Local League OR Tournament Ball?

My son is well past that age but tournament ball is the way to go. The level of competition is greater and you only get better by playing the best. It will also give him a head start for high school ball. I know it is costly but for may son it was money well spent. It also depends on how commited your son is to baseball, if he does not have a love for the game then I would say save your money and stay in LL. Hope this helps I am sure others have different thoughts.

I tend to agree with much of what Wyliedad stated. You, first, must establish the goals you have for your son regarding baseball. If he is focused on taking baseball as far as his talent will allow, he needs to play the best competition available and, usually, that would be tournaments.

If not, league ball would provide the least demands regarding money and time and, generally, the pressures to perform would be less.

I agree with the Wyliedad and TBD, but with one caveat......as long as he's playing on a competitive tournament team. If he's playing on a "Select" team that has the talent of a rec team, then stick with the rec ball and put the money in a savings account for college.

In my opinion Wyliedad and T-Bird Dad hit it right on the head. The only other variable that I would add is the economics and time commitment. When we were 14 our team opted for tournament play as opposed to league play because we had 5 players that was not from the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Our choice for league was BBI but we thought it was just to far to travel for those players and at that age parents don't really want the players living away from home for the summer. We played 71 games that summer between April and August and we were out of town for at least 8 tournaments. It was great for the players development and we had committed families; we had practice twice weekly and the parents had the playerws there. If you decide on tournament play it is a hugh commitment both financially and your time.

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Originally posted by KellerDad:
I agree with the Wyliedad and TBD, but with one caveat......as long as he's playing on a competitive tournament team. If he's playing on a "Select" team that has the talent of a rec team, then stick with the rec ball and put the money in a savings account for college.

Excellent point KD

too = to an excessive degree
to = used as a function word to indicate direction
two = reprenting the number 2

nm

-PD

Doorman,
Here's the link for 12U bbidallas...Jim Perry is great, btw!! These teams will play all over the Metroplex, maybe a tournament or 2 in Waco, Houston or Austin.

http://bbidallas.org/league/12div/12u.htm

Things have changed alot over the last few years, but I moved son from LL at 10 to start "traveling", mostly to Ark Park, but a trip or 2 down I-35 & I-45, as I recall...There was very little, if any, competition in LL or Pony...or Plano Athletic Assoc. (PSA??)
His first "world series" that year was USSSA 12U (as a just turned 11 yr old)in Baton Rouge La. He thought he'd hit the "bigtime"!! The following year, Steamboat Springs & Triple Crown was the "long trip", some tourneys in OKC & Tulsa, Houston & Round Rock, etc.

It really depends on your sons spirit of competition & talent, primarily. If those ingredients are present, then you decide if its worth the expenditure (of time, money, support).

It was a big step 8-9 yrs ago, for me to "committ" to the notion...but, when son showed his "grit" & love for the game, I knew it was the right thing to do.

Again, it all boiled down to his talent & love of the game.

You'll get a wide variety of opinions on this. My son played local league ball in the spring and tournament ball in the fall until he was 13 years old. At that point he went "straight" select or tournament - however you want to call it.

The above seemed to work for him. Since we live in the backwoods of East Texas our options were a little bit limited compared to the DFW or Houston kids.

I've got an 8 year old coming up and I will probably get him involved in a DFW "select" team at a little bit younger age than my 17 year old. Maybe 11 or 12 years old. I just can't see a need to do it before that age.

Believe it or not, in Tyler a "select" FOOTBALL league is starting that plays in the spring. This is for kids younger than 14. It seems to be catching on pretty fast. I knew it was only a matter of time before the adults would try something like this with football.

My thoughts on this is to put your son in what ever league or on whatever team he will be challenged the most. Don't have him playing anywhere he is not being challenged. I would rather my son pitch and have a .500 record against the top talent, than win every game he pitches against guys that don't have a clue what a bat is. He will only get to be the best he can be by being challenged. When he is successful against the best competition, then you know you have something there!!

This is just my opinion of course from my experiences with my son and daughter.

Hope that helps.

Doorman, The stark reality today is that if your son wants to play HS ball, unless he is exceedingly athletic, he probably needs to play "select" ball at some level.

I coached a HS Freshman Fall team in the Metroplex this season and of the 14 on the roster, 13 played some form of "select" ball. The one who didn't was clearly the 14th kid on the roster.

The times they are a'changin'

quote:

I've got an 8 year old coming up and I will probably get him involved in a DFW "select" team at a little bit younger age than my 17 year old. Maybe 11 or 12 years old. I just can't see a need to do it before that age.

Crawdad remember your old friend when he gets 16.

quote:

The times they are a'changin'

Naw, they changed a long time ago.

Well,

You all know I have to throw in my $.02.

I think baseball leagues should all go back to the way they were 15-20 years ago.

