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Reply to "What to ask?"

The phrase that jumped out at me in the OP was “new summer tournament team.”

Every great travel program started at ground zero some time, but with so many strong programs out there with established track records, I would want to know why this coach is starting this team at this time. 

Sometimes great baseball people can up and decide to start a new program, but a lot of programs get started either because someone who coached a group of players from youth baseball wants to keep them together during high school but doesn’t really know how to prepare them for college. Or worse, sometimes someone whose kids didn’t get on one of the elite teams decides to start his own team to take those other snobs down a peg or two.

But sometimes it’s a legitimate spinoff from a strong program or the logical next step for a coach who has paid his dues and learned his trade. So new doesn’t mean bad. It means you should do a little research.

Does the coach’s son play on this team?  This is not an automatic disqualifier—my son’s travel coach had three of his sons play for him—but he was a former pro and his kids all ended up as D1 players. But you want to know the deal.

Sometimes the “why” is money. As an umpire, I’ve had a travel coach come to the plate conference and say, “I have no idea what I’ve got here. I’ve never seen any of these kids play. The only thing I know is that their parents’ checks cleared so we had enough kids to enter another team.”

Then I’d want to know his plans. How many teams do you  intend to field at which age levels? What tournaments do you plan to enter?  

What training facilities and conditioning coaches will you use? Is is okay to continue using the program/coach/gym I’m already using?

Ask open ended questions. Let him talk. Decide how much confidence you want to place in him. 

Best wishes,

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