IMG ACADEMY (My Opinion)

No doubt they offer quality training, but to go there full time also comes with a world class price tag....hehe

Happy to hear you had a positive experience!

 

I commented back in April so won't reiterate the good/bad/ugly of IMG.  Having had two sons go there for camps and the full time high school and middle school program, mine is just one man's opinion. 

 

While the facilities are awesome at IMG, and the weather can be great, the price tag is too severe for what the "average" player receives.  I have one son now playing D1 and another playing high school varsity.  For better or worse, we've taken a look at many, many things over the years.

 

I take the Texas Baseball Ranch and their rough around the edges facilities over IMG any day in terms of bang for the buck.  The pitching instruction from Ron Woolforth and staff has been incredible.  I can reel off quite a few talented middle infield and batting instructors around the country too.  At IMG, Edgar Caceres is the man.

 

IMG is a for profit academy.  The full time program at IMG will now set a family back $75K+.  IMG brings in a few scholarship players every year (top baseball players who are getting a full ride).  The rest of us subsidize them. 

 

I strongly recommend against the full time program.  It is not worth the $...

 

For a camp or the Summer wood bat league, you'd have to weigh the cost/benefit to one's family as those camps/leagues are pretty expensive too.

My son played a few games there during a tourney this past summer.  They're undergoing a huge construction project, so it wouldn't be fair to criticize the fields themselves - but the facility is impressive.  They also run programs for other sports.  There were a couple of soccer teams playing there that stayed in the same hotel we did.  My son also chatted with a couple of girls going through their golf program during a rain delay, and they were getting the same type of high level instruction as the baseball players.

 

I told my son I'd be willing to send him there full time if he was interested - just as soon as I hit the Powerball jackpot.

IMG is undergoing a new addition of a football field and they are tearing down the baseball field later this year and turning that into something else. They are making a bigger area for baseball that have fields for younger and older kids plus new cage batting areas. We live in texas and are always open to consider quality camps just need to know where they are. Our son is a middle infielder but also plays 3rd. He is not a pitcher. I heard about a well respected pitching camp or school in Texas. I think it was in mesquite, tx.

 

As for the cost, yes it is expensive and their overhead dictates the cost. Buildings, First Rate Coaching and all the overhead is not cheap. I couldn't afford to have him there all year but 2 weeks of solid training is better than 5 weeks of average camps.

H20

 

Sorry, couldn't help it.  It looks like the nicest facility I have ever seen.

SUAWTG,

 

That's a good photo of waterboy. What they do have that stands out from the rest is the Sports Therapy area which is inside next to the Massive 10000 squarefoot weight room. They have multiple Physical Therapists that work all day long to help any athlete with any injury which is part of any sport. They use the latest medical sports equipment and GAME READY if you don't know what that is you need to. go to www.gameready.com.

They have an anti gravity treadmill for anyone that has knee therapy that allows them to run on half their weight.

Yes sorry couldn't help but think of the waterboy with all the gatorade talk

 

It does look pretty awesome, I am sure my son would love something like that. 

No way I could afford it though.  Hopefully he will get by training on the hill we live on and the weight set in the basement.

The facilities are incredible.  We were there 2+ years and continue to be blown away by what we experienced...in terms of facilities.  Never before or since have we seen anything like IMG for all its sports.  They offer camps for adults too...if I had the time for tennis or golf I'd probably consider a week at IMG.

 

There were some excellent baseball coaches (Kevin Sharp, Edgar Caceres).  Also some average coaches and some below average coaches.

 

For the cost/benefit, we concluded we could optimize school, sport, conditioning, etc., by doing it like most people do...a la carte.  We've not been able to replicate the facilities anywhere, but we feel we've found everything else better elsewhere:  academics, college counseling, baseball instruction, weight training/speed/conditioning, etc.  IMG has all those things, plus it runs camps where all those things can be sampled. 

 

Regarding camps, I'm gald you guys had a great experience.  Certainly an individual thing.  My sons enjoyed their camps at IMG too.  In hindsight, we feel our $ were better spent on ACT/SAT test prep, individual baseball instruction, athletic training at other places (e.g., Athletes Performance), specific baseball instruction (e.g., Texas Baseball Ranch), college camps and showcases where my sons' targeted schools attended, etc. 

 

I'd encourage anyone thinking of IMG, particularly for the wood bat leagues or for the full time program, to make sure they've done a cost benefit analysis.  It is an extremely expensive place.

 

I couldn't agree with you more Branson Baseball. Our son hopes is to play in the college level. We are fortunate that his academics are is strongest skill set. His ACT and SAT are so high that he has academic offers from the top schools for engineering. We get about 12-16 a week. He already has a d3 NAIA school (Trinity University)that he hopes to play on but if he doesn't he will be going there anyway for the engineering and try to walk on. As for the IMG we did weigh all options and we have no regrets. We saved for this and he worked hard to get here and it has helped him tremendously.

Yes, but the Gatorade is free. With as much as my son drinks, that almost makes it a break even proposition.

I was happy to see this site since I am looking for more info about the IMG summer wood bat league for my 15 year old,, freshman son.  Any other feedback would be appreciated.  Is he too young?  Is he good enough?  will he enjoy being in the hot sun for 6 weeks?  We live in New Jersey.  It is hard to say how good my son is at this point.  He has always been the strongest player on various club and school teams.  He bats righty and is a lefty pitcher.  He is big and strong for his age at 5 ft 10, 170, but not sure how much more he is going to grow.  He loves baseball and trains all year round.

ANY FEEDBACK WILL BE HELPFUL FOR ME.  HE FOUND THIS PROGRAM ON HIS OWN AND WANTS TO GO.

 

IMG is extremely expensive.  That's true for the Summer League, camps, and the full time program.

 

Kids generally love it.  It's beautiful.  The beach is nearby.  They play a sport.  Mom and Dad aren't around.  They hang out with other kids.  They won't be overly supervised.  Kids like all that.

 

That doesn't mean your son becomes a better baseball player.

 

He will be plenty good enough to play either in the 15U program or the high school program.  I don't need to know anything about his abilities to say that because the League will be filled with mostly mid to lower tier players. 

 

Why?  Because most kids are playing for their Summer teams somewhere else around the country and many will be trying to play the best competition possible.  And they're working on getting bigger, faster and stronger, and they're getting baseball instruction...all much closer to their homes and at much lower cost than going to IMG.  And maybe they're working to make some $$$, or helping around the house, or taking a Summer course, etc.

 

The punch line for the IMG Summer League is it's like Summer camp.  If you would normally send your kid from NJ to Florida for 5-8 weeks of Summer camp and spend thousands of $$$ doing it, then this can work.  Your son will have a lot of fun.  Maybe he'll pick up a thing or two, maybe he won't.

An excellent alternative from a truely wonderful organization would be the Doyle baseeball Academy which is based out of Tiger Town in Lakeland Florida.

 

Denny has been teaching kids and working with professional players for more than 30 years. You cant do better!

If IMG isn't for a profit academy at $75K a year, they've got issues.  

 

fenwaysouth's personal financial $ translator:  

 

1 x $75K IMG student per year

OR

1 Ivy engineering son + 1 state school engineering son + 1 state school liberal arts son.  

 

Tell me more about these "few scholarships"........

Even middle aged men learn the hard way...tough way to lose $75K.  My wife hasn't let me forget it.

 

Doyle is a great alternative if the OP is looking for stellar training, great facilities, honest and fair coaching, a Summer camp experience, etc.  2 1/2 weeks and a lot less $$$ than IMG.  Still allows your son to play on a Summer team and get training near home, work to make some money,...

I agree with Floridafan and fenwaysouth regarding costs of this program. Our son learned alot and it has helped him. The costs and benefits are for each parent to decide. The facilities are state of the art and the costs associated with all their programs require an overhead that is passed on to us. They have full time staff in all sports they offer. It cannot be compared to Doyle, I have never been to Doyle and I am sure it is a sound program but that is all they do and I wish we would have tried that but it's our son's last year in high school and he has already been recruited to play baseball with Trinity University in San Antonio TX. A DIV 3 program. 

 

My advice for parents and athletes is:

 

Is your son truly serious going to the next level and i don't mean the pros (not just yet) but college. If he is and he lives and breathes baseball then IMG or Doyle is the way to go to get valuable insight and lessons to help them set themselves apart from the rest of the players. 

 

Our son had many conversations with the coaches that were pro players at one time and the advice that he was given has helped him to achieve better performance. In addition the classes outside of the baseball practices helped him to understand all aspects of the game. 

 

I do want to say that we did see more than a few students that were not baseball players but parents who had the financial resoruces to send them, "hoping" they would be baseball players. You know the rich kid that really sucks but dad pays his way to be the starter kinda thing. I don't mean any disrespect but this is what I saw each time. Not alot mind you but always a few kids. 

 

I often tell my son how fortunate he is that he can attend these camps and training compared to my days of just figuring it out on our own. He is 18 and he loves the game. He will start this fall at Trinity and hopefully succeed and if not it was a nice ride while it lasted. 

