. And don't slam their "travel" coaches who may have been working with them for several years.
Here's the way ours addresses travel teams.
<paraphrasing> "Parents and players, I understand the loyalty to your travel programs. Many of you have played for the same team from a number of years. I have a son who is in HS and has played travel ball for a long time. I have a lot of respect for the program/concept and those who coach within it. All that said, during the HS baseball season you are part of the XXHS program and moving forward we need to recognize that we are playing on a different team then you are used to playing on. For that reason from this point forward I do not want to see travel team hats/jerseys/sweats, etc at our practices or games. I know many of you have spent a lot of money on these things and I hope you can get your use of them during your travel ball season.
In addition we also need to recognize that we may here at XXHS may have differing philosophies then your travel program. That is ok. We may be right, they may be right or we could both be right. In either case again, you are now part of this program and we have been pretty successful over the years. Our coaches have a lots of experience, some with college ball, some with pro and others just have a love for the game. As we move forward we need to recognize that things may be done differently then you are used to. As per Mr. AD's instruction if your son has any questions about how we do things please have him come see me. If your son I can not work things out then please feel free to set up an appointment between your son, yourself and me. Again, we can talk things over and hopefully you will understand why we do things the way we do."
I generally agree with their sentiment and would have no problem with it. However, I trust that they realize one of the reasons they are consistently competitive is the quality of travel ball in your area.
In our case it was a complete dis of travel coaches as not knowing what they where doing or doing it wrong. Of course, stated by a coach who struggled to win a handful of games.