Just curious to see what most poeple define a national vs a local travel team as. My travel team goes to Georgia, New Jersey, Tennessee, and around New England in the summers. Would you consider this local or national? What's the difference?
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To me a local team is made up of local players no matter where they travel. A national team is a cherry picked group that come from all over the country just to win a big tournament, then they disband. The only time they play together is at those tournaments. You usually see them introducing themselves to each other as they run out on the field.
I'm not sure the label matters. What matters is, are you getting in front of your target audience? Does your team have players (other than yourself) that will attract coaches/scouts to want to see them play?
Does your team have a history of producing college level players (past years)? Does your coach/organizer have connections to scouts/coaches? Is he credible? Or seen as a used car salesman? Does your team go to events that matter in the recruiting landscape?
I remember an 'academy team' from Northern CA that sucked some pretty good kids in and played all over CA and AZ. Trouble was, they were just playing games against decent competition, but with little understanding of the best events for scout/college coach attendance not with any really connections to the college/scout network.
For example, they would enter a tournament in Fresno on a weekend when the kids shoulda been at the AZ Fall Classic....or trying out for Area Codes instead.
Some pretty good kids had to scratch and fight on their own to get hooked up with college coaches. Some probably didn't get there in part due to the lack of understanding of their organization as to what was the best way to go about it.
I believe we enter some of the best tournaments. We do not play the most games however, a lot of our events are high exposure. Do you all view the WWBA, Music City Classic, and Diamond Nation tournaments as good exposure events?
Baseballcomesthird posted:I believe we enter some of the best tournaments. We do not play the most games however, a lot of our events are high exposure. Do you all view the WWBA, Music City Classic, and Diamond Nation tournaments as good exposure events?
Absolutely
Baseballcomesthird posted:Just curious to see what most poeple define a national vs a local travel team as. My travel team goes to Georgia, New Jersey, Tennessee, and around New England in the summers. Would you consider this local or national? What's the difference?
There is no such definition. Anyone can call their travel team anything they want. Just like the proliferation of the use of "Elite", "select", "gold", "premier"... all subjective. Doesn't matter.
Like JBB said -
"What matters is, are you getting in front of your target audience? Does your team have players (other than yourself) that will attract coaches/scouts to want to see them play?
Does your team have a history of producing college level players (past years)? Does your coach/organizer have connections to scouts/coaches? Is he credible? Or seen as a used car salesman? Does your team go to events that matter in the recruiting landscape?"
I would only add, does your travel team actively help YOU with appropriate placement? Or are you getting sort of lost in the shuffle?
That's the stuff that matters.
Baseballcomesthird posted:I believe we enter some of the best tournaments. We do not play the most games however, a lot of our events are high exposure. Do you all view the WWBA, Music City Classic, and Diamond Nation tournaments as good exposure events?
I don't know the music city event but WWBA and DN absolutely.
Baseballcomesthird posted:I believe we enter some of the best tournaments. We do not play the most games however, a lot of our events are high exposure. Do you all view the WWBA, Music City Classic, and Diamond Nation tournaments as good exposure events?
If you're hitting those events.....you'll get plenty of exposure. All attract A LOT of coaches
The Music Coty Event attracts hundreds of teams. The tournament is held at Vandy and many schools around it.
Baseballcomesthird posted:The Music Coty Event attracts hundreds of teams. The tournament is held at Vandy and many schools around it.
I know nothing about the Music City event, but thought I would throw this out there....
Just because a tourney attracts lots of teams and is played at a college does not mean its a high exposure event. There are a number of promotors/tourney owners that will rent out college fields and promote their event as "XXXX State U exposure event". Many times nothing is getting exposed. In many instances the only folks from the college at these events will be ACs or grad assistants who are attending because they are getting paid. They will show up in between events to rake and water the fields and then return to the locker room or press box to get back into the air conditioning.
I've personally seen Tim Corbin on the field during games at the Music City event - and it wasn't at the Vanderbilt location. He may have been there to see someone specific, and that doesn't necessarily mean he goes to a lot of games during the tournament, but he was definitely there.
joes87 posted:Baseballcomesthird posted:The Music Coty Event attracts hundreds of teams. The tournament is held at Vandy and many schools around it.
I know nothing about the Music City event, but thought I would throw this out there....
Just because a tourney attracts lots of teams and is played at a college does not mean its a high exposure event. There are a number of promotors/tourney owners that will rent out college fields and promote their event as "XXXX State U exposure event". Many times nothing is getting exposed. In many instances the only folks from the college at these events will be ACs or grad assistants who are attending because they are getting paid. They will show up in between events to rake and water the fields and then return to the locker room or press box to get back into the air conditioning.
First off this is completely true and was and still is our mindset going to play these type of events. With that caveat, my 2017 did put on a show at one of these types of tournaments, the head coach was sitting in the press box, and he eventually accepted an offer from and attends this school. That just says yes most of the time these will be games that nobody is watching but you never know and every game be prepared for the most important people watching.
Travel team connections are important. Having something that college coaches want is the most important. I would worry about maxing out your tools college coaches want to recruit and the travel team problems will tend to work themselves out.
Just my quick two cents about the Music City event. My sons played in it every year. It is a good event for getting in front of college coaches from the middle tenn area. I know most of the coaches in the area and they do like to attend the event. It's not a pro event of any kind. But if you need exposure to
Vandy , Lipscomb, Belmont, Middle Tennessee State, Austin Peay, Tennessee Tech, Alabama Huntsville, Memphis, Tennessee, all D3 and NAIA plus the tennessee Juco's then it a good event.
If you need to be more specific in your target, high academic , power 5 , then this event will not be worth much to you.
9and7dad posted:I've personally seen Tim Corbin on the field during games at the Music City event - and it wasn't at the Vanderbilt location. He may have been there to see someone specific, and that doesn't necessarily mean he goes to a lot of games during the tournament, but he was definitely there.
I would add, IF your team is fortunate enough to get a game at Vanderbilt, you will play in front of a sea of coaches and scouts. From my experience Corbin attended a lot of the games.
Playing at Mount Juliet, which rivals most college campus's in the Midwest (we have nothing even close that facility in the entire state of Missouri at the HS level), had a ton of pro scouts........likely to view a specific player along with a dozen or so colleges represented.
It doesn't mean RCs and coaches won't show up at some, what I consider, remote locations. We were also playing at Wilson, where I had a lengthy conversation with Brian O'Conner. He had rosters in his folder, checking off names and writing notes.
My son Ethan's home field is the Mount Juliet field you played on... It is amazing for a HS facility.
bacdorslider posted:Just my quick two cents about the Music City event. My sons played in it every year. It is a good event for getting in front of college coaches from the middle tenn area. I know most of the coaches in the area and they do like to attend the event. It's not a pro event of any kind. But if you need exposure to
Vandy , Lipscomb, Belmont, Middle Tennessee State, Austin Peay, Tennessee Tech, Alabama Huntsville, Memphis, Tennessee, all D3 and NAIA plus the tennessee Juco's then it a good event.
If you need to be more specific in your target, high academic , power 5 , then this event will not be worth much to you.
I'm very much in agreement but will add, the SEC was definitely well represented and the surