College Club Baseball

http://www.clubbaseball.org/

University of Missouri has one. Here is a link to it. I just found out about it a few weeks ago, so I dont know much. If you go to the "about" part of the site, there is a link to the conference they are in and you can see more.

http://www.hometeamsonline.com...EBALL&s=baseball&t=c

quote:

Originally posted by Tx-Husker:
http://www.clubbaseball.org/

Yeah, but that's just the schedules, the teams and the glitz. I see they don't have a forum such as this site where you can learn the real ins and outs of club baseball. I'm looking for the lesser known downfalls or even little known benefits. What to watch out for (NCAA eligibility issues? tryout issues?) as well.

Here's one at Texas A&M:

http://corpsbaseball.tamu.edu/

Good Luck!!

I'm no expert in club baseball, but I doubt there is any eleibility issues. Don't believe the NCAA has their hands in this (yet).

Some club teams are loaded with players who excelled in high school who thought they were going to walk on with the varsity program. They probably could ahve played at a lower level NCAA college program. These teams could probably beat lower level NCAA programs. With others the only thing different from softball is the ball and the beer. Like any program you have to do your homework.

Playing on a club team does affect eligibility, in the same way that playing at a JC or NAIA or even unaffiliated colleges affects eligibility.

If the player competes against another college while wearing apparel identifying his college, then he uses a season of competition.

Generally non-qualifiers who can't compete with their NCAA teams are also prohibited from playing on the colleges club team.

Guess the NCAA does have their hands in there. Should have figured as much.

Thanks, 3 Finger.

Many schools field both NCAA and club teams, however, the current top-ranked club team, Colorado State, in Fort Collins, is the only baseball team at CSU. The NCAA baseball team was dropped in 1980 (along with wrestling, men's gymnastics and swimming) as a result of conflicts with Title IX.

Even with the vagaries of Colorado spring weather and the difficulties of getting out on the field (e.g., 6 inches of snow forecast for this Friday), CSU has won the NCBA World Series in 5 of the last 6 years.

quote:

Generally non-qualifiers who can't compete with their NCAA teams are also prohibited from playing on the colleges club team.

Not sure what you mean by this. If a player isn't elligible to play on a NCAA team then he would also not be eligible to play on a club team for that same college? That what you mean?

Very interesting that playing club ball effects eligibility.

Wouldn't club ball fall under a department that manages student activities rather than the NCAA?

Contact dkgator here, he is the president of UF baseball club, he can answer your questions.

Clemson had a catcher who played on their club team, he tried out as a walk on, his role was mostly bullpen, so the answer is yes, some do find their way onto the team.

Not all schools have club teams.

Last fall I got a treat when I was at the US Olympic Complex in Cary NC to see my sons fall World Series. At the other three fields there was a tourney with the Club teams vs Showcase teams from around NC. NC State , Wake Forest , UNC and a couple of more college club teams played some very good showcase teams. The games were very intense. There were several very good players on the club teams. UNC's club team won the tourney playing a showcase team in the finals. I went back the next day to watch several games because it was so much fun to watch the club teams play.

quote:

Generally non-qualifiers who can't compete with their NCAA teams are also prohibited from playing on the colleges club team.

quote:

Originally posted by sandlotmom:
Not sure what you mean by this. If a player isn't elligible to play on a NCAA team then he would also not be eligible to play on a club team for that same college? That what you mean?

The term non-qualifier has a specific meaning: it is a player whose grades/test scores entering college didn't meet NCAA standard. Such as player can not compete in his first year, and only gets 3 seasons of eligibility rather than 4. The reason for this is to allow the player time to get his academics in order. Playing on a club team would work against getting his academics up to snuff. (14.3.2.3)

There's nothing to stop such a non-qualifier from playing on a club team, but he won't be eligible to compete the following years in NCAA competition if he does so.

quote:

Originally posted by RJM:
Wouldn't club ball fall under a department that manages student activities rather than the NCAA?

Sure. And until a player tries to participate in a NCAA sponsored sport, the NCAA has no power over him. The only way the NCAA can affect a baseball player is to prohibit him from participating in NCAA baseball.

But that is a very effective lever if the player has any desire to subsequently play a NCAA sport. So a non-qualifier will probably respect the rule that says he can't play on the club team.

Even though the NCAA has no role in club sports, they can count a season of club sports as a season of intercollegiate competition. That only affects a player who eventually does participate in a NCAA sponsored sport.

sandlotmom,
It may seem like a stretch to consider club sports intercollegiate competition, but think about sports like football where redshirting is fairly common. So the football coach would like to get the redshirting players some competition, and the colleges could set up JV teams, maybe playing on Friday night. It would be a nifty way around the 4 season rule. And when JV competion is deemed to consume a season of competiton, then the next step would be to set up "club teams", made up mostly of redshirting players on scholarship--it's football, remember. To avoid this scenario, the NCAA simply says any intercollegiate competition in which the players are identified with the school they attend does consume a season of competition.

I've done some poking around at the club team websites and it's obvious that the club circuit can get pretty serious with some outstanding players. I can definitely see that it is considered intercollegiate competition and that coaches could get around redshirting and limited rosters by farming a club team.