Does anyone know if kids who are playing for their hs in state playoffs are allowed to play for their aau team in a weekend tournament prior to the HS games? This is in PA.
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Why would it be an issue? More importantly, why would he be playing in a tournament for his travel team when the HS is still alive?
Because the tourney is Sat and Sun, there will be colleges at the tourney......
First, a player shouldn’t play for another team until his high school season is over. If I was coach and the player got injured I would be steamed.
Second, my kids are 29 and 34 now. Rules may have changed. But when they were in high school in PA there were a couple of Team USA athletes at our high school. They had to get PIAA waivers to play with Team USA while their seasons in that sport were active.
@RJM posted:First, a player shouldn’t play for another team until his high school season is over. If I was coach and the player got injured I would be steamed.
Second, my kids are 29 and 34 now. Rules may have changed. But when they were in high school in PA there were a couple of Team USA athletes at our high school. They had to get PIAA waivers to play with Team USA while their seasons in that sport were active.
@RJM I fully agree. Although, not the same circumstances. My son's team made it to the state championship, the game was scheduled for Saturday, which coincided with a Senior day getaway.
Anyway, due to rain the game was postponed until Sunday, our lefty junk ball pitcher, who was normally our stop gap between 2 RHPSs went to the beach and sprained his ankle, thus he was not available to pitch.
What made it worse, he was a JUNIOR.
We lost the game 4 - 2 because the opposing team was batting for the 3rd time against our starting pitcher and was able to score 3.
BOTTOM LINE, DURING THE HIGH SCHOOL Season you owe it to you team to stay committed and DON'T GET HURT DOING STUPID STUFF
I would ask your HS coach, ONLY if your child does not get playing time with his HS team.
But, (don't you just love "buts".....) keewartson got called up to varsity for the district/state playoffs as a freshman. He got in a district playoff game as a pinch runner. Which led to him being in the lineup later in the playoffs.
HS comes first.
Have son send the college coaches, of schools that he is interested in, a short email stating that he is sorry that he won't be playing in the AAU tournament but that his school is in the state playoffs and they can come see him there! And then list the rest of his summer schedule.
How is this even a question? He made a commitment to the HS team. Finish that commitment. If the colleges and AAU team do not understand then you probably don't want to go / play for them.
What AAU tournament is relevant and has college coaches attending?
Seriously, there's no grey area here. Play for the high school team until the season is over, then play tournament ball after, regardless of whether he is on the field or not in the HS tournament. Because if you choose AAU over HS, there will be no HS playing time this year or next.
Thanks for the input!
@Texas posted:Seriously, there's no grey area here. Play for the high school team until the season is over, then play tournament ball after, regardless of whether he is on the field or not in the HS tournament. Because if you choose AAU over HS, there will be no HS playing time this year or next.
Yeah I would cut the kid next year to be honest.
@coach2709 posted:Yeah I would cut the kid next year to be honest.
Why would you cut the kid?
IMHO, seems like holding a grudge.
Those in power sometimes abuse said power.
@CollegebaseballInsights posted:Why would you cut the kid?
IMHO, seems like holding a grudge.
Those in power sometimes abuse said power.
Why wouldn't I? He obviously doesn't value my team if he is choosing to do something else instead of showing up for our playoff game(s). It's not holding a grudge at all. He made a choice that he felt was in his best interests so I'm making a choice that would be in the best interests of our team. Why have a guy on the team who I have to replace during the most important part of the season. It's funny how people think they can do whatever they want but when in fact they cannot and held accountable it's seen as abuse of power.
Let me clarify a little more because there are a lot of variables here
He never says anything to me and doesn't miss my game or practice then it is what it is. I'm not hunting down anybody to see if they are doing another team.
He comes up and asks what I think I'm going to tell him it's a bad idea because the chance of getting hurt isn't worth it. He gets hurt and can't play in the playoff game it hurts the whole team. If he decides to play in the AAU after that then I will absolutely cut him next year.
Playing for two teams at the same time is a recipe for disaster. Chance of overuse injuries go up. Overall chance of injury goes up. At some point there will be a scheduling conflict and you're going to have to choose one which is completely unfair and wrong to do to the other team.
