We live in what would be called a "cold state," snow on the ground November through February. I am wondering what a typical year is like for 13U players in "warm states," no snow on the ground in winter.
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
I don't think anything is typical. Lots of variation. At that age we knew some kids who played year round, but for us, the year starts in early Feb, when rec, travel,and even HS practices start. League play through spring. Summer ball for those who play it. Fall travel or club or whatever through early November, then shut down for basketball until Feb. My son's a HS junior now but that's been his schedule pretty much since he was 11U.
Well when my son was that age, his teams basically played all year round. Though it did slow down a bit around the holidays, it picked by up just after the first of the year. There is a facility just a few miles from us that hosts youth baseball tournaments. There is a tournament there just about every single weekend of the year, And they are not alone. You can always find someplace to play your team. During High School baseball season --which starts first week of February -- is the only time things get shut down at all, but only for HS age teams. The pre high school plays all through the year. And many, many high school players will play with their tournament teams right up until the season officially starts.
Here's the schedule of tournaments at the nearby facilities for one of the main tournament organizers in this area from after Thanksgiving though January (and this is just for one of several tournament organizers in the area)
Now different teams have different philosophies. Those teams that are serious about preparing guys for the next level or protecting young arms do tend to shut it down for at least a couple of months. But there are SO many travel teams in this area especially at the pre-high school level, where coaches are basically out to be make a few bucks -- well, more than a few bucks -- that if you want to play all year with somebody, you can definitely do so.
But I gotta say, this area definitely isn't So. Cal or Florida, where I imagine weather is almost never an issue. On a January morning, at 8am, it can be damned cold out there, even if there is no snow on the ground. And I used to wonder, why so many teams try to play all year round and whether it was really about developing the kids or the almighty dollar.
The program my son belongs to runs training from early January through July, tournaments late March through late July, and offers fall ball for extra reps. I was just wondering how warmer states play out. Its a common problem in our state that kids usually don't get to play enough ball during the season. The upside is arm care, the down side is not getting enough competitive at-bats throughout the year.
For the year round options, do you think burnout is more prevalent?
In Atlanta it goes like this:
July/August the team is picked.
August-mid November the team practices 1-2 time per week and will play in around 5 tourneys, 2-3 will be Sunday only tourneys and the fields close usually by mid November.
Mid November the "shut down" happens and the team switches gears to speed/agility/strengthening in doors. This happens once a week and there is typically an additional hitting session once a week.
Mid January the ramp up starts, 2 practices a week in doors, light throwing is allowed. Mid February the team is into long toss, fields are open, pitchers are allowed to practice form but not throw hard. By the end of February pitchers are allowed to throw full force.
Games for 13u will start the last weekend of February or the 1st weekend in March. Game will be played until mid June. Practices will be 2 times per week on the field with hitting practices called at least once a week and specialized players (C/P) will typically take 2-4 private lessons per month. Players are off about one month until the tryout process begins again.
I wouldn't say "burnout" is exactly the problem. It's more overuse that's the problem -- especially for young pitchers.
In this area you really do have to exercise extreme caution, with choosing a place for your kid to play. It is most definitely possible to play competitive baseball 52 weeks a year. Few do that, but many spread competition out over the entire year.
There are many people taking financial advantage of that fact Indeed, I think money drives things a lot more than deep thoughts about how to develop players does. There is major money to be made by the venues, the tournament organizers, and the the travel team coaches, And very, very few of them have any real financial incentive to call a halt and tell parents and kids the truth about the potential downside of all this year round chase of mostly meaningless trinkets.
On the other hand, there are a few "elite" organizations around who are focused on a different business model and a different development model. They stake their reputations on helping get guys ready for the next level. They don't play nearly as many of these all year round local tournaments. They do appear in their share of such tournaments, but mainly for reps and to help get players ready for big deal national tournaments and the like.
These kinds of organizations do tend to shut competition down at some point in the year -- usually November or so -- and focus on off season training and conditioning though even they tend to compete over something like a 9 month span. Also some of them actually run college exposure events of various sorts during their off seasons -- which adds to the competition in another way.
Some of these organizations own their own indoor facilities and can make a lot of money off their players (and others) through facilities charges. So they aren't so financially incentivized for constant competition. But I do think that the main thing
that keeps most of the low level travel teams playing all year round around here is that most of the travel coaches make most of their money off tournament fees. Most of them actually have to rent outdoor practice space or indoor training space.
The "elite" organizations, by the way, tend to be both more selective and more expensive and are consequently harder to break into.
I'm thinking that having to adjust to the weather may actually make for healthier baseball players in the end. Just because you can play baseball all year round, doesn't mean it's wise to do so.
Originally Posted by SluggerDad:
I'm thinking that having to adjust to the weather may actually make for healthier baseball players in the end. Just because you can play baseball all year round, doesn't mean it's wise to do so.
That's sort of been a notion that old school scouts and recruiters have been working under for years with pitching. They favor pitchers from cold climate areas because they have the idea that they shut down for the late fall/winter and start up later, thereby saving their arms. They like position players from warm weather states because they get additional cuts and reps in the field. However, the state of youth baseball has changed with indoor facilities and travel to warm weather states by travel teams.
When my kid was playing 12u and 13u there was top team that claimed to not use any of its "real" pitchers for tournaments during the fall. Not sure they really did that, or if it would be healthy for the non-pitchers to pitch so much, but I always like the idea.