Youth Fastpitch Softball in Mexico Needs Standardized Eligibility Rules Now!

The Case for Standardized Youth Divisions

Youth Fastpitch Softball in Mexico Needs the Same Division Eligibility for all Leagues and Teams

by Charles “JP” Tawil

Last week our El Sauzal All-Star 12 and Under team traveled to Ensenada to play teams from Tijuana, Mexicali, and San Luis Colorado, along with a few teams from Ensenada. It was a super fun tournament and the hosts were gracious and did an excellent job.

However, to bring our team, we were informed that our players could NOT be 13 years old the actual day of the tournament. Since we use the same exact rules that our friends at ASA Softball in the USA, it means we go by the year born and not birth date. What meant for us is that we had to leave 3 of our players home because they turned 13 a few weeks before the tournament.

On the surface, it’s not a big deal. In fact, this seems to be the current set of rules that most groups in Mexico go by so people seem comfortable with it. But it is confusing. convoluted, and everyone seems to have a bit of a different take on the rules and so it’s problematic. We need standardized eligibility rules.

I mean, for us the challenge is that every time we go to tournament, we have to bring a different team. That causes team chemistry to get messed up, parents get confused, coaches, get confused, and heck, we the administrators get confused. And I think most would agree that softball team chemistry makes for better competition and it would be alot easier if all of us were going by the same set of rules.

In addition, as softball develops here in Baja and Mexico, it will also cause disparities with our softball neighbors up Norte in the USA because they aim to bring their all-star and travel teams down to play us and hopefully we can travel up there as well. We simply have different rules by how we build our teams and that causes problems. We need to fix this thing.

We should go by the same rules so it makes playing one another much easier and gives us here in Mexico more chances to build our programs against what is currently the top softball programs in the world, namely the USA.

Now, as stated above, we operate under the ASA Rules so that the cut-off date for the youth age eligibility is December 31st. That means whatever age the child is on December 31st of the prior year is the eligible division for the current year.

For example, a child who turns a child who turns age 13 on Jan. 1st or after is eligible to play 12 & Under for the whole calendar year. It’s that simple.

To make it super simple, just think of this year of 2009. Who is eligible?

Basically, a player born in 1996-1997 or thereafter, if your league or team allows younger players to move up, is a 12 and Under player for the whole year of 2009. Now, if your player is born in 1995, she’s NOT a 12 and Under player. She would be a 14 and under Player. It’s really that simple.

Basically, all you have to do is determine what year they were born and that will tell you what division they are in for the whole calendar year. It makes things quite easy and stops us for scrambling around each time we have to play a tournament to figure out who can and who cannot play.

Of course, each year, the league or team just has to figure out who belongs in the 8u, 10u, 12u and 14u teams using the birth year. Keeping it simple for everyone!

Let’s only adjust our programs when it make sense and this change definitely makes sense. Send me your comments to info@bajasoftball.com

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Charles “JP” Tawil is Director of the Baja Girls Softbal League based in El Sauzal, Baja California, Mexico. He can be reached at info@bajasoftball.com or at their league web site.