Is it ok to skip 16U?

[Orange Socks]

Hmm, 'matter of fact' responses like this are pretty frustrating. Obviously all of our experiences are different but I'm going to have to leave you to do the specific showcase research. That said, Triple Crown, in fact does not allow college players in at least several of their showcases. Pretty sure TC would be considered 'reputable' right?

I think I am misunderstanding you. Are you saying you want your DD to play 18U travel ball events after she plays a year in college? If so, why?

I understand that college players are not allowed to play in Most sanctioned events, which only makes sense. In the past there have been some TB teams that had a handful of college age eligible to come back and compete in ASA Gold Nationals and I think they won. There were some pissed off people. Might have been a team from the East Coast.

There really should be no reason for a kid that played in a year in college to come back and play Travel Ball even if they are age eligible. My DD played 3 years in 18u and is happy to leave part of her life behind. In the Houston area there are no 23U summer leagues, but some coaches brought together college players that live around the region to play double headers and DD did some Sunday afternoon workouts with a bunch college players.

 

[bmakj]

I am thinking with the new recruiting rules that girls that are born Sept 1st -Dec 31th cannot even sign with D1 until they are already in 18U. I don't think this is a reason bit to play 16U but I wonder if it makes getting recruited harder for these girls born in the later half of the year. I have actually asked some of the local USSSA people of they would ever change age groups to natural school ages (not held back) but they said it will never happen.

nope it will not, in fact the opposite is happening, youth sports that used to be on a sports season (LL boys was age as of april 1 a few years ago I believe) calendar or school year calendar are moving to stright calendar calendar. because this is the international standard, all international play that is age regulated is based on Jan 1 ages.

in fact within a decade I xpect bb and sb to move to U99, rather than 99U, to align with all other sports. just to head off the question, 18u becomse 19u to include all HS players (unless held back).

 

[black17]

I think I am misunderstanding you. Are you saying you want your DD to play 18U travel ball events after she plays a year in college? If so, why?

I understand that college players are not allowed to play in Most sanctioned events, which only makes sense. In the past there have been some TB teams that had a handful of college age eligible to come back and compete in ASA Gold Nationals and I think they won. There were some pissed off people. Might have been a team from the East Coast.

There really should be no reason for a kid that played in a year in college to come back and play Travel Ball even if they are age eligible. My DD played 3 years in 18u and is happy to leave part of her life behind. In the Houston area there are no 23U summer leagues, but some coaches brought together college players that live around the region to play double headers and DD did some Sunday afternoon workouts with a bunch college players.

Well first and foremost, its about her desires, not mine. She would play anytime anywhere. Financially, I'm not overly thrilled about it honestly however, motivation to play softball is never a problem or even a question with my DD. The main driver now is her college coach is encouraging his healthy players to play travel due to the 40% reduction in games this season and into the foreseeable future. The rules to allow that seems to lack the current need at the moment.

 

[Orange Socks]

nope it will not, in fact the opposite is happening, youth sports that used to be on a sports season (LL boys was age as of april 1 a few years ago I believe) calendar or school year calendar are moving to stright calendar calendar. because this is the international standard, all international play that is age regulated is based on Jan 1 ages.

in fact within a decade I xpect bb and sb to move to U99, rather than 99U, to align with all other sports. just to head off the question, 18u becomes 19u to include all HS players (unless held back).

The Rec league that DD's played in used to do age cut off based on the calendar year since our league partners with the school district and all of our facilities (baseball, softball, basketball, lacrosse, soccer, and football) are located on the district grounds.

About 7 years ago, the softball board elected to change the age cut off to align with USA softball which is our governing body. Baseball made the changes to something similar as well that aligns with baseball age cutoffs. When the kids started playing summer All Stars everyone was confused as to which divisions their kids should tryout for.