(previously posted on another board)
This isn't intended to be a defense or a poke at Arsenal. It's just my exposure to the program. I know a little about the Arsenal from coaching against them, my son playing against them and getting to know some of the parents.
The Arsenal program does a very good job of placing their 17U and 18U players in quality college programs. Joe Barth is very well connected in the college community. An ACC coach once told me he's one of the best hitting instructors in the country. If not for distance and traffic my son would be taking hitting lessons there.
I found the 13U and 14U teams to be a bit arrogant. But maybe you can be a little arrogant if you can back it up. They never mercied us. We did beat them a couple of times. When my son was 14U a player, an Arsenal player injured him on an over aggressive slide. The coaching staff and the dad were apologetic. I still communicate with the dad on another site. My son skippped 15U. At 16U I found the players to be more subdued and businesslike rather than obnoxiously rowdy. Maybe that comes with maturation. There's also a fairly good size roster turnover from 13U to 16U from pretenders to players. However my son still says he'd rather beat them than play for them. It's just his personal preference based on the 13U/14U exposure.
I don't really have any experience on the 9U to 12U programs other than watching parts of games when those age groups were at the same complex as when my son played 13U and 14U. I spoke with delusional parents who thought their sons were on the way to college ball just by being in the program. If you've seen my history here, you know how I feel about preteen travel (beyond community based) and academy training and teams. But if there are sucker parents willing to whip out the wallet, making money is the American way.
If you go to the Arsenal website you will not see bragging of winning tournament after tournament. You will not see bragging of where they place players in college ball. You will see nothing but general information and where their teams are ranked nationally from 14U to 18U. If you go to the academy website you won't see anything about the travel teams except a link back to the travel team site. Yes, they can sometimes appear arrogant on the field at the younger ages. But it's a first class organization.
I've coached a 10U (community based) travel game my team won 56-2. It's an uncomfortable feeling. No one wins. I could tell before the game what was going to happen. I just couldn't believe to the degree it occurred. My team was up 18-0 after one. I offered to accept a 6-0 forfeit and have a scrimmage. I made the same offer at 34-0 after two.
After the first inning non pitchers pitched, infielders played outfield and vice versa. Any kid who wanted was allowed to bat the opposite way. We took standup doubles on balls to the fence. We did take the base if a wild pitch/passed ball went all the way to the backstop. I told parents if they felt they had to cheer for hits, they had to leave. The game was nothing to get excited about. And the two runs we allowed pitching non pitchers cost us a notch in seeding after pool play.