Should incoming seniors play 16u

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Please advise your input on this. Some girls birthdays let them be eligible to play 16 u as juniors going into their senior year. If a girl is looking for a scholarship shouldnt she play 18u? Especially is she is a pitcher I would think that would make the most sense. Now this is with all things being equal and playing a competitive schedule. I know some girls next year that would fall in this category and I want to advise properly and or decide to move up. Please give me your input. Thanks

 

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there is a lot of discussion on this. many will tell you that the colleges go to 18u, others will tell you 16u. A lot depends on what size school you are looking for, as well as the direction and focus of the team.

There is something to be said to be on a strong (older) 16u, winning tournaments and finishing high at a nationals. This would be great exposure - especially, if the alternative is playing on a younger 18u, not finishing late on Sunday and if you do qualify, then going home early at Nationals.

My personal opinion is that a player should play at the level that they are best suited to play at. This means at 16u for a 17 year old spring baby who is not as strong, and at 18u for that 16u eligible stud.

There is the whole team chemistry thing, too, but you only have so many years to be seen, and wasting a year just doesnt make sense.

My position on my team is that if you have committed to us, and then feel that we are not right for you - thinking that you'd pefer to play elsewhere, just let me know. There is no sense in having a lousy season - and losing that year - just because of the commitment

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We've seen as much if not more recruiting at the 16u level than the 18u. The reason being most if not all 16u's havent signed yet, where 18u teams have more players spoken for.

 

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My DD played 16U last year, end of Junior year and beginning of Senior year. She has been recruited to play college ball and had offers from more than 1 college. I believe 16U is just as competitive, if not more competitive, than the 18U. She played 18U when she was 15. Regardless which league they play in, their stats need to be there.

 

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you will find a lot of div 3 and naia recruiting at the 18u. Less of the div 2. These folks are looking for fill ins to cover transfers, injuries, and general players needed due to turn.

 

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I think it depends a lot on the schedule of the team you're playing for. Do they play local tournaments, top flight tournaments over a wider area, showcases, etc. Still a lot of recruiting at 18U showcases (I guess because teams don't go unless they have a good number of players still eligible). And it depends on the tournament. I've seen college coaches watching 18U teams and when two 16U teams (good ones) took the field, the coaches walked away.

 

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Agree with VStorm until your last sentence about the stats. Stats are not that important to a college coach recruiting in summer, because they can be cooked, and the college coaches know they usually are to attract attention.

Simple formula - Desire to play in college? Should be playing in summer at the likes of Compuware, Sluggerfest, Stingrays etc. College coaches MUST see you perform at a high level in order to make a decision whether or not you are qualified for their roster. If YOUR summer team is not playing where the college coaches are, you're probably on the wrong team.

The age level you play at depends on the level of the tournament. The 12u Lasers could probably win some lower level tournaments playing up at 16u. That would never happen at Compuware. I can guarantee you that if your 16u team places within the top 3 at the above tournaments, you WILL be seen by college coaches - and a LOT of them. If you only play at community rec. level tournaments, you are definitely NOT being challenged. Besides, the college coaches are at the above mentioned tournaments.

If your goals are to play on a club team in college (recreational sports), I would not spent the money and invest the time travelling in summer. There is no wrong or right to either - it's what makes you happy and prepares you for life after college.

 

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Agree with others that there are multiple factors that come into play as to whether a girl should play 16U or 18U (e.g. level of team and tournaments and goal and skill level of the player). From my daughter?s experience so far, though, it seems SOME college coaches at least like to see a pitcher playing up.

My daughter played 18U last summer (the summer before her junior year), attending mostly big showcases and ASA ?A? qualifiers. Since then she has had several unofficial visits at DI and DII universities and has received one DII offer. The DII offer came from a university that only saw her at the 18U ASA nationals. The coach there stated that ONE of the reasons he was making the offer to my daughter (a pitcher) was she chose ?the challenge of playing 18U?.

A couple of the coaches at the DI universities did not specifically express that their interest in her was based upon her playing up. Instead, they mentioned the high level of tournaments she played ? that this demonstrated her ?level of commitment to the sport? (a level of commitment the coaches identified was needed to play DI softball).

At the same time, I have to point out that it was something of a GAMBLE for my daughter to play 18U last summer and that I have heard of other juniors who have received offers although they played 16U the summer before their junior year.

It was a gamble for my daughter to play 18U because there was serious doubt whether her predominantly young team would get a berth to 18U ASA nationals and indeed had the team not won 3 games in a row in the loser?s bracket to get its berth at the regional tournament, the team would have never made it to ASA nationals and my daughter would not have been seen by the coach who made her the offer.

So whatever the girl decides to do, realize there are a lot of factors that come into play, including perhaps just plain dumb luck.