"B" Bracket Tournaments.....

Isn't it for the girls and not the Coaches/Dads?

Wow, I guess this game is no longer for the girls! Just let the Dads decide who is good enough to play the game. Don't call it softball, call it Daddyball. The girls just want to play, they don't want to be divided into A and B. They all want to win and play hard to win wherever they're put.
Like the previous thread said, no one went into the Queen City Appreciation tourney with the intent of being in the B end of the spectrum. Good teams were in both. One hit, one call, ball game ends up different than expected.
If you don't like playing in a tournament with A and B, then just play Elite gold tournaments. Don't put down the girls who just love to play and get seeded down in a tournament.
Some teams had to pick up girls due to regular players playing school volleyball, cross country, etc now. Should they not be allowed to play alongside the mighty A teams? Penalize the girls who love the sport because it's fall!

 

What about "on the field" experience

As a coach of a 14U team that will have to move up to 16U next spring, I moved the team up to 16's this fall. I chose to play in a tourney that was labeled "New Team" 1-day tourney where the 16's was placed in the 16/18 High School Division just to get some experience at the new age level. There were not many "new" teams there, but "new" at the age bracket. The format was set up that if you won your first game, then you were placed in the "A" division and the losers went to the "B" division. Not until we were at the field was the format given to me.

We lost our first game, which of course put is in the "B" bracket. There were several good teams in the "B" bracket, who lost their first game. Did that make us all not worthy of playing "A"? Did that then make us to be considered a rec team? I have played "A" teams all season. We made 2 errors and didn't hit...that cost us our first game. This was our first fall tourney. I could not help how the format was set up. All the girls wanted to do was just play ball and after that first game they came back and never lost a game.

Went to another 1-day tourney, this time only 6 teams. Won our first game, lost our second and was seeded 5th going into the single elimination, where there was not but one bracket. We won. We played teams that were moving up to 18's next spring.

This state has some of the best softball teams on the East coast. You know when you walk out on the field that you have to bring your "A" game everytime you play. The girls work hard to improve every single game. Do you take the on field experience away from them because they were placed in a "B" bracket? If you do, IMO, then we have some coaches who are in it for the wrong reason.

 

Play Ball...

....period! Your DDs will be grown and moved on to college before you know it!

 

AGREE

Did anyone ask the girls if they cared or knew it was A or B? Who cares! Play ball have fun, learn, get experience then worry about levels!

 

If you are put in a tougher pool you could very well end up in the B bracket and be a better team than a team that won a weaker pool and ended up in the A bracket. Sometimes that is the way it works out. Many times there are teams that end up in the B bracket that are better than teams in the A bracket. Just because a team may have ended up in the B bracket on a given weekend doesn't mean they can't play with teams in the A bracket and certainly gives no one the right to look down on them.

 

Our DD....

had a great time playing this weekend! This was the 2nd tournament she has picked up with the Charlotte Blaze, and she had a fantastic time! And they played exceptionally well!

DD never mentioned anything about being in the "B" bracket. Honestly, I think she could probably care less. She was on the field, doing what she loves, and that's playing ball. Period.

Fantastic weather, caught up with old friends that we haven't seen in quite some time, and we made some new friends also!!!! Great parents, great group of girls, excellent games..... a daughter who is happy.....what more could I ask for?

Our weekends on the ballfield are numbered, as she will be off to college in a few short years. She may or may not even play in college. So, we would like to have the memories of her playing, and having fun while she's doing it. Not sweating the small stuff!