Kids sport team selection

[RubyScales]

I am totally new to netball. My DD has just started playing and has been entered into a league. There are 3 teams for her age group. One is full of experienced players who I assume will do really well this season. The other two are full of new players. These 2 teams have been selected based on ability so one is much better than the other. All these teams will play in the same league/division, so why would they create a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ team of new players? What is the benefit of this and to who? I can just see the ‘bad’ team getting beat every match by a country mile and losing interest/motivation. Would it not have been better to mix it up so better players can help carry weaker ones, and try and even the two teams out? I would totally understand if they were playing in a lower division but this isn’t the case. Is this normal for a netball club? AIBU to think they’re setting these new ‘less able’ kids up to fail before they’ve even started?

I’d always prefer to play with people of a similar ability to myself. I think the error is having the two teams in the same level of league. Assuming these are older kids (ie not 6yr olds). Stronger players should be able to challenge themselves with and against better opponents, which is hard to do if you also feel obliged to play coach to half a team of beginners. The weaker players get frustrated that the stronger ones don’t pass to them and the stronger ones get frustrated that the weaker players don’t give them the outlet pass options etc that a stronger player would. A grossly uneven matchup is frustrating all round.

Really if the 1st team is in the A league the 2nd team should be in the B league and then the 3rd team either in a C/D league or if not, not in a league to start and just arrange friendly matches with other local clubs development groups, as I imagine many clubs will have the same sort of group of less experienced newbies. It would then hopefully be feasible to say bring up one from the development into the B league team to slot in/sub in to gain experience at the higher level once their ability is moving toward that direction.

Maybe an exception for fun tournaments etc, but then I’d expect every team to be mixed. I have no experience in netball but this was certainly how it worked in hockey. Mixed summer friendlies and tournaments but league teams were seeded with development opportunities to step up for training and occasional games as you improved. It worked really well.

Conversely, putting good players who have played for year/s, know the rules and how to play with players who can’t catch, don’t understand the rules or game can cause these good players to lose interest.

It is better for the weaker kids to learn together and improve together. Yes, they may not win, but someone who is just starting a sport should not have an expectation of being good immediately. Learning a new skill and improving over time is an important lesson to learn. It is not the stronger players job to “carry” the weaker kids.

The reality is that if they mix the teams, the weaker kids will rarely get the ball as the stronger players will pass to a better player. The weaker kids will get less court time and therefore progress at a slower rate than if they’re in a same ability team. Additionally, it’s not a nice feeling to be noticeably worse than others in a team and it can lead to issues between the girls.

I think over a certain age (like 8) you have to let them find their level and then work up or just play socially at that level. Mixed teams lose their good players to teams with a higher standard.

There are various perspectives on this, all equally valid. The parents of the children who are really good at netball could ask why should their children be held back by carrying others who aren’t as good, meaning they’d miss out on further competition opportunities. They’d be right too.

If other teams do the same and have two groups, then the lower ability groups can play each other, everyone gets a game, and everyone should be happy.

New players need to learn the ball skills and rules of the game. Training and practise is more important than match play as a beginner. I agree with other comments. A beginner in a better team is not good for any of the 7 players. Competitive sport is just that.... competitive. Best team with best players wins. Its not an equal playing field.

My experience is sports clubs usually have a and b teams.

They would usually ime be in different leagues tailored to their ability.

So whilst what they have done is the usual way it does seem odd when it's the same league so see where you're coming from.

But being in a team with better players doesn't always make you better because they can carry the game. Playing against better players helps more so from that perspective it'll do them good.

A-team, B-team and C-team; that’s standard. It’s not the job of the good ones to improve the others; it’s better for teams to play with similar level players. Merit and effort gets you moved up.

Is there another league above yours? If so, they may be trying to get promoted

As someone who is generally not good at sports, but quite good at tennis:

Always prefer playing with people similar to me. I hate feeling I'm the weakest and letting the team down when playing with better people.
It's also frustrating always playing with weaker people, and people will tend to very quickly look for another team. I don't mind playing with a much weaker/new to the game partner for some matches, but not every match. It puts a lot of pressure on you.

But also in netball, if you had half the team much better, I'll put bets that the weaker ones would very rarely get sent the ball by the better players. In a match you play to win. In practice though I'd expect to be more mixed up at times.

I think it would probably be unfair to the better players to require them to play with the beginners.

I think sport is one of the those areas where we can't make it totally fair, and if DC wants to participate they have to accept the risk of losing.

But, I imagine it's hard when you want to protect your dc.

Is there a non-league team that just plays for fun you could look at?