odd number age group?

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Been in the travel ball circle for awhile now and I see more and more of these 11u, 13u, 15u teams popping up. For the most part these team play in tounaments that don't offer other these age groups. I suppose the thought process for a (Odd) team like this is to keep the group together for the next year when they will have a second year team at that age group. My question is do ogranizations do this? Or do they have tryouts? If they have tryouts why do the (Odd) age group thing? Just wanting some opinion on this, I don't know if it is a good idea.

 

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IMO ...It seems age groups have stayed with the 2 year plan due to the players developement in stages. With the amount of players in private training now in the developement, many teams would love to have players stay 3 years but it does not work in the math with 12, 14, 16's, putting odd numbers into a even square does not work unless the player plays up in a age group which most are doing already.
We all hate to say goodbye to a player who fits in and plays with the team. 15U tournaments would be great but the 16U is serving the same purpose. Maybe its the one year edge factor?

 

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Been in the travel ball circle for awhile now and I see more and more of these 11u, 13u, 15u teams popping up. For the most part these team play in tounaments that don't offer other these age groups. I suppose the thought process for a (Odd) team like this is to keep the group together for the next year when they will have a second year team at that age group. My question is do ogranizations do this? Or do they have tryouts? If they have tryouts why do the (Odd) age group thing? Just wanting some opinion on this, I don't know if it is a good idea.

i personally never cared for the idea due to the fact youre doing it in part to have the younger age grow together and really compete the following year, which is almost like saying we dont plan on winning this year and were working for next year. Then you have the problem that comes up that theres no guarantee you keep those girls together because of turnover come tryout time, if you lose part of your team, whats the point?

 

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It works for us. We don't plan on losing all year to build for next year, we plan on kicking your butts this year AND next!!

 

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Chris ,,,,I think Klump has her butt kickin boots on and lookin your way

 

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I think it works for many organizations, and I think it only makes the team stronger if they can grow together.

My daughter played on a true 11u team 2yrs ago that did very well, and I will bet you that same team will fair very well as a true 13u team.

Their sister team that is now 14u does very well no matter what age they compete in and did extremely well at ASA Nationals last year in 14u as a 13u team.

 

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My 11u team is the first team to be odd for the entire roster for the Static. Our 12u's are also going with "like" birthdates so we can be age specific and plan to stay this way for the years to come if it makes sense talent wise and coaching wise. We too do not plan on loosing all year but also know that developement never stops, applying for tournaments that make sense are rationalized, and we will never stop growing together. My team has such a great chemistry and that is an added bonus.

I will say I liked hearing what Crystl Bustos said a couple months back at the Coach's Clinic at Kings High School. She said Her CA team disappears every other year because they "HAVE" to build the necessary skills prior to going into a competive schedule at the next age group...then year two in the bracket....look out!! The odd years are not as important on the tournament front as the developement was in her explanation. I love that and actually think similar.

Having said that, we do expect to show up each weekend with our sights on Sunday.

 

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Our organization has three 14u teams this year,but our team is a 13u (`96) team. Since we are at that tricky age now due to OHSAA rules, our team being an 8th grade team, we can practice and play all winter and spring long one last year. Most 14u teams that are mixed with younger and older girls or all older 14u have the problem of loosing girls here shortly due to OHSAA and their high school teams.
In our case we will continute to play ball this winter and spring while many teams will be on basic shut down til late May.

No matter what age group if teams can keep girls the same age together and keep the core together, they will be in better shape. With the mix match of younger and older, each year you are loosing player due to moving up in age group. Easier to fill the gaps to have an all same age team than a mix team in my opinion.

 

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this concept, and those that think its good, should then never complain when they get to high school and all Juniors and Seniors are automaticaly on Varsity while their DD and all Freshman and Sophmores are on JV. Even when the incoming Freshman is by far the best player at the school. We all talk about the high schools should roster the top 12 players and play the best 9. well shouldn't the travel teams do the same.

 

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then everyone should check out this thread

http://www.game-ex.com/vb3/showthread.php?t=22993

 

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I think it has more to do with those looking for a team than those putting together the team, or maybe a bit of both. If my dd was looking for a new team (which she isn't) I would be looking for a true 16u so she could stay with the friends she'll make for years to come. I don't want to familiarize myself with a whole new group of parents every year either. Make them all the same age and provide some continuity year-to-year.

