IMG SUMMER WOOD BAT LEAGUE

Check their site.  The 15u league is for 13-15 year old players, so he'll be one of the older ones.

I don't know much about their program.  I have inquired, but to date have not sent my son.  Personally, I'd rather my son get game reps against older players, or at least ones his own age, during the summer.  While the training may be good, facing 13 and 14 year olds will not be.  

My opinion.

IMG is a beautiful facility.  With that said though, here is my take...

This is a really expensive program.  While you may get some "scholarship kids", most are paying full cost. So, while you may very well get some talented players - you are also going to see some that are there because their parents can afford for them to be there. Now, you are going to get good coaching in a good facility - but there's no guarantee of how good the players around you will be.

Again, I'm not saying there aren't good players there - from what I have seen there are.  It's just that you are really talking about the ultimate pay to play situation. It's really potluck on who you could be playing with and against.

In my opinion, I think you can find quality summer ball in your area without spending nearly as much money. I know the Tri-State Arsenal plays out of NJ, and that program has a pretty good reputation.  I'm sure others here can offer up other programs as well. 

I will re-post here as this thread has been started too. We've spent many months at IMG.  I'm not a fan as I believe the cost-benefit simply doesn't work.  There are other factors too beyond baseball.  Here's my re-post from 30 minutes ago on the other thread:

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.

I know someone who went when he was fifteen. His dad said he was one of the better players. The kid wasn't a stud. The dad was disappointed he didn't feel he got his monies worth. I recommend spending the money on a quality local travel team and instruction. There are several good programs in NJ. There's Arsenal, Young Guns and Diamond Nation for starters.

I appreciate all the feedback I received today which was incredibly helpful.  I shared it all with my son and we will decide together what to do.  Thanks so much