Select Team

[Elk Grove Hurricane]

You guys encourage keeping kids at lower level ball for the sake of the other players. I recently had a tryout with a girl from CA. She was a 4 hole hitter and was one of the best in her league (per her parents). No doubt the girl has the athletic ability but she has played at a low level too long and has not made the progression to a good TB player. She probably was a real good rec player but at some point good ball players outgrow rec/league and when they do you guys should be there to promote that progression. Instead it sounds like you are more worried about the lower level ball players having the opportunity to chase butterflies and still be competitive with the stronger players carrying the load. Why not make your rec/league more competitive so these players don't need to go somewhere else for competition or quality instruction. Don't focus too much on local standards, see what other kids in different parts of the country are doing.
This poor girl was at the top of her league and before they moved were invited to the select team. She will be lucky to catch on to a middle of the road C team here and her disappointment was obvious. She has a long way to go to catch up with the girls her age. Promote their progression, don't hold a kid back so the others can have a place to play. There are plenty of girls in CA for the butterfly league. Question your motives for keeping a girl from playing higher level ball. Is it because your dd can't make select and you want her league team to be as good as possible? You guys are openly discussing holding kids back from getting better. Whether you realize it or not, the views and opinions expressed here is why rec ball is so god awful from TB perspective. It is not the kids talent, it is the mentality of the coaches, parents, and directors of the league. End of rant.

I honestly don't know if I agree or disagree with you, but here goes. It is not, nor should it ever be, a rec league's job to cater to more competitive players. Those players will end up in travel regardless of what the rec league does. They will end up there the same way they always have, through work, lessons that they pay for, and desire. The rec league does nobody any favors by making the top end kids their priority, they need instead to focus on providing the most competitive (that is, talent evenly distributed) league that it can be so that the kids whose parents have no desire to play travel ball have a good outlet.
For all we know, the kid you're talking about may have been more interested in something besides travel softball, and she was comfortable playing rec league ball. If so, it's not the rec league's job to push her, she will get there when and if she wants to get there. Nobody is talking about "holding back" kids who want more than a rec league experience, the select team simply gives kids who want more another option besides full blown travel ball. And there are a lot of families who can't afford or don't want to pay for travel ball. That is the target audience for select ball.

 

[Easton33]

Yes, I understand what you are saying but my point is when there are restrictions placed on select (as in the league comes first) then that discourages the player from playing select as it also handicaps your select team. League should embrace their select teams as they are representative of what comes from their league. To purposefully not have select because of the impact it may have on the rec league is surely not promoting the growth of players. Rec league should be a stepping stone in a players development. As such they should support and encourage their players to reach higher than the rec ceiling. Select and league should work hand and hand to educate the kids and get them ready for the next step up. Scheduling conflicts are an example of NOT working together. The league President along with the coaches should sit down and get it worked out. If a girl choose not play league but select instead then why make her?

 

[Dabears17]

Yes, I understand what you are saying but my point is when there are restrictions placed on select (as in the league comes first) then that discourages the player from playing select as it also handicaps your select team. League should embrace their select teams as they are representative of what comes from their league. To purposefully not have select because of the impact it may have on the rec league is surely not promoting the growth of players. Rec league should be a stepping stone in a players development. As such they should support and encourage their players to reach higher than the rec ceiling. Select and league should work hand and hand to educate the kids and get them ready for the next step up. Scheduling conflicts are an example of NOT working together. The league President along with the coaches should sit down and get it worked out. If a girl choose not play league but select instead then why make her?

Don't blame the rec leagues for scrambling to respond to a poorly thought out rule change for 'B' and 'C' classifications foisted on them in mid October and then modified some in early December.

It looks like most of these replies are from California ASA rec leagues. Region 14 of ASA made changes to their 'B' program and 'C' programs in mid October. Region 14 is Hawaii, Nevada and California. 'B' teams can be formed Jan 1, but they need to participate in their rec leagues in some form. The 'C' teams are now the Rec All-Star teams and can be formed May 1st or later.

The downside is the Region 14 ASA rule is a girl who participates on a 'B' team after March 31st, is not eligible to go back for 'C' ball. So, if there is a girl or two who make the 'B' team who are a bust and you want to replace them with two players who perform real well in rec, you need to add players to your roster and possibly cut players who willn't be eligible for 'C' all-stars. In the NorCal metro there used to be some wiggle room to not finalize your roster until a couple days day the metro championships in mid-June. Now girls are frozen to your roster March 31st.

Sounds like Southern California metro is interpreting that is they must participate on a regular rec team and meet their rec team obligations, and a 'select' team. Sort of the way that Pony baseball around me handles their club teams.

Sounds like Sacramento Metro is letting them participate on just the 'B' team against other 'B' teams.

Not sure what most of NorCal Metro is doing, but the Bay Area teams are either not forming teams or trying to form a 'select 12u rec league across leagues'. No one I've heard of are forming 10u-B teams early.