14U What do you get?

Is this a new organization?

ironhorse posted:

Is this a new organization?

Couple years old, a few guys that were previously with Columbia Angels.

Last year's 14u (North Tx):

Fall was two practices a week, with two tournaments and a HS weekend doubleheader league.

Spring was one indoor and one outdoor practice weekly, and scheduled 2-3 tournaments per month. Ended up playing less than half of scheduled tournaments (if you recall the rains were brutal) so many more scrimmaged nine inning games were played than tourney games.

Dues were month to month in season from Aug-Nov and March-June depending on what tournaments made.

Uniforms provided were a couple caps, and a couple game shirts plus shorts and practice jersey, everything else was on our own.

Pretty standard for the area.

I would guess if your son is on the green team he's being fast tracked. If he's on one of the other teams you're helping to financially support the green team. 

Regarding making the green team: A former poster here had a son playing for one of the top programs in the country. He told me only four 13u players made the 17u team that did college showcase tournaments.

With a lot of players much changes physically and talent wise from thirteen to sixteen.

Okay GO44DAD, here are my concerns/thoughts, since I also have a son in 14u.

1. The club only seems to go up to 16u...I would ask why.  The front page says "Developing the future"...are they assuming the future stops at 16u? All reputable clubs near me have at least 18u teams.

2. The first workout is on 2/6, you will have 4 workouts total after that and they already have you scrimmaging on 2/21....I really hope they had a longer ramp up schedule for the pitchers.

3. It says you are playing at a couple of colleges, but are you thinking there will be recruiting going on, or are you just there to use the cool field?

4. Why have 14u kids attend a 16u showcase.  If you want to play in 15u games for some more competition go for it, but what's the point of the 16u showcase?

Just a few things I thought of. PG is awesome by the way, Lakepoint is A-MAZE-ING!!!!! Maybe my kid will see your kid on the field. :-)

RJM posted:

I would guess if your son is on the green team he's being fast tracked. If he's on one of the other teams you're helping to financially support the green team. 

Regarding making the green team: A former poster here had a son playing for one of the top programs in the country. He told me only four 13u players made the 17u team that did college showcase tournaments.

With a lot of players much changes physically and talent wise from thirteen to sixteen.

Thanks for the response.  I have heard "funding the A team" for many years.  A team, B team, C team all get same number of coaches (all paid, no dads), practices, tournaments, jersey's etc.  

CaCO3Girl posted:

Okay GO44DAD, here are my concerns/thoughts, since I also have a son in 14u.

1. The club only seems to go up to 16u...I would ask why.  The front page says "Developing the future"...are they assuming the future stops at 16u? All reputable clubs near me have at least 18u teams.  

2. The first workout is on 2/6, you will have 4 workouts total after that and they already have you scrimmaging on 2/21....I really hope they had a longer ramp up schedule for the pitchers.

3. It says you are playing at a couple of colleges, but are you thinking there will be recruiting going on, or are you just there to use the cool field?

4. Why have 14u kids attend a 16u showcase.  If you want to play in 15u games for some more competition go for it, but what's the point of the 16u showcase?

Just a few things I thought of. PG is awesome by the way, Lakepoint is A-MAZE-ING!!!!! Maybe my kid will see your kid on the field. :-)

Hey CaCo!  Which I always thought meant you lived in California and Colorado....

1) Org is a couple years old.  There will most likely be 17/18U in a couple years.  2)There are actually twelve practices before the first scrimmage.  You saw the Sat workouts.  They also practice Tue and Thur.  And pretty sure most parents/kids know about ramping up, etc.  Tryouts started 1/16, so plenty of throwing.  If not, that's on the player.  No kid will throw more than 20 pitches first scrimmage.  They are good with arm care/pitch counts.  3) That's the schedule and kids play the schedule.  I'm not thinking anything. 4) Why not?  these showcases are cheap, show the kids what a showcase is, get some measurables.  They played HS JV tournaments in the fall 16U.

Sign up for the 14U WWBA. Son will be there.  Really looking forward to seeing Lakepoint.  If your kids team is in it, look forward to meeting you.

Go44dad posted:

RJM posted:

I would guess if your son is on the green team he's being fast tracked. If he's on one of the other teams you're helping to financially support the green team. 

