Question about Teams Playing up

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There is an area team that I know about that is going from 14U last year right into 18U this season.
Why do teams choose to do this? Is it to showcase their players? Is the competition that much stronger in the 18U as opposed to the 16U? Are there more quality tournaments at the 18U level? I know that there are different reasons why coaches do this but I do not coach and I can't figure it out why.
Any insight?
Thanks

 

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Used to be a lot more common , but as the 16U has gotten tougher, more teams are staying within their age group.

 

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My 12U team the Urbana LunaChix are going to play in a 14U summer league. It will give them stiffer comp and only make them better

 

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14U to 18U???? Wow, that's a big leap. I'm not certain skipping 16U all-together is a good idea. I can only assume this team is extremely strong and can hang at the 18U level.

 

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That seems like quite a big jump. Being able to compete is one thing but if they play 60 games and lose 40 by 1 run its still going to take a toll. If your steam rolling the teams in your age group moving up makes sense but if your playing 500 theres no point.

 

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There is an area team that I know about that is going from 14U last year right into 18U this season.
Why do teams choose to do this? Is it to showcase their players? Is the competition that much stronger in the 18U as opposed to the 16U? Are there more quality tournaments at the 18U level? I know that there are different reasons why coaches do this but I do not coach and I can't figure it out why.
Any insight?
Thanks

I haven't seen or heard of any teams that have to move up, skipping 16U and going straight to 18U, and I spend alot of time nosing around. ?

Not to mention, that my team played 14U last year and saw most of the 14U teams. ?And I can't say I saw any teams that should skip 16U.

TMZ would be curious to find out who this super team is? ?Probably right up there with B. Spears. :-/

 

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There is probably tougher competition at 16u than 18u and more tournaments with more teams, not to mention pitching from 43 feet at 18u.

 

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I did not think you could move up 2 age levels?

 

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Bigtrain's team, the Slammers always seem to play up from 12U to 14U most tournaments unless the tournament rules dictacted they play in their normal bracket and did quite well. According to the ASA the Slammers 5th place finish in 12U last season at the ASA nationals was the highest an Ohio team ever placed at 12U so Bigtrain obviously feels his team benefits from playing up. However there is a major difference between 12u playing 14U compared to 14U playing at 18U and unless a tournament was desperate for teams I can't imagine a tournament director who would allow a 14U to participate at 18U.

 

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Sounds like this is a team that will be 16U (or true 15U) this year by age after playing 14U last year. ?I could see some 16U teams being able to compete at 18U if they are not entering the tougher tournaments. I've also heard people say that once you play varsity in high school it's 18U, but I argue that 18U travel teams are much tougher than your average high school team.

 

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A agree with the rest of the posts. I can't recall any team doing this in the past. A watch a bunch of softball and I Agree with Lady Knight , I didn't see at team last year that could jump up to 18U. At the younger ages, 10U-12U, it makes sense jumping up, because of the level of play. Even an older 14 Team with few 13U's, but this is a big jump. I think Big Train is playing up at the 16U level , with his 14U team, and I don't think we will see anyone better than the Slammers in 14U ball..

 

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Two points:
1. Teams can move up as high as they want... the "U" means under. 12U is definitely "under" 18. There is not rule prohibiting moving up but there is something that says if you play up then you may not play back down in specific situations. I am a tournament director and we only know what age group signs up to play in... there is no way that we know how old they actually are.
2. I am not a big fan to always playing up unless you are just totally domininating at your age group. In most cases, if you have all younger girls (13 year olds playing at 14U), it's hard enough to compete. Most teams struggle in this situation. The fruits of the struggle bears out when the girls are the "older" players in an age group... there may still be some struggles but it's also time to build self esteem.
Obviously it is never a problem playing a few games up an age group.
For those who don't know, one of the sound philosophies out there is that a team should never play a younger team. If you win, you are suppose to because you are older... if you lose, it's tough on the ego.
If I am a younger team, I always look to play up because if we lose... that's ok. If we win... hooray!!!!!!!!!!
Ask BigTrain on his struggle finding an older team to play.

 

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Two points:
1. ?Teams can move up as high as they want... the "U" means under. ?12U is definitely "under" 18. ?There is not rule prohibiting moving up but there is something that says if you play up then you may not play back down in specific situations. ?I am a tournament director and we only know what age group signs up to play in... there is no way that we know how old they actually are.

I have not confirmed it but have been told that NSA rules prohibit a team from playing up more than 1 age level. ?ASA and PONY allow it (as we have done it... ?not the entire team but for a player on our roster).

 

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I'm curious how in ASA with the rules Do you get around that a player can only be on one team, even if that team is your 14U, team, unless she is released or she is picked up at the end of the year. ?

 

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my guess is it is a league team playing up at 18u league - not a tournament team. ?

personnaly I think teams playing up at ?10 and 12 and 14 is bad. ?When I coached 14u years ago, it felt like a wasted game for me when we would play these teams and beat them badly. ?I used to run a tournament team league and wouldn't allow it. ? When I get together to workout with my team I don't want to "teach" a younger team.

Now at 16 and 18 or even 14 tournaments... ?all bets are off if you can play that level, ?play that level. ? Play to match your competition and if some one gets an easy game on the weekend well good for them. ?My 16 team plays 18 frequently. ?

 

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SB family... it is very difficult for a tournament director to know if a girl is rostered on more than one team unless one of the coaches brings it up. I did have a coach lose a player and did not want to release her. I went to the opposing coach and also the Dad and explained the situation that she cannot play on the second team until the first team releases her. After some tough negotiations, I persuaded the first coach to release the player and I want to thank him for doing so. This is about girls playing softball and should not be about coaches' egos.

 

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I agree and that is not the point. ?You may know them better than I, but how did you get around 502C the 24 hour ?rule on releasing a player. I guess I feel that rules are written for a reason to keep us all on the same playing field. In the past ?before we used computers you ran into girls playing on many different teams , just so a coach could ?win a tournament.

 

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Well, first and foremost, I am here to give opportunities for girls to play softball. It would have been a different issue if this would have been a qualifier or championship tournament which I strongly encourage to follow rules. The team picking up the player was just a good rec. team. I am not saying that I was right according to the exact written rules... but, sometimes we do what we have to do.

 

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I would love to know the team you have inquired about in the beginning of the post. Maybe you dont have all the facts from the team.

 

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From previous posts, I am assuming it is a team from NE Ohio. ?I feel pretty confident that the original poster may not have all the facts, and this team is probably just playing up a few tourneys, as alot of teams do, but the majority of their games will be at 16U.
Or as someone stated previously, it is a Rec/All-Star team that will be playing in B level 18U tourneys.

What really leads me to these assumptions, are the tourneys that are happening this year in and around Ohio. ?16U NSA Nationals(Columbus), 16U NSA States(Cincinnati), 16U ASA States(Massillon), 16U ASA National Qualifier(Pickerington), 16U ASA Region #9 Qualifier(Ashland), plus the fact that 16U ASA/USA Nationals are in Owensboro, Kentucky.

Any team worthy of skipping 16U would be crazy to skip any of these tourneys!!!