Roster quest: 5 teams or 6?

[Momo'sDad]

10u, 61 girls registered (with late registration still available another few weeks)

Agent says 5 teams of 12 (one with 13) is best, because of injuries and absenteeism. President agrees and says schedule can be rounded out with double-headers.

Two of the coaches would rather go 6 teams of 10 each, knowing that several teams will end up with 11 by the time we get to the drop-dead date. One of the coaches has no preference either way, and I'm not sure about the other coach. Scheduling logistics aside, I lean more towards the smaller rosters allowing for greater participation. I also think we'd see less absences if girls knew they were going to play more innings. But, I will support the league decision if 5 is the number. One potential downside of 5 is that we'd be capped at 65 girls, as no coach is willing to go with a roster of 14.

The president did say, however, that if necessary, we could split the one set of coaches, but if that's going to be done, I would think we'd want to have that sorted out before the draft tomorrow.

Am I looking at this the wrong way? And if you were coaching this age, would you rather have 12 to work with or just 10, but a completely balanced schedule...and an easier substitution matrix to manage?

 

[SnocatzDad]

If it's rec ball and the kids all just play each other I would definitely go with 6 teams (allows all teams to play every game night) and in that situation it's fairly simple to borrow a player for an evening if someone is down to 8 and you have 10 and for rec ball playing with 8 isn't the worst thing that can happen. If it's more of a travelling ball league (playing other cities, longer season, potential out of state trips) a roster of 10 is not managable for an entire season. with 6 teams of 10 you can just about guarantee that 3 of them will be down to 9 players at some point and one team will face weekends with only 7 or 8 healthy players. I understand the intent of wanting to get the kids more playing time, but you have to balance that with the risk that you will not have enough players to legally start a game.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

If it is a local league, go with 6 and allow liberal borrowing, if a team is short.

 

[KevinC]

I agree I'd rather have 6 smaller teams as long as you have a system in place to borrow players from other teams.

Last year in 10U rec ball I had 13 players on my roster and it was a real pain trying to be fair with infield time when they were all there.

 

[Momo'sDad]

Although my daughter has wanted me to coach her before, I'm really glad I've waited until now to do so. I know a lot more now about the game and coaching than I ever have and a lot of the rec-rule restrictions have been removed. There is no mandatory infield time for girls who might not be ready for it. We've got a number of new players and none of the 10u coaches will put them in a position where they are likely to get hurt.

I don't know if we have any provision for borrowing players, but will look into that. I'd like to avoid the doubleheaders myself. Softball Saturdays can be long enough already when we get behind schedule. I'd hate to be an hour behind and then have to play 3 hours.

As I look over my draft sheet, we've got 24-25 girls who are ready for infield play, so we could get reasonable talent balance either way.

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

Although my daughter has wanted me to coach her before, I'm really glad I've waited until now to do so. I know a lot more now about the game and coaching than I ever have and a lot of the rec-rule restrictions have been removed. There is no mandatory infield time for girls who might not be ready for it. We've got a number of new players and none of the 10u coaches will put them in a position where they are likely to get hurt.

I don't know if we have any provision for borrowing players, but will look into that. I'd like to avoid the doubleheaders myself. Softball Saturdays can be long enough already when we get behind schedule. I'd hate to be an hour behind and then have to play 3 hours.

As I look over my draft sheet, we've got 24-25 girls who are ready for infield play, so we could get reasonable talent balance either way.

A couple of suggestions:

1) less is more at 10U rec regarding players. I would definitely take 10 vs 12.

2) don't just put the best players in the infield. Teach the new girls how to field, catch, throw, and hit and rotate them in. With 60 foot base paths and 11" safety ball no one is going to get any serious injury. If you or the parents are that concerned, get the new players a fielders mask. Remember its a sport, there's going to be some contact, don't dumb down the game for them. The only way for them to get better is to learn it and actually do it.

3) Patience, patience, patience and lots of praise...

 

[3'sDad]

I've been in both the alternatives you describe....my $0.02 is to go with 6 teams and allow for guest play if someone is short.....the more innings played, the nmore every girl will enjoy the season. This is 10U rec ball, the goal is to teach them to play and make sure they have fun doing so.

 

[FPMark]

socalsoftballdad is correct about letting the new girls play infield also. And I would add that you should also suggest/recomend/maybe even require all infielders to wear masks now, before it becomes an issue later. Plus it can give them a lot more confidence to charge the ball and field it in front instead of sidestepping it.

 

[Coach JV]

If it is a local league, go with 6 and allow liberal borrowing, if a team is short.

Your rec team is only as good as the bottom of the roster, coach them 'up'
and the season will be a breeze. Managing 13 is a nightmare, thus the 6 teams

 

[Momo'sDad]

Agreed on needing to develop everyone's level of proficiency, and I'm all about coaching the lower-tiered girls up, but we don't use the softie ball in 10u and it was obvious that many of the girls have never been taught to throw or catch before. I draft tonite, but don't actually get to establish contact with my players until the 19th. Hopefully the newer players will be able to get their parents, siblings, or friends out to throw with them. Heck, they can even schedule play dates with my daughter if they want to get in some reps before practice starts a couple of weeks later.