Another day in trophy chasing

[_MIA_]

The longer I'm around the sport the more I believe that there should be no "Classes" in travel ball. C teams sandbag (see it in my area all the time) A teams play down to trophy chase.
We haven't played a Utrip tournament in years and I don't miss it one bit.
We have an 18U team in our area that started out as a first year 12u C team. Today they are an 18U C team. Yes... they play in mostly B tournaments and get schalacked. 10 of 13 kids are there from day 1. I remember as some of these kids left Rec and wanted to one day play in college. I get C tournaments are a place for younger kids (09's etc) to play similar competition but the whole class thing doesn't support growth for some teams IMO

Most coaches put winning a trophy over development, plain and simple. DD's team playing in two tournaments this Fall where we may not win a game and I am more excited for my DD to play in those then the other 5 tournaments where they have a chance to actually win a trophy...

 

[BradyC87]

The longer I'm around the sport the more I believe that there should be no "Classes" in travel ball. C teams sandbag (see it in my area all the time) A teams play down to trophy chase.
We haven't played a Utrip tournament in years and I don't miss it one bit.
We have an 18U team in our area that started out as a first year 12u C team. Today they are an 18U C team. Yes... they play in mostly B tournaments and get schalacked. 10 of 13 kids are there from day 1. I remember as some of these kids left Rec and wanted to one day play in college. I get C tournaments are a place for younger kids (09's etc) to play similar competition but the whole class thing doesn't support growth for some teams IMO

Depends if the programs are using the class system correctly or not. They are made to be building blocks, not so clubs can collect as much money as possible by having 2 teams at each level every single season and not develop the players.

If there is a team that started 1st year 12U as a C team and is still all together but playing 18U C then someone is doing something wrong.

 

[radness]

The longer I'm around the sport the more I believe that there should be no "Classes" in travel ball. C teams sandbag (see it in my area all the time) A teams play down to trophy chase.
We haven't played a Utrip tournament in years and I don't miss it one bit.
We have an 18U team in our area that started out as a first year 12u C team. Today they are an 18U C team. Yes... they play in mostly B tournaments and get schalacked. 10 of 13 kids are there from day 1. I remember as some of these kids left Rec and wanted to one day play in college. I get C tournaments are a place for younger kids (09's etc) to play similar competition but the whole class thing doesn't support growth for some teams IMO

Notice also teams/coaches seem to sort threw the venues fairly well. Mostly picking what fits for the team.
So the venues kinda classify themselves.
Still leaves the opportunity for challenge there.
Interesting here if a top tier team went and played a lower venue tournament even winning it, would not be impressive on the schedule. Really dont see that happening...
Even showcase things catagorize a bit.

Agree that people seeing other levels opens eyes to possibility!

 

[radness]

Depends if the programs are using the class system correctly or not. They are made to be building blocks, not so clubs can collect as much money as possible by having 2 teams at each level every single season and not develop the players.

If there is a team that started 1st year 12U as a C team and is still all together but playing 18U C then someone is doing something wrong.

To inquire further...
How is that 12uC to 18uC classified wrongly?
What is right way to classify?

 

[BradyC87]

To inquire further...
How is that 12uC to 18uC classified wrongly?
What is right way to classify?

I meant more along the lines that somehow in 6+ years a team who's been together the whole time and their coaches don't think they have improved beyond the C level then something is wrong. Either the coaches aren't developing players or they are developing but are just staying at the lower level just to win games and not actually play competitively.

 

[radness]

I meant more along the lines that somehow in 6+ years a team who's been together the whole time and their coaches don't think they have improved beyond the C level then something is wrong. Either the coaches aren't developing players or they are developing but are just staying at the lower level just to win games and not actually play competitively.

Yes that would be odd !

Asking anyone can you please explain system to classify teams.
Who thinks system works, accurate?

 

[_MIA_]

Yes that would be odd !

Asking anyone can you please explain system to classify teams.
Who thinks system works, accurate?

Here in OK, after 14U there are very few teams classified as C in USSSA. Last season there were 3 in 16's and none in 18. On the otherhand in 14's there were 19, in 12's there were 31 and in 10's there were 32. Teams self-classify and very rarely does USSSA re-classify.

DD's team is classified as 12B for 2021 but in the Fall are playing in 2 out-of-state tournaments with some of the best 12U teams in the country. The rest of the (local) tournaments in the Fall are Open tournaments so in the Fall they could have classified as 12A and not have it effect their schedule. I guess in the Spring he might play a few B tournaments (they are not good enough to dominate good B teams) which is probably why he classified as 12B.

 

[BradyC87]

Yes that would be odd !

Asking anyone can you please explain system to classify teams.
Who thinks system works, accurate?

I think any of the systems would work fine if every coach was honest about their team's ability but we all know how that goes...

The goal should be to want competitive games, not enter a tournament, and run rule your way to 1st place. Nobody improves in that situation.

 

[Orange Socks]

Where does 18U C even exist?

 

[texasck1]

As the father of a pitcher, we have picked up a couple times to get mound time (DD wasn't getting much time on her B class team with 2 studs ahead of her) and those teams were not that good. DD made a huge difference for them. It wasn't intentional to get a trophy, but for those girls it was cool to see them have fun being competitive, winning a couple games, and getting excited to move a little deeper in the bracket.

I see the C class a little different. I believe it has 2 purposes.
1 - To help developing teams get playing time and not be 4 and out every weekend. Being able to compete with similar level teams and have some success to get better to move up.
2 - There are girls out there who love the game, but honestly will never be on that next level. If they are C class and stay that way thru 18U, who cares. They are enjoying the game and playing at a level that they are capable of competing. Sometime I feel like we as a community can be snobs and look down on those who not are playing for the college scholarship, but just because they love the game.

Can and is the class system abused? Absolutely, but those are the ones who the alphabet orgs need to regulate better. It's their system and shame on them if they don't regulate it correctly.