 

Just remember that whatever you do with your kids: "enjoy the moment, relish the time spent, it goes way to fast"

So it accepts any player who can pay?

sounds great to say son is trained by former mlb player, but that doesn't automatically mean they have skills to teach. We have both former mlb and minor leaguers giving lessons around town, and in our case the minor league guys do better job and knows more about teaching hitting. Sure soMe mlb players r good at it, but don't  think they r automatically better at teaching. They minor guys r good for sons to talk with. More have chance of playing there than in majors. 

One of the best hitting instructors ever never played past HS and he is BLIND!

Just think how many bowling lessons you could get for $75,000, no rain outs, no stained white pants.

A question for some of you who have mentioned that your sons attended...or know someone who attended IMG.  Do they do it expecting it to provide a return on that investment in the form of scholarship money?  My son knows 12-15 juniors here in Ohio who have already committed to some very good baseball schools all over the Eastern half of the US....and not one has every attended a camp or facility that charges that kind of $$$$....partly because there aren't any....but also because they all play for some very good and respected travel organizations that get them an awful lot of exposure in the summer.  My son will likely play D1....and we've never attended a camp that cost more than $350...and we decided afterwards that it was a waste of $$$.  How do you justify that kind of money for a camp???

You don't ever justify the money at IMG.  Certainly not in the context of baseball scholarship $.  If you have any insight to the college recruiting process you understand that, though there are undoubtedly those that don't.

 

My 2012's reason for going had nothing to do with baseball scholarships.  Totally personal reasons.  IMG still didn't fit in that context as we realized in real time while he was there.  He is a D1 player, though IMG had nothing to do with that.

 

jonnyd asked about the Summer league.  If his family is looking for a very expensive Summer camp, IMG fits the bill.  If there are future baseball aspirations, then do something else and save a lot of money.

Buckeye,

 

I had to respond to question. I personally did not send my son to a $75000.00 camp there but I did have him there for a week long camp twice. It was not cheap but the coaches there while former MLB players, are not just hired because of their background but because they can coach. How many Coaches are in the MLB that use to play? I would say quite a few. 

 

As for the return on investment, that is for each parent to consider but for my son it was a chance learn in a enviroment that is setup for quality coaching. What my son took out of it helped me stand out. That is not to say that works for everyone. 

 

My son is not gifted but he is a hard worker and coachable which has earned him a spot on a college team. Going to IMG did not make it happen, he made it happen but taking him there helped him to tweak so flaws. Maybe in some areas you have a wealth of former MLB players that coach for far less but keep in mind that IMG, Doyle Academy or any place that runs a quality facility has overhead and a buisness model that requires a certain expense. I know there are players out there that would love to go but cannot afford it and that is unfortunate but having a camp like IMG or Doyle is a must if you do not have that type of coaching.

 

 

How many players would normally attend the summer long camp?

I guess it all depends on your expectations and what u hope son gets out of it. 

$75000 can be used towards college IMO wether son plays baseball there or he just goes academically. Can't imagine what a player can get out of a short experience that can be worth that. What if u pay and go and kids arm starts hurting while there. Is there a refund? 

Is this just a camp or do coaches who run it scout talent and help players  w college connections? For 75k u can hire a personal trainer and hitting coach to work w your son for several yrs and see how he dev and be there to make corrections as needed. 

I appreciate all the feedback received on this site.  I am glad I was able to get so much information in hours on this program.  I sent this on to my son and we will consider all options.  Thanks again.

 

As another poster pointed out, the academy is run on the basis of grooming top prospects on scholarship, and making their money with all the others who have dreams of becoming the next MLB guy. This was the case with top tennis phenoms which is how the IMG camp got it's great reputation when Nick Bollettieri ran it before he was bought out by them.

I know one father who regrets having sent his son there over a summer. While his son packed on muscle with their intense weight lifting program, his pitching coach said "they put too much muscle on him in the wrong areas, to where he lost some of his flexibility/mobility". So the pitching coach spent over a month working with him to get his ROM and loose arm back.

 

Just because something costs an arm and a leg does not mean it is the best place to invest your money. For that type of coin, you could hire a top instructor to work with your son with private lessons, and a personal trainer with knowledge of what areas of the body to improve related specifically to his position in baseball. Toward the end of the summer, you would still have money left over for a family vacation. 

I am not certain where the 75000 came from but the number is incorrect. The five week wood bat summer league is between $7200 and $7900 including room and board. While the number is not cheap the way I see it is as follows, For a good showcase team you are going to pay between $2500 to $3000. You will also need to pay for hotels, meals and travel expenses since most showcase teams travel far from their location and usually play weekend tournaments. So you should add an additional $1000 to $1500 for the travel and meal expenses. So if you add those numbers you have $3500 to $4500 for the team. Compared to professional training at a world class facility from morning to night 6 days per week for 5 weeks. I am sorry but you cannot compare one to the other, especially if you are sending a kid that will absorb every second of the training. Do your research before you accept anyone's opinion. 

