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This is a travel ball team. The coach was on here a few times in the fall indicating they were going to do this.
I know from my experience though, the 16u level around Ohio and neighboring states draw the most college coaches. To move these kids to 18u is not going to do them any favors. They will get exposed less to coaches and because of the level of play may hurt the exposure that they do get by getting soundly defeated often.
another point about playing up. If all 12u start playing at 14u, then in reality, you really are playing your own age teams anyway. The Slammers as a older 12U team played up at 14U. This in reality may not have been as big as step as it may seem, if many of the 14u teams they were playing were young.
It works for some, not for others.
usually in pickups and around nationals time, you are trying to play at your own age group and see where you stand. A pickup is normally at the top age limit of an age group. There would not be much sense to pick up a younger player that is physically weaker, slower, etc unless she would be a dominant pitcher.
I know from my experience though, the 16u level around Ohio and neighboring states draw the most college coaches. To move these kids to 18u is not going to do them any favors. They will get exposed less to coaches and because of the level of play may hurt the exposure that they do get by getting soundly defeated often.
another point about playing up. If all 12u start playing at 14u, then in reality, you really are playing your own age teams anyway. The Slammers as a older 12U team played up at 14U. This in reality may not have been as big as step as it may seem, if many of the 14u teams they were playing were young.
It works for some, not for others.
usually in pickups and around nationals time, you are trying to play at your own age group and see where you stand. A pickup is normally at the top age limit of an age group. There would not be much sense to pick up a younger player that is physically weaker, slower, etc unless she would be a dominant pitcher.