03_Aggie said:
Eh, I get the differences at 12u/13u. The outflows start some at 8u and more at 9u. At those ages LL, Pony and USSA fields are all pretty much the same size.
I'll give my take with a 7 yo now. And I echo the comments above to play whatever a kid wants.
My boy is not an elite athlete, but he can hold his own in baseball. He also loves baseball. In first grade at 7, he was frustrated in LL. He'd question why a kid didn't throw to get the leader runner out or why they didn't try and turn two. Like I said, the kid loves baseball. As a coach, I'd get frustrated having to babysit 1/3 of the team. Mostly kids who really didn't want to be there. I'd often have to move kids mid-inning to a position that was safer for them so they wouldn't get hurt.
After the season, my boy wanted to keep playing. A buddy has been with one of the elite clubs here in San Diego for 20+ seasons and invited him to practice. This is what they call The Academy, a new group for 7u and 8u that primarily focuses on practice. In three months my kid has played in one scrimmage and no official games. They start transition more to tournaments at 9u.
Two things stand out. One, the level of coaching is insanely good. His head coach has coached as high as college and was an assistant under Tony Gwynn. The kids are working on fundamentals non stop. Very little hitting, tons of fielding, some base running. Non stop drills with footwork, receiving the ball, hitting the cutoff, etc. It's amazing to watch the kids improve so fast.
The other thing is the kids WANT to be there. The coaches aren't babysitting. They have at times 18 kids for two coaches and although a few kids goof off here and there (they are 7 and 8), it's mostly kids wanting to get better.
They encourage the kids to play in a rec Spring league and All Stars if they make it (Pony starts All Stars earlier than LL), then come back as that ends.
I'm not sure my kid will be good enough to stay with this team as the competition increases, but for now it's a greta fit. He definitely enjoys it more than LL being around kids with similar attitudes.