You went to a try out, was gauranteed a roster spot, and was called by a coached telling you what team you were on.

In this way, you played with good players, bad players, and had to deal with both.

And the kids that learned how to deal with it the best and were the most talented..................

Got the oportunity to play on.........

Oh, the good ole' days.

No matter what you do I think you should make sure your boys are well-rounded. I don't like the trend of playing baseball 11 months out of the year at the expense of everything else.

Get your boys in the woods and on the water. Believe me, I have never met a boy who did not enjoy being in the woods or on a boat - hunt, hike, fish, ski, - something outside of the house and off the baseball diamond. Expose him to activities that he can do the rest of his life.

Remember, this is TEXAS - teach your boys how to kill something and eat it!!

Hunting? Fishing? I'm just trying to figure out how to get them away from the PS3.....

Ken

you always make such great points..

Thanks guys for all the responses!

A couple of personal thoughts:

We live in a heavy LL oriented area and as far as LL goes, it is a large and very competitive league. At least locally, LL and tournament ball appear to be mortal enemies, so a decision must be made. We do not live in the metroplex, so most of the tournaments will include overnight travel. This is not a huge deal because wife and I grew up in the metroplex and still have lots of family there.

My boys played a couple of local SS tournaments last summer, then played fall SS and USSSA tournaments. The things my boys had to begin learning, really this past fall, I don't remember learning until HS or even college. If more and more boys are playing tournament ball where OBR rules are followed, I don't see how local leagues such as LL can continue to compete for the upper echelon players. Personally, I much prefer having my sons playing baseball according to OBR rules.

The responses here more or less mirror the opinion I have developed on my own but I just wanted to see how valid that opinion was before I spend much of the next 7 months tied up with baseball.

I guess "Tournament ball" may be new to baseball circles, but it is quite prevalent in other sports. I have no childhood memories of anything remotely like what we have discussed doing for our boys but my wife swam in college and by necessity had to do similar things to what we are discussing doing, way back in the late '70's.

And one final thought, I have been away from my computer the last two days hunting with my boys...

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Originally posted by DBAT GM:
Hunting? Fishing? I'm just trying to figure out how to get them away from the PS3.....

Who's fault is that?

quote:

Originally posted by Ken Guthrie:

quote:

Originally posted by DBAT GM:
Hunting? Fishing? I'm just trying to figure out how to get them away from the PS3.....

Who's fault is that?

*sigh* What's a dad to do?

Ages 4 and 9 and that's all they asked Santa for. They figured that if they both asked every Santa Clause they saw for the exact same thing that it bettered their chances of getting it. I'm hoping it's just a phase.....

Rest assured that Santa brought plenty of baseball & football gear for X-mas as well and we've been taking weekly excursions to the new Bass Pro Shops that's less than a mile from our home. All in all.....Santa's broke.

....but just wait until next summer when I take on the Dbatters in some Madden 07!

Back on topic.....my preference is LL through 12. Then the travel/select ball at 13.

quote:

I guess "Tournament ball" may be new to baseball circles

Tournament ball has been around for atleast 20 years in our area. Elite teams have been around about 15 years and did hurt the Travel teams because the travel organizations were losing their top players. Travel teams cost approx 300-500 per season while Elite teams cost 3000-10000 per year. Elite teams play or practice all year round and travel 1-2 days away. It is obvious the players were demanding better coaching and better competition.
The travel teams were quite diluted but now are entering a new phase of co operation with the Elite teams and the travel teams have become a feeder system for the Elite teams who draw players from approx 100 mile radius. This co operation seems to be paying off.
Doorman I thought you already knew the answer to your question. It is just a matter of desire, talent and money. The memmories are priceless.

There is a lot of good things about video games and my son is an avid player . We now have VG tournaments where you can win up to $100,000. The VG have been shown to enhance motor skills and brain functions. My son often joins several other players and have a great competetive time.

quote:

Originally posted by DBAT GM:
Back on topic.....my preference is LL through 12. Then the travel/select ball at 13.

As I mentioned before that is exactly the path I took with my 17 year old son and it looks like it worked out good for him.

In regard to computer games, they've got some pretty good fishing and hunting X box games that are actually pretty adicting. My son has an archery game that is extremely realistic. He swears it sharpens his hunting skills.

Off topic....

Guitar Hero for PS....addictive for both fathers and sons.

quote:

Originally posted by Ken Guthrie:

You went to a try out, was gauranteed a roster spot,

Wimp.

No one was guaranteed a roster spot when I was in LL. Some kids just didn't get drafted. I earned my spot every year.

Until a kid turns 13 or so, I think it all boils down to coaching. If your 8-12 year old kid can get quality instruction from a volunteer in a LL program, then you just saved yourself a lot of money and time.