Ohio Dad posted:Despite several other discussions on this site, regarding NTIS, and mostly negative feedback, we decided to try anyway (last summer). 2018 whizzed through the tryouts, and was asked to go to Cary. HOWEVER, the team was loaded with players from the "master of ceremonies" team. These players should not have been asked, as the talent was obviously not there.
The second tryout was very suspect. Was supposed to run the 60, measure the measurables, take batting practice, etc. Little of this was done. No batting practice rounds at all, and certain kids faced tougher pitchers, while others faced much easier pitching in the actual "games". It all seemed a little too much like "daddy ball" for my liking. It also seemed like they already knew who they wanted (including many players from the same travel team). The team could not have been strong, so we declined.
The local morning news just made a huge deal of the local indoor facility that was "selected" to host the local tryout (Try-outs are this Friday). On-site broadcast. Lots of talk about making Team USA. I just had to laugh. No disrespect to those hosting the event, as I am sure the have good intentions. There are more and more "tryout" locations each year. To me, that means more and more tryout money going in the coffers.
I would avoid. Spend your money elsewhere. A good summer travel team. PBR or PG showcase, to get legitimate numbers, to get your players name out there, and get him on the radar.
Two thumbs down!
My son declined the first two try-outs via email. Then the guys running the NTIS for our region at the time called him on his cell. Convinced him that they really wanted to see him and thought he had a good chance to move on. So we went to a third one. It was un-organized. Same batters over and over. Same pitchers over and over. It was not run well. My son never pitched to live batters, he ended up throwing a glorified bull-pen. You could tell who they wanted to see.
The players that did get picked to move on to Cary had a great time and it was a good experience. For the others it was not a good experience.
I do not believe the same organization is still running this for our region so my experience comes from over 4 years ago. The new organization for Ohio valley is the Pittsburgh Diamond Dogs.