@BB328 posted:My son is a freshman and I am new to this. I am wondering why and how the hs teams play in tournaments. To my knowledge neither our JV or varsity plays in anything but league play. Our program seems much less intense than others. Even winter workouts were basically about 6 weeks once or twice a week in the gym. Does it depend on the coach whether they are willing to put in the extra time? Or the school budget?
My son’s coach turned a perennial doormat into a conference champion. His third fourth and fifth seasons were my son’s soph to senior years. The team came in second and two firsts.
The team went from no offseason plan and no fall ball to a M-F off season plan and fall ball.
The reason for playing in tournaments may vary from state to state. When my son played, in our state teams were allowed to play twenty-two regular season games. But a tournament counted as one event/game. A four or five game tournament only counted as one game. The tournament games didn’t count in the record and the ranking formula. So, tournaments were a good way to put players in real competition to see if they genuinely deserved to start.
Our coach ran summer camps to fundraise for the baseball team. We also had a major community wide fundraiser to upgrade the baseball and softball fields and facilities.
The new coach and how organized he was and his talent as a coach didn’t just elevate the talent. A lot of talent previously lured away by privates and Catholics in the stayed in the school district.
It all started with a new DA deciding the high school was too big (6A) to be a doormat in everything but country club sports (four CCs within the district boundaries). However, one of my favorite lines was the football coach telling me it was a challenge recruiting football players off the mean streets of the country clubs.