You cannot do whatever you want without some sort of repercussions. Call it a power trip all you want but if you know the deal ahead of time and still make that decision then you have told me everything I need to know.
I’m with coach on this one. I coached travel. In 13u we played fifty games in the summer. Three kids tried to also play CYO or Babe Ruth. I told them I didn’t like it. The first time it interferes with my team you’re in trouble.
Trouble came when a scheduled pitcher for an elimination game arrived thirty minutes before game time telling me he pitched five innings that morning. The second time he did this he only pinch hit or pinch ran all weekend. He didn’t return the following season. The dad thought I was a bastard.
Two other kids started missing practices due to Babe Ruth all stars. I didn’t invite them back for 14u.
After holding my ground and setting the standard in 13u there weren’t any problems in 14u and 16u.
Most AAU programs around here will not expect any kid still playing in HS playoffs to attend games scheduled for the same time. Besides, unless those said college coaches are expecting the kid at the tournament through previous communication, I think he can miss one tournament. At which point those same coaches would probably pay far more attention, at later tourneys, to a kid who contacted them explaining it was important for him to be with his HS team through the playoffs and he greatly apologizes if they were there to see him. OR if there had been no prior communication,,, to send a note stating that he really wanted to play in front of them and ask if there are other tourney's/showcases/camps they planned to attend in the future.
Dependability is a huge consideration for any coach, especially college. Whether that is game related or personality.
I don't blame the kid for finding a team to play for in the summer and the earlier the better but it cannot interfere with the HS season. That's not a power trip but about completing a commitment. But as I said in my very first post - if that AAU coach is pressuring you to play while you are still alive for HS playoffs then you chose the wrong team. That coach is wrong and HE is the one on a power trip. A good AAU / summer team coach will recognize that a kid is still committed to his HS team for the playoffs, wish them luck and tell them to come out when done - hopefully after a state championship.
If a college coach is upset that you won't be playing in this AAU tournament because you're still in HS playoffs then you don't want to play for this guy (let's be honest though it's probably impossible to find a college coach who would think this).
It's hard to talk about commitment when you commit to two different teams because there will be conflict at some point. The only way you can be on two teams is if there is understanding you won't start the second team until the first one is over. For me I only make the HS season mandatory because that is the only thing I can make mandatory per state rules. Everything else is voluntary. So I have a summer team for my players but I tell them if they want to go play travel or on another team then go ahead. I just tell them to make sure they are on a team where they will play a lot because if they are sitting on the bench they are wasting their time and not getting better. But it's their choice for who they play for in the summer.
@coach2709 posted:I don't blame the kid for finding a team to play for in the summer and the earlier the better but it cannot interfere with the HS season. That's not a power trip but about completing a commitment. But as I said in my very first post - if that AAU coach is pressuring you to play while you are still alive for HS playoffs then you chose the wrong team. That coach is wrong and HE is the one on a power trip. A good AAU / summer team coach will recognize that a kid is still committed to his HS team for the playoffs, wish them luck and tell them to come out when done - hopefully after a state championship.
If a college coach is upset that you won't be playing in this AAU tournament because you're still in HS playoffs then you don't want to play for this guy (let's be honest though it's probably impossible to find a college coach who would think this).
It's hard to talk about commitment when you commit to two different teams because there will be conflict at some point. The only way you can be on two teams is if there is understanding you won't start the second team until the first one is over. For me I only make the HS season mandatory because that is the only thing I can make mandatory per state rules. Everything else is voluntary. So I have a summer team for my players but I tell them if they want to go play travel or on another team then go ahead. I just tell them to make sure they are on a team where they will play a lot because if they are sitting on the bench they are wasting their time and not getting better. But it's their choice for who they play for in the summer.
@coach2709 perfect sense.
Here is an interesting spin on this dynamic.
A player that I knew only played 4 varsity games (junior year) during his HS Career, his parent was concerned that he would not be seen.
Issue: HS Coach was also the American Legion Coach. If you wanted to play varsity baseball then you must play Legion.
Player was already playing travel ball and the schedules have too many conflicts.
I said: don't worry you son is 6'1'' left hand bat with a very strong Arm and runs a 6.4 60 in his sleep.
He got a scholarship to Akron before it closed its doors (2015), went the JUCO route and finished at a D2 school in Florida.