As a true 11u team this season we played as hard a schedule as we could - Lasers Inv, Stringrays, Dayton Metro Nat Q, GAPPS, Doom ASA, Heat n it Up, and ASA 12u State - in addition to a Beavercreek USSSA, ChixCup NSA and Rip n it up.
Our record is 34-19. We told our kids and parents that going .500 would be great for this season. We set that expectation early on. Turns out we won the ChixCup, Beavercreek tourney and a horrible umpire illegal pitch call kept us out of the Rip n it Up final. We scheduled 4 tourny's (see the prev 3 plus the Doom one) that we thought we chould win if we played well. We won 2 and finished 2nd in Doom.
At all the other tourney's we ended up with a slightly higher than .500 record. We played the Lasers, ICE, Heat 97, Orange, Nitro, and other many times. The Nitro/Red are the only other '98 teams we saw week in and week out.
So, are we better? - YES. I have no doubt we are.
In the past 3 weeks the girls have finally become comfortable seeing 55 mph pitching, hard line shots, gappers and great players every game. We had a period in late June where we found our kids 'rushing' and trying too hard .. finally they began to relax, and 2 weekends ago, they rolled at the ChixCup - playing flawless ball to win it. Last weekend at GAPPS we went 3-2 before the rain, losing to the ICE by 3 and Red by 4 runs, each game well played and solid.
Looking back, my observations are this:
1. I would do it again in a minute.
2. You had better have 'mature' girls if you are on the odd year.
3. You need 2 strong pitchers, 1 will not get it done, game in, game out.
4. You need to lower your expectations - our team hit .303 for the season. We had 7 girls over .300 - I was very happy with that. Team era is what won for us: 2.74 - pitching is key.
5. You had better be able to play defense and field rockets off the bat.
6. Outfield is key - they have to run balls down and make plays.
7. PRESSURE / TENSION is large. There are no 'OFF' games, no teams you can beat without bringing your 'A' game - that is what gets the kids, coaches and parents .. every game is hard and intense. We have had to adjust there more than anywhere - it make everyone short tempered and tense .. thankfully we have great parents and when we had our 'moments' we all sit back and thought about the goal - build for next season. The constant parade of great teams that you face every week does wear on everyone. Like I said, just a couple of weeks ago the kids have come to see it as normal and they are playing great... parents and coaches are still trying to adjust and keep our blood pressure's down though.
8. Cost - wow, we have played 6 FRIDAY's now, had 2 hotel stays every weekend.. did not see that coming. We are all out of vacation.
9. Mental quickness / decision making - girls need to know what to do with the ball and do it without hesitation. We asked our kids to throw the ball around the infield, behind runners, etc, early on. (got that from watching the WV Mtn Thunder in Dayton) It cost us some bases early on, now we get outs. Reading situations and making the right throw, taking the extra base, etc. is a key part of what seperates the top 5 teams from the rest as I see it.
I was warned early on that many teams have busted in their effort to play a very hard schedule for the first time, I see why.. it is a huge committment from everyone.
I hope this helps .. we are way better for having made the effort - I can't wait until next season to see how much different it will be at the 12u age.
What I learned as a coach and what we work on now at practice is way ahead of what I had ever thought. My coaches are sponges, every time we saw a drill and set play or coaching move we liked we copied it. There is no comparison between the top 15 teams and all the rest IMHO - they train more, play more and have better players .. it is a whole new experience. Bear in mind that our team has mostly played together since 9u - 7 of the girls started out together at 9u, 9 players moved up from 10u last year to 11u this season. The kids, parents and coaches have over 2 years of being together. We are trying to promote consistancy of roster within our org, getting good players together for several years at a time - tough to do, but we have been lucky so far...
Lastly, I did want to say that it was great to meet so many new coaches and parents .. the Heat '97 gang, Lasers Orange coaches and parents, Stingray's, Nitro, Glory, ICE, Danger and on and on.. all great folks ..we made many, many new friends this season - probably the most rewarding part of the summer...