 

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this concept, and those that think its good, should then never complain when they get to high school and all Juniors and Seniors are automaticaly on Varsity while their DD and all Freshman and Sophmores are on JV. Even when the incoming Freshman is by far the best player at the school. We all talk about the high schools should roster the top 12 players and play the best 9. well shouldn't the travel teams do the same.

What does that have to do with high school ball? Our 12U team was young last year and they all moved up together. 6 girls from our 10U team were moving up and there was no room for them on the 12U. Why should they all get broken up because the 12U team is full? Why not have an 11U team and a 12U team? It doesn't make us less competitive than the older team, just younger. Like I said, what does that have to do with high school ball?

 

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i Was just stating that the high school might have the same thought, keep the same 12 girls playing together for 4 years, like the travel teams with odd age groups... I personaly feel you make the best and strongest team possible, age or grade should not come into play. What you choose to do is your buisness, but i see alot of parents that want this, 12 girls that aways play at the same age and team. Then Highschool hits and they feel their DD should be on varsity instead on a junior or senior... I just find it IRONIC thats all

 

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How do you make the strongest travel team possible without age coming into effect? That is why there are age groups. I can only choose from 11 and 12 year olds, I don't have a choice between 13-17 year olds like high school teams.

 

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I think that we also have to think about the family side of travel ball. If a player and her family finds a group of coaches, and sometimes more importantly, a group of families that they enjoy being around, it is a lot easier to make the family sacrifices that travel ball presents. By keeping the girls' together with similar birth years, you can take some of the "unknown" factor away, as a family, from the team selection as you move on through the years.

We have decided to go with a true 11U team in our tranition from 10's this year and the experience has been great. You hope to keep a "majority" of the girls together for years to come and it's nice to see their friendships grow during that time.

 

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With the thread question in mind "odd number age groups", I would like to expand on that a little bit, and pose the question..."How long has the majority of your team been together??"

This will be the 4th year together for 6 of my players, and 5th year for 3 of those six. We put the team together as a 14U team and all but one was age appropriate, one has played up a year the entire time.

We did pick up 6 new players this year that are all tremendously talented and will gel really nicely into a team that I am excited to coach and watch this coming year.

 

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MY Dd played 2 years with the same 12u team but had to move because they are staying 12u. We joined a 13u team. The fact that it is a 13u team was part of the attraction to this team. Now she has a chance to stay with a core group of talented girls and great coaching for years to come. Next year she won't lose a teammate and friend because of when they were born. We are not at all worried about playing 14u teams, we have already beat some and will but a thumping to many more.

 

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I really have no idea what it has to do with High School ball. There is no comparison! Even with Travel ball you still try to get the best players that you can with age restraints, however, high school ball has a wider range and are generally less competitive because you do have non-travel players that play. Therefore, it should not matter the age in high school, it should matter who is the best. There are still plenty of girls playing up on travel teams and if they are the best...they play!

 

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With the thread question in mind "odd number age groups", I would like to expand on that a little bit, and pose the question..."How long has the majority of your team been together??"

Our Hawks 98 Black team will be in it's 3rd year together. We started as first year 10's. The first year we had 4 girls move up to 12u, we replaced them with 2nd year 10's and now our entire team is 11u. We returned 8 from last years team, 6 of the original 10u team. We are all about keeping them together for years to come. We are highly selective about our add's to the team - we have 10 players currently (one girl had to leave due to family health issues) - we will not add a girl until she has worked out with us for a month and we know that she and her family are a fit. Replacing players is disruptive to the team, esp if it results in position changes.

As for winning, our goal is to win this year at 12u. We are playing in GAPPS, 'Rays, and Lasers in addition to the USA/ASA 'A' Dayton Q. It will be bruising but will just harden them all the more. Rather than put them in an easier set of tourney's we decided to play to the level we aspire to win at. The positive side effect is that the girls know they have their work cut out and we added a 2nd 2hr workout on Sunday nights in addition to our normal weekly 2 hr session - totally optional, yet they are all coming to both each week.

 

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We are not at all worried about playing 14u teams, we have already beat some and will but a thumping to many more.

I hear ya musty, I seen your girls last fall, they are going to do just fine, thank you very much...