It's the approximate cost if a kid attends the private school affiliated with IMG and plays baseball (or any other sport).

The number I mentioned is for their summer HS wood bat league roughly 6 weeks. I am not certain about their full time program but I do know that 96 percent of the kids in the full time program receive scholarships or they get drafted. Personally I cannot afford 75K but the summer HS wood bat league makes sense based on the return. Again the return will be based on the kids athletic ability as well as their desire to improve and how they will take to serious instruction as compared to daddy ball.

Having had 2 boys in the full time program and the camps, I can assure the rest of the posters that what PB says about scholarships or the draft are incorrect.

 

There are players who are drafted from the full time high school program each year.  As an example, a New Jersey kid who is very talented came on scholarship this year, for his Senior year of high school, and was drafted.  Perhaps the poster PB knows this young man...very talented.

 

There are a few scholarship players each year.  Much like the young man mentioned above, these players typically are Senior year only players.  Sometimes a junior will come and do two years.  My oldest sons team had 3 players drafted, 2 were senior year only players on scholarship, 1 had come the previous year and was also on scholarship. The varsity team my sons year had 25 players, most of whom saw no playing time in the high school games, they only played intra squad vs. the PG or jv teams.

 

IMG is a for profit company and not your typical high school.  A one year tuition and sports fees plus room and board and any extras, e.g., individual training, SAT prep, physical therapy, etc. will run over $75K per student.  Many parents are happy to pay this as they foresee the next Barry Bonds, Andre Agassi, et.al.  Some parents just want the kids away from home.

 

The high school wood bat league is a non-refundable $7999 for 6 weeks.  You can also purchase optional individualized things like upgraded housing, personal instruction, SAT prep, etc. but these will significantly raise the cost.  Travel expenses to and from IMG in Bradenton, FL are also your responsibility.

 

I can only speak for my family, but paying $8K or more for 6 weeks of baseball is way more than I'm spending this 11 week Summer season doing it a la carte.  We have a top 17U travel team playing 30 plus games that we travel to see, 3 weekly team practices, a few hours of weekly private instruction, 4 hours of weekly ACT prep, 2 hours of strength and speed work weekly, and my son goes to church youth group on Sundays, and works part time job weekday mornings to make money for himself and his expenses.

 

 

I'm enjoying reading this thread.  The IMG complex is amazing and my son came really close to going for his Senior year for the workout complex and mental coaching he would get before the draft, but playing one last year with his friends won out in the end.  If they had called with an offer before Jr year he would have taken it.  I will also say for a pitcher the Baseball Ranch in Houston is outstanding as well.  Just don't go thinking about IMG, the ranch is just that, dusty, hot and hard but you will gain a ton to knowledge.

High school son just returned from the Ranch. Now that wasn't cheap either but it was money well spent. My D1 guy went last summer too. Great stuff

It prettys cool to see so many views on IMG and others. Our son did not do the full year only the camps and he really benefited. I know not everyone agrees and that's fine. To each their own. He did it. He just graduated this year from HS and will play at Trinity University in San Antonio. What the future holds for him is, well up to him and what he does. His Coach talked my wife and I. He was very straight forward and said Nic's ability is what they like and they see a future with him but he will have to earn his spot period. 

 

As for IMG we only some camps but he has played all year since he was 4 and that was "HIS" choosing and we just supported him. Of all the kids he grew up with only 4 or so are going to play in college and in fact some of the kids that were actually talented aren't playing because of their grades, yes Grades are first and foremost and Never, Ever should be taken ligtly. Out of 5 players at his school with Nic being one, Nic will be in a D3 program and the other is D1 and the others small junior colleges which are fine but if you know anyting about JUCO you know they have serious talent as well and their goal is to get picked up, improve grades to try to get on a D1 or drafted so kids with average talent but low grades will rarey if any see playtime which we have seen countless times. 