Regarding making the green team: A former poster here had a son playing for one of the top programs in the country. He told me only four 13u players made the 17u team that did college showcase tournaments.

With a lot of players much changes physically and talent wise from thirteen to sixteen.

Thanks for the response.  I have heard "funding the A team" for many years.  A team, B team, C team all get same number of coaches (all paid, no dads), practices, tournaments, jersey's etc.  

Are all of the players on the green team going to be paying? There are programs around here just like you describe (same number of coaches, practices, etc.) but the kids on the top team aren't actually paying anything.

2019Dad posted:

Go44dad posted:

RJM posted:

I would guess if your son is on the green team he's being fast tracked. If he's on one of the other teams you're helping to financially support the green team. 

Regarding making the green team: A former poster here had a son playing for one of the top programs in the country. He told me only four 13u players made the 17u team that did college showcase tournaments.

With a lot of players much changes physically and talent wise from thirteen to sixteen.

Thanks for the response.  I have heard "funding the A team" for many years.  A team, B team, C team all get same number of coaches (all paid, no dads), practices, tournaments, jersey's etc.  

Are all of the players on the green team going to be paying? There are programs around here just like you describe (same number of coaches, practices, etc.) but the kids on the top team aren't actually paying anything.

Yes, all pay to my knowledge.  All kids make the practices.  All kids are local.  No kids that show up for tournaments, play and leave.  Most of the families are in pretty good shape financially.  

OK, fair enough. My son just went through 14U. There were also three 14U teams in that program. There were 3 practices per week, and games every weekend, but not as many tournaments as your program. Instead of PG, the big end of year tournament was the USA Baseball West (f/k/a Junior Olympics) event. Overall, pretty similar.

We have the ability to have 2 practices a week (5 hours total) plus clinics once a week run by the owner operator.  Our 'coach' however for some reason does not use both practice slots.  Other more serious coaches use both.  We get pants, hats and bags.  Other teams get way more.  Not sure why our level gets so much less - one of the original teams in the organization - grandfathered into price break for 'coaches'?  We play 12 tournaments and some weekday scrimmages.  Most importantly is use of the facility anytime and an onsite strength and fitness guy with a really nice facility and a sports theorapy coming in now.

Go44dad posted:

Hey CaCo!  Which I always thought meant you lived in California and Colorado....

1) Org is a couple years old.  There will most likely be 17/18U in a couple years.  2)There are actually twelve practices before the first scrimmage.  You saw the Sat workouts.  They also practice Tue and Thur.  And pretty sure most parents/kids know about ramping up, etc.  Tryouts started 1/16, so plenty of throwing.  If not, that's on the player.  No kid will throw more than 20 pitches first scrimmage.  They are good with arm care/pitch counts.  3) That's the schedule and kids play the schedule.  I'm not thinking anything. 4) Why not?  these showcases are cheap, show the kids what a showcase is, get some measurables.  They played HS JV tournaments in the fall 16U.

Sign up for the 14U WWBA. Son will be there.  Really looking forward to seeing Lakepoint.  If your kids team is in it, look forward to meeting you.

CaCO3 is Calcium carbonate.  I might have chosen the name because it's the main component in sea-shells (which I love) or it might be because it is the main ingredient in most antacids, I let others choose what they would like to believe   But I live an hour north of Atlanta.

We have a club around here that claims to have a 13u showcase team, as well as 14u and 15u.  They play similar schedules to what you linked to.  The 12, 13 and 14u kids flock to the idea of playing the best, going to recruiting events...etc.  However, the club rarely retains a talented kid for more than a year because while they look good on paper to all those parents drinking the kool-aid they don't usually get very far in a tourney.  The club doesn't vet their kids very well, doesn't give great instruction, and charges an arm and a leg to go to the best tourneys while demanding monthly fees for the kids to get private lessons at their facility (it's built into the contract).  I can't say the club lies, they really do go to those tourneys, but having three games in a row where your team rarely scores and the other team scores a lot isn't very good instruction when done week after week. 

The other side is true though, just because a park has a 17/18u team, and even if that team does very well at national tourneys there is no guarantee you will receive superior instruction at the 14u level.  Finding the right team that can help your son learn and get to the next level seems like such a crap shoot.

 I have zero input into the schedule of my son's team, but I'll keep you posted if they play either of those tourneys.

Good luck!

Was just passing through your neck of the woods caco.  Even stopped for gas at the lake point exit so my son could see it.  Gates were locked so I parked by gate and let my son run to see the fields.  He would love to play there.  Daddy ball coach not so much.

2020dad posted:

Was just passing through your neck of the woods caco.  Even stopped for gas at the lake point exit so my son could see it.  Gates were locked so I parked by gate and let my son run to see the fields.  He would love to play there.  Daddy ball coach not so much.

You don't call, you don't write....gesh...I know of at least 5 parks where the boys could have played for a bit.  But yes, LP is puuuuuuurrrrttyyyyy!

CaCO3Girl posted:

2020dad posted:

Was just passing through your neck of the woods caco.  Even stopped for gas at the lake point exit so my son could see it.  Gates were locked so I parked by gate and let my son run to see the fields.  He would love to play there.  Daddy ball coach not so much.

You don't call, you don't write....gesh...I know of at least 5 parks where the boys could have played for a bit.  But yes, LP is puuuuuuurrrrttyyyyy!

You know I actually did think about it but we were driving straight through and had no time.  Plus I wasn't quite sure if that would have been just a little creepy!

So you didnt play with the Houston A's prior to this yr?   were you playing with another orginzation?    I Know at 13u the gold team is the premier level team and the other 2 were lower levels.    Did they have more kids than spots for 3 teams trying out?

My son is not 14U, but his club does have a team at that age level. We live in an entirely different area than you and there just isn't the demand for club baseball that you see in other parts of the country. It is growing, but nowhere near any of the baseball hot beds. The club my son belongs to is one of the top clubs in our region and has several D1 committed players right now. That is a pretty big deal in a state that only produces a handful of D1 baseball athletes each year. We get a lot for the money we pay mainly because I think this club is trying to set themselves apart in the rising market. This club is one of the oldest in the region and has been around since 2008.

We travel 45 minutes one way to practices during the off season and my son usually attends 3 practices per week. Most of the kids who attend the club live closer, but there really aren't a lot of options closer to us. This is key because off season training consists of unlimited practice time for kids on the 11u through 18U rosters. Practices start in November and runs through May. There are specific topics covered each day (i.e. hitting, fielding, speed & agility, catching, etc.), as well as weight training (every kid is enrolled in Volt Athletic training) and arm conditioning/care. All practices are run by the club owner/head coach. All kids from 11U through 18U practice together, although there are differences in some curriculum based on age. They even have reading homework and written tests on the homework material to try and increase their overall knowledge of the game. The families are given the code to the building so they can train on their own when the facility is closed. There has been zero pitching since practice started. The kids have been working on conditioning their arms and proper throwing technique. Pitching will start next week.

The 14U team pays $1950 for 6-8 tournaments and league games for a total of 40 games during the summer. This cost includes the unlimited training time from November through May, which is valued at $500. We are paying $1100 for my son's 16U showcase team that includes unlimited practices during the off season and 3-4 invite only tournaments at colleges in the region (all tournaments are several hours away and require multiple over night hotel stays). We did have to pay for training gear (i.e. warm-up shirts, shorts, game pants, etc), but two jerseys and hats are included as part of the team cost. Travel costs are not included.

gunner34 posted:

So you didnt play with the Houston A's prior to this yr?   were you playing with another orginzation?    I Know at 13u the gold team is the premier level team and the other 2 were lower levels.    Did they have more kids than spots for 3 teams trying out?

Spring 2015 was their first season.  Son was on the Green team, it was the  "A" team.  Gold team was the "B" team. Gold was a "premier" team as a classification in the Nations sanctioned tournaments.  Their records are in Nations.  It's the green team that played the BCS in Fort Meyers and lost in the semi-finals.  

Son played with the same coaches in a previous org for a few seasons.  This spring they did have more kids trying out than spots for 3 teams.  But not a lot.

ok so you played with them before,   I like that they are adding a lot more game type atmosphere outside of the regular tournaments.   couple of games on a weekend,  and your not spending half your day on a saturday and whole day sunday playing games all weekend.