This is our first year with having my son on a 15U "showcase" travel team. I started a 13U and 14U travel team and only charged $450 for 60 games. Plus, I only had (and would only accept) 13 players on our team, so that everybody could get playing time.
So far I feel RIPPED OFF with this 15U team. People need to understand, from 15U and up it is much different because at least by us (Chicago area), these 15U and up travel teams cannot start until the High School season begins, and then they ONLY play weekend tournaments, whereas 14U and younger don't need to worry about that and can start as early as they want, and can play in both leagues and tournaments.
The reason I feel ripped off is because I just found out (after spending $2000) that there is 17 players on the team. How the hell can everybody get playing time with 17 players?? My son is as good if not slightly better than everyone else on the team, but I am really worried that he will not see near as much playing time as if he was on a park or legion team with 11-12 players. So why did I sign him up? I guess I thought the coaches would teach him something new that I couldn't. So far I don't really see this happening. I also don't see ANY College coaches attending the games. What a CROCK. These expensive "showcase" teams need to be called out for what they really are, SCAMS that play on the dreams of players and parents.
Next year, my son WILL NOT PLAY for this type of travel team. He will play HS summer ball, mixed with park/legion baseball. He will get more playing time and we will pay WAY LESS $$. I can then use the saved $$ to attend an actual all-day showcase with actual college coaches, OR I can use the saved money to get him individual hitting instruction, which in my opinion is far more valuable.
A player can always send individual college coaches video of how he plays. This is what you need to do if you want to play for a College. Get your video up on a website, add more videos to it, then market yourself. No need to pay $$$ and sit on a bench.
Originally Posted by baileyrx:
my sons summer team played in 5 Impact Tournamets last summer (2012). Not a dirtbag team, but a Greensboro/Triad team. each weekend we played in either a small hs fields and one game on 1 college field, UNCW, NC State come to mind. I did notice that the Dirtbags "main" team always seemed to play at the bigger school venues. Also as hard as I looked I only managed to see 2-3 scouts at all the games, total, all summer. I also spoke to a couple of dirtbag players over the summer, and the players on their team were from all over the state & never practiced together, they only meet/saw each other at the tournys...not sure how common that is, but on my sons team, all the playes were from guilford county/greensboro. It was his 1st year of travel ball & while he enjoyed the experience he will not be playing in any Impact tournaments this summer. Instead he will be playing Legion Ball with post 45 out of asheboro and attending 3-4 college camps to get exposure in front of ACTUAL COACHES at schools he interested in attending. hope this helps, p.m. me if interested in any more info