 

My advis to all parents is if your kid is not making A's don't expect academic scholarships, The difference between A's and B's is $1000'S of dollars and that goes with SAT and ACT Scores. Our son got many offers (over 30 JUCO's), (6 D 3's)  (8 D2) and only 2 (D1's ) but he chose Trinity for his presonal reasons and the Engineering program. He also liked the baseball program which is ranked natilonally. He graduated Summa Cum Laude, Natonal Honor Society, Ranked high in his class, All District Academic Player, All State Academeic Player, Golden Glove, Academic Acheivement Award, President Scholardship from Trinity and more to write. The reason I write this is to say while IMG is a great camp and he loved it, the bottom line is no matter what they teach you or where you learn from it has to come from the kid period. The young man has to excel in the classroom first and better than his game. When baseball is over your education will be your key to success. There is no short cut and there is no magic pill and without a doubt Education is above all things. Superior Grades not average grades either. Don't fool yourself or your kid by thinking they will make it big in MLB, you have a better chance getting struck by lighting. Nic knows he still have a mountain ahead of him and knows that the end may come soon or it may keep going but he will not stop until he can't anymore but Enigneering is what he will acheive and if that means quitting baseball he will. 

I really don't know anything about the cost of various programs at IMG.  However, they seem to make sure their most talented kids attend PG events. sometimes these are kids that we have seen before they attended IMG And then again during or after attending IMG.  It is clearly obvious that in nearly every case, these players have improved and in some cases they have improved greatly. 

 

This is not meant to be an endorsement of any kind.  It's simply the truth FWIW.  Once again I know nothing about cost, only know what we have seen. Based on that, it sure appears that they know what they're doing when it comes to development.

The top IMG players go as a team every Fall to the WWBA in Florida. Sometimes a younger team will go too or to another PG event. Otherwise there is no requirement to attend PG tourneys or showcases though as you note most of the top players do

Just in the interest of accuracy...

 

if we are talking about the WWBA Championship in Jupiter, FL., IMG has never had a team in that tournament.  Some of the very best from IMG do play in that tournament for other teams.  It is true that the top IMG players attend some PG showcases. It is also true that it is not mandatory.  Then again it's not mandatory for anyone to attend.

 

 

I'm talking about IMG does not make PG or any other college showcase mandatory For its players.  Separately, educating players and their families about the college recruiting process is another shortcoming at IMG.  Pointed many a player and parent to this site as a good starting point.

 

IMG typically goes each Fall with their top guys to the WWBA Florida Qualifier as an IMG team.  Fort Myers each Fall if my memory serves me.  My son played on an IMG team one September.  Then in early June he and two IMG teammates did the Sunshine East showcase at the same facility I think.  Both were great events.

Last year, we (EvoShield Canes) had 3 kids at IMG full time.  This year, 2 more of our kids are going there.  This was their decision and each one has different needs and goals.  They have told me they tuition is more in the $60k range than the $75k thrown around on here.  Also, all 5 of them are committed to perennial CWS teams in the ACC and SEC.

Congratulations to the Canes players and their families on their commitments!  A great accomplishment for sure.  The Canes program is highly respected and all the players moving on to the next level is quite a testament to the strength of the EvoCanes program too.

 

IMG baseball has a small but very strong group of kids coming in to play their final year or two years of high school (or do a PG year) who are initially verbally, then officially, committed to play at top D1 programs.  Schools like Stanford, Florida, Georgia Tech, Arkansas, Wake Forest, and many more have been represented in recent years. 

 

More typical are the kids in baseball, and all the other sports (e.g., golf, tennis, etc.), who are not committed anywhere but they (or maybe the parents) have a love of the game and a desire to play at the next level.  These kids will not get scholarships or discounts to go to IMG and will pay the full cost.  That cost is in excess of $75K per year for most full time, boarding, high school athletes.  Many of the top verbally committed D1 or projected as draftable players will receive some level of scholarship to attend IMG.

 

In one of my son's years, there were 3 drafted players out of 40 senior and PG year students.  Those 3, plus my son and one other player, went on to play D1 baseball.  The other 35 did not.  Most of those 35 did not play college baseball.

 

Boarding High School tuition, room, and board for the year is $68,500 at IMG.  The majority of students are not local, so they board.  Some families move to the Bradenton area with their student and rent or buy a residence.  Non-boarding annual fee is $54,300 for high school.

 

Each sport requires a "competition and training gear fee".  That fee varies by sports and ranges from $3,750 to $4,250.  So a student, with no additional a la carte purchases pays the annual fee + the sport fee ($68,500 + ~$4,000 = $72,500).

 

A student/family can upgrade above the basic accommodations and the basic meal plans.  Many, but not all, do this.  As as example, a meal plan upgrade for a Boarding student is an additional $4,350.

 

Then there are additional services that are sold a la carte.  For example:  SAT/ACT prep, speed training, physical therapy, sport specific individual instruction, tutoring, etc.  I don't have those $ unfortunately, but when we were there they were in the low four figures each...e.g., $2,500 for SAT prep.

 

Those who are not local will pay travel costs to/from Bradenton for their student and then for the parents or other family members when visiting.