Cooperstown Dreams Park

When we went (10 years ago)....trading pins was a big non baseball activity. It is a big thing for the kids to try and get one pin from every team. there was a team from Hawaii that every kid at the place wanted a pin from them so they were a "hot"pin.

we used the strategy of two pins....the first one we gave out was a good decent pin but after a few days we broke out a second pin that had flashing lights and become one of the hot pins.

Don't be a tool.  Out coach was a complete tool that week.  They actually intentionally threw at a kid.  Week ended early due to rain -- left early.  Kids didn't get any type of "ring ceremony." Kind of anticlimactic. 

My advice is to play all the kids.  Let them swing away (i,e.; don't bunt with 200 foot fences).  Focus on having fun and letting the kids enjoy the experience. 

Now from a parents perspective:

Calcogirl, you're going the same week we went.  Expect rain.  Like Noah's Ark rain.  Hopefully you're staying close because there will be a lot of down time as they get the fields ready. 

As for the baseball, I wasn't that happy.  200 foot fences isn't real baseball for these kids.  The outfielders play just over the infield and play bounces off the wall.  So there aren't a lot of real hits - singles, doubles. 

Doubleday café for breakfast is good.  Sals is good as well. And of course the HOF. 

When we got in the car to leave, we asked the kid -- he said it was the best time of his life.  So definitely worth doing. 

However, the best time that I had was a few years before when just him and I went to Yankee Stadium and Cooperstown.  It was just us taking in baseball history.  No tournament distractions.  We went up and down main street looking for one thing he wanted -- A Roberto Clemente jersey.  I have pictures of him sitting in Hank Aaron's locker.  It was awesome. 

Best baseball week ever...the kids on my team are 2017's now and they still talk about Cooperstown All-star Village (is similar and can argue better but smaller) they actually go back and forth between years on which team, which year was better...worth every dime.

my oldest was there was twice and my younger one once.

Our Assistant Dad coaches took the team, and they followed this advice and it made the experience so much better for the kids, although the parents were a bit aggravated.

There were no bunt signs given in 10 games!  There were 3 kids who had never hit home runs before that got to experience that thrill, and EVERY kid pitched at least one inning.  By all accounts the children had a BLAST!

A word of advice to the parents...this is not a week to be a fierce competitor, this is a week to experience the joy of baseball, plain and simple.  If you can just let go of the NEED to win every game and understand your kids are playing teams from 7 different states that are also there because they love the game, then you will have a much better week. 

When my son's team was being destroyed by the eventual second place team the coach put in the tiny left fielder who had never pitched before...why...because even if we put our ace kid in the damage was done and it was over, why not let the kids have some fun? We were going to be run ruled in the 4th inning anyway, so they let them be kids and they let them have fun...didn't bother me one bit, but then, I knew why my son was there, apparently the other parents missed the memo.

My nephew played there in 2003.  No cell phones or video games were discussed.  Don't remember any teams flying in pitchers.  Had a great time and made it a huge family vacation.  We rented a large house a few miles away.  I think it was called the Sam Markel house.  Although it wasn't allowed, we did have a couple of team parties. And there was a lake on the property where we could go fishing. The team ended up seeded #21 and won the whole thing.  Lowest seeded team (at the time) to win it.  Especially from a norther state (MI). Game ended sometime after midnight because of rain.  No one cared.   I'm sure winning made it that much more enjoyable, but I can't think of anything negative about the experience. I couldn't wait for my 2015 to go when he turned 12.  Never happened.  Team voted it down. We were in TX by now.   Oh well. 

http://www.cooperstowndreamspa...K4_CHAMPIONSHIP.html

Similar thing happened to us.  We played the eventual champion in a rain delayed game that started at 10 PM.  Got down 8 in the 2nd.  Coach and I looked at each other and said what now?  So we put this big kid in that never pitched.  He had this totally funky throwing motion, threw nothing but puss and his elbow barely made it back to his ear.  He was more of a shot putter than a pitcher.

We were playing a group from OC CA.  They were in the cabin next to ours so we had become friendly with the coach.  In the 6th he trots out to coach 3rd and we are down 9-1 and our funky guy has about 7 k's and 1 run allowed over 4+ innings in a game we surrendered.  He looks over and says...How are you going to explain this?  We asked what he was talking about we never expected to win.  He said no, how are you going to explain to the parents why you didn't start this kid from the beginning he's got us totally screwed up.  Hysterical.

Who's on first....my son is from NW Ohio....also a 2015.  We played a lot in MI starting in 2004 or 2005.  Ran into the Coughlin Cubs a few times.  Who did your 2015 play for when you were still in MI??  Maybe we ran into you somewhere.   Also, I always like to look back at old Cooperstown teams to see where kids end up.  Looks like your team beat a team with at least one current professional player on it....Alex Burgos is in the minors

Most likely.  Maybe in Canton or Sterling Heights?  Macomb Mudhens - 9u

Just one year up there?  My son didn't start til he was 10 so maybe we missed you. Was he on Scott and Tony's team??

Yes sir.  9u was their first year.  10u was the Flower Mound Warriors in Texas.  We saw Scott at East Coast Pro.  He hasn't changed a bit.  Saw him again in Jupiter.  His step son is Nick Plummer.  

We had some great battles with those guys the first three years. We were the N.W.O. Indians, I'm sure you guys probably played them at 9U.  Still run into Scott about once every summer. Good guy...always had his teams do things the right way.   Nick was going to play with us on a team I put together three summers ago, but the drive/travel issues ended up being a problem so he ended up staying up there.  Small world

Small world indeed.