All-State?

Come on dad.  Everyone get a trophy these days. 

Our state (Virginia) went from 3 classifications (A, AA, AAA) to 6 classifications (A through 6A) a few years ago.  If memory serves 2013 was the first year of the new classifications.  Anyway, when it comes to All State honors, yes, there are 6 All State teams - one for each classification.

 

Locally, I found the All Area Honors (voted by the local media, not the coaches) which encompassed schools from all classifications in our region more meaningful.

 

FWIW - my son received All Area Honors (1st Team) in 2012.  He also received All District, All Region and Honorable Mention Honors at the State level.

Fox, Virginia's way is understandable, 1 in each class.

 

1-2 overall teams followed by individual class teams was an idea that people liked.

 

PS- I remember my best LL team finished 2nd and there was a tiny team trophy, period

Virginia has first and second teams for each classification - so 12 All State teams.  For instance http://www.vhsl.org/doc/upload...te-2015-6A-team2.pdf . 9 for each classification seems a bit excessive.

"

Locally, I found the All Area Honors (voted by the local media, not the coaches) which encompassed schools from all classifications in our region more meaningful." I was on the second team for what is called the "All-Times" teams which the players are voted for by the media. Why would you say this is more meaningful? I am just trying to understand what it really means as I have never heard of it until I was told that I made the team.

 

In our state, we also have 6 classifications. Within each classification, there is a 1st & 2nd all state team and then an honorable mention team. So, I guess that's 3 teams per classification. For the 6A classification, there are 49 high school baseball teams to pick from to form the all state teams. I don't track all the levels, but 1A and 2A may have combined all state teams, due to the small numbers of schools in those classifications.

Keep in mind that NY has 2.5 times the population than VA.

I'm sure that someone living in California now could lend an assist here, but I believe they select over 100 players for their top 3 teams. Plus there is a smaller school list and a strictly underclass list. All of which makes sense, as California is larger than NY

I stand corrected.  I forgot about the "2nd" team selections.

 

In regard to the original post, yes 8-9 "state" teams within a classification does seem like a bit much.  I like on VA does it - 1st team, 2nd team and Honorable mention selections within each classification.

Why does anyone worry about this stuff? The players know who the best players are. There's a lot of wheeling and dealing between coaches on all conference teams. Anything beyond all conference such as all county, all metro, all state is done by the newspapers. They haven't seen most of the players. They call the top high school and travel coaches. There's always a player or two that doesn't belong on the first team but make it due to their reputation.

So who selects the teams?  How do you even go about figuring out who is worth of being on the 9th All State team?  Must be 1000 guys to choose from

 

In NH there are 4 Divisions divided roughly by the size of the school - perhaps 80-90 teams (19 D1, 20ish D2, 30ish D3, 18? D4). There's a 1st team, 2nd team, and 3rd team - about 18-20 per group (http://www.nhhsbca.com/default.asp).  The coaches meet at the end of the year right before playoffs to vote for the teams and the player/coach of the year. I believe a coach nominates his players, but doesn't vote for his own. My mental picture of the process is LL All Stars - so it's all about who knows who, who vouches for who, and who has a good game against who. Coaches that have a stronger voice or garner more respect from their peers probably can grab an extra vote or two for their player. Coaches who decide to not come to the meeting (yes, it happens) perhaps lose votes for their player. In the end, it seems teams generally have the "right" players according to most folks I talk to, but there's always a few head scratchers. In the long run, at that age - the players know who the best players are. For those playing in college, it gives them some words for their bio  ;-). It's an honor to be selected, but the better players know you still have to keep proving yourself!

Coach2709, was told state sportswriters and coaches determine.

 

Topic arose when two local players (no relation) who should have could have and deserved a 4-9th team slot were omitted.

 

Seems our state is an anomaly with 36 teams:

9, 9, 9, 6, and 3 other 'teams' not fitting the above

One of the two major newspapers in our metro area lists the top ten by position, twenty for outfielders. Guess who the writer calls. Guess which players make the lists. If a player isn't on one of the perennial top ranked high school teams or one of the top showcase programs he doesn't have a chance in hell of making the lists. A friend of my son played for a small classification high school. He played for a showcase team not considered in our metro area. He wasn't on the list. He played for a D1 that made the NCAA tournament twice while he was there.

 

The he moral of the story: Don't be too concerned about these lists. Be more concerned the right people are seeing his potential.