and your team should be on the list of top teams.

[hotwheels]

T-Shark - Not meaning to pick on 10U - not my intention. What I was picking on was some of the posts that are claiming to be the best 10U team - my point being that many factors - some that older teams don't have to deal with as much come into play in 10U and the play of teams can really depend on these factors. I give props to parents and 10U's that have made the committment to Travel - it's hard for little ones. I have a friends with 10U daughters on several of the what has been said to be the top teams and your team should be on the list of top teams.

I'll defend myself for the fun of it......I give the 10's a hard time strictly for the parents....I spent the last 2 years in 10's and there is no crazier group of people than the parents.....I saw more crazy parents who were living through their kid in 10's than I have seen in 2 years of 12's, 2 years of 14's, and 1 year of 16's......Amuzing!

Kids are great through!

[BonezMom]

T-Shark - Not meaning to pick on 10U - not my intention. What I was picking on was some of the posts that are claiming to be the best 10U team - my point being that many factors - some that older teams don't have to deal with as much come into play in 10U and the play of teams can really depend on these factors. I give props to parents and 10U's that have made the committment to Travel - it's hard for little ones. I have a friends with 10U daughters on several of the what has been said to be the top teams and your team should be on the list of top teams.

I'll defend myself for the fun of it......I give the 10's a hard time strictly for the parents....I spent the last 2 years in 10's and there is no crazier group of people than the parents.....I saw more crazy parents who were living through their kid in 10's than I have seen in 2 years of 12's, 2 years of 14's, and 1 year of 16's......Amuzing!

Kids are great through!

BTW HW.... we are up to 14 now....

[J.D.]

We've talked a lot about which 10u teams have great pitchers (lots of props to those girls)... What about the catchers! Which 10u teams out there have great catchers?

Anyone have some feed back???

[Empire United]

We've talked a lot about which 10u teams have great pitchers (lots of props to those girls)... What about the catchers! Which 10u teams out there have great catchers?

Anyone have some feed back???

While we are a young '99 team and still in building mode, I think one of our bright spots is that we have a great #1 '98 catcher (#2 is a '99 and our #3 is few days shy of being an '00). We've "stunned" quite a few "top teams" getting those throw downs to 2nd and picking off unsuspecting runners at 3rd which she loves to do. A few weeks ago we played a "top team" and our catcher picked off a runner on 3rd. 3rd base coach had the most disgusted look on his face and even swatted his runner on the helmet as she was going back to the dug-out. There was no need for that because she got picked off by one of the better 10U catchers playing in SoCal. Just my $.02.

We haven't played every 10U team out there, and I am sure there are some outstanding catchers, but none really came to mind off-hand. I can definately talk pitchers on some of the 10U's that were really outstanding and kicked our butts but I'd have to really go back and think about catchers or even look at past stats.

[coachEd]

Well, nobody has a "great" catcher. Some of these girls are pretty decent receivers. Some of them have strong arms (but poor footwork) and throw out a relatively high percentage of runners. Some of them do a decent job blocking balls in the dirt (or at least attempt to). But, none of them is the complete package, nor could you possibly expect that they would be at 10u. None of them has the leadership skills that makes a "great" catcher, nor could you possibly expect that they would. You are loathe to even find a "great" catcher in 14u, much less in 10u. Being able to throw out runners is meaningless if you cant block a pitch in the dirt and let runners move up for "free". Blocking balls and being a good receiver is meaningless if you cant throw out anybody stealing because you have lousy footwork. So, there are some girls that do a pretty decent job overall, but you wont find any "great" catchers in 10u.

I will say this about the overall level of play of the 2009 class of 10u. This is my second go around with my oldest DD now in college. Comparing the 2001 10u class with this year's 2009 class, there is just no comparison since the level of play of the players has picked up dramatically in the past 8 years. There are alot more girls now taking private lessons (pitching, fielding, hitting, catching) at 7 or 8 yrs. old than there were back then. So, the level of play for this year's class is well above 2001. The good thing is, from my 2001 10u team, 50% of those girls are now playing softball in college (all of them are in college, thankfully). I can only hope to see an even higher number for the 2009 class 8 years from now. And isnt that a big part of why they are playing travel ball to begin with; to hopefully go to college? These girls are only going to get better by playing at the highest level possible to keep ahead of the rest of the pack. So, for the naysayers that think playing travel ball at 10u is ridiculous, think again. Times have changed alot in the past 8 years, and they will continue to change over the next 8 years.

[easyout]

Dancing in the Desert predictions, should be a good tourney Franchise a favorite Dynasty and Desperados should be there in semis, other choice for the final four is a crap shoot Team Smith, Aztecs, or maybe Strike Force putting something together. Still would be an upset if Franchise does not win it.

[onthejuice]

We've talked a lot about which 10u teams have great pitchers (lots of props to those girls)... What about the catchers! Which 10u teams out there have great catchers?

Anyone have some feed back???

While we are a young '99 team and still in building mode, I think one of our bright spots is that we have a great #1 '98 catcher (#2 is a '99 and our #3 is few days shy of being an '00). We've "stunned" quite a few "top teams" getting those throw downs to 2nd and picking off unsuspecting runners at 3rd which she loves to do. A few weeks ago we played a "top team" and our catcher picked off a runner on 3rd. 3rd base coach had the most disgusted look on his face and even swatted his runner on the helmet as she was going back to the dug-out. There was no need for that because she got picked off by one of the better 10U catchers playing in SoCal. Just my $.02.

We haven't played every 10U team out there, and I am sure there are some outstanding catchers, but none really came to mind off-hand. I can definately talk pitchers on some of the 10U's that were really outstanding and kicked our butts but I'd have to really go back and think about catchers or even look at past stats.

Just a guess, but the #1 catcher is your DD.

[easyout]

Definitely likes to prop his own Good job Empire United!!!

[TheCloser]

Desperados and if Dynasty's top pitcher throws against Franchise they can pull off the upset. If you saw the AA's game versus Franchise in a tourney this year you should bunt all day against that "D".