What I have seen over the ;ast 20 years has been unbelieveable. Elit teams firts hit the scene about 20 years ago in our area. We had organizations with 6000 kids registered with Ontario BB Assoc. It was mainly voluteer and still is. It was not always great ball and coaching depending on where you lived. However it did provide good competition and some very good training. Elite teams came along and depleted those teams as far as top players. They provided at a fee professional coaching and training. This was way suppirior to the general OBS teams
Why I say it is better. Well there are options for all levels of players that exist right through to senior ball. There are 3 senior leagues in my area that offer 3 levels of play . The top one is at thye highest level and provides ex college/pros and current college players a place to play. It is as exciting as any ball I have seen. A night at Christie Pits in Toronto during play offs is better than any pro game. Where can yo see players like Paul Spaljeric (Jays) chase a guy around the bases after he hailed his HR . He chased the guy step for step around the bases screaming at him all the way. It cost nothing to watch it and it was also televised.
So now we have 3 excellent senior leagues. We also have rec ball, OBA city teams, distric all star teams and a large HS venue. This was never available before. Yes the numbers overall are down but BB has flourished. With some marketing the OBA has had numbers increase and it just took a little effort. Can't sit back and exspect things to happen. (Sounds kind of familiar). Some parents made up sheets and handed them out to schools and BB membership rose. Also the OBA which watch their numbers erode got smart and instead of resisting the Elite proliferation started to cooperate with them. They even got the Ontario Youth Team to the top of Canadian BB again.
I also had some life changes in 2000 due to diabetes and sudden loss of vision. No longer making the big six figure income but still had 6 figure expenses. In 2000 my son made the Team Ontario which at the time was the rep team for the province and I had to tell him he couldn't play for them. I also had to cut deals every where he played so I know only too well how expensive it was. We managed and believe me it was hard on us. We had no money saved for college because I had kids to raise. My son had to get a big scholarship because we are out of state and are actually foreigners. We didn't attend any show cases other than one put on by his team and we already had several offers based on self promotion. My son understood and I told himright up front.
We were Elite team tryout junkies attending tryout for several Elite teams. They used to be free and would last several days. We learned more from those than anything. Some held 15 tryouts and we attended most of them. MLB players and coaches in attendance. The tryouts were better than the team workouts because they were trying to sell their program. Most tryouts had over 100 players in attendance and they were a blast He got used to competing and meeting people he didn't know and I credit his success with his ability to mingle. When you do this and play agianst the best players even ex pro and current college players from 15yo you know who you are and what you can do.
I can't say enough about how great BB is in our area and I believe it is due to the Elite ball and the fact that there are ball players who can play after their careers are over.
BB was so restricted before and there was no future beyond 19yo unless you played college or pro.
Not everyone is an Elite player and they have to face it at some point. Not every player on an Elite team is an Elite player but at least they have a place to play if they still love the game.
Our senior teams are expanding and that is a result of the supply of great ball players in the area.