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offspeed4
169 Posts |
 Posted - 01/13/2013 : 22:27:27
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| When is it time to move down a level of play (Major to AAA and/or AAA to AA)? Should you move your kid down a level of play if they are in the top 25% in fielding and pitching or hitting, but they are in the bottome 25% in the other category (pitching/fielding or hitting)? I am primarily inquiring about the young ages (9u-12u). Another way of looking at it is would you keep your kid at the major level if they were a really good hitter but struggled to get on the field defensively; and would you keep your kid in major ball if he was a really good pitcher and fielder, but struggled hitting major pitching? |
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bball2000
39 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2013 : 08:02:07
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When you are on the bench more than on the field, move to a team where you can get the experience. Not much difference in major and high level AAA team. Only way to improve is to play the game, spectators don't improve. |
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Canton Chargers
885 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2013 : 08:48:33
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Probably case by case scenario on who you are playing for and who they compete against. If the player is on a major team that is really competitve, then maybe your player would find it better on a less competitive Major team or if your Major team is not very competitive, then maybe it is not a major team to start out with and should probably drop at least a level to see how they stand. We are looking for a good contact hitter that can play as either a starter or utility player on my team. Not sure where you are playing and how competitive your team is, so hard to tell much about your player to give a valid opinion on your situation. If your player is not getting much playing time on a competitive major team, does he still benefit from practicing with better players or competiting against better players when he does get his time in the games? If not, then I would either move down a level or find a more suitable team for your player at the major level. If he has historically done well at his level, then maybe your on a team whereby your player is not in the group that the coach is looking for to win ball games IN HIS OPINION. His opinion is really the only one that counts on HIS TEAM, so you really have to be honest with yourself on where your player stands. There are many great players that move from one team to another based on their playing time. That's usually why rosters turnover so much at this level.
Reasons can range from "daddy ball" to "the kid just doesn't fit in the mold of what the team needs at that particular time".
Like I stated above, be honest with yourself on how your player stands up against his teammates and then I would go from there. If he is capable of getting decent playing time on a major team, then I would go that route as he will be pushed to try harder to compete and is what a lot of us parents want for our kids to succeed either in sports or anything they do. If he just plain can't keep up at the major level anymore, then I would find a lower level team as pushing too hard to keep up, when not realistic, can kill his love of the game and make him want to quit. I see that a lot too at a lot of levels. Sometimes because player is great, but just on wrong team for whatever reason or kid just can't keep up, but parent or kid refuses to believe they are nothing less than a major player.
Like I said, case by case as in just about everything.
Contact me if you would like to discuss further, as I hate to see kids lose the love of the game for circumstances beyond their control. Maybe I can suggest some different teams at whatever levels.
Good luck,
Rich
678-977-0254 |
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Moving down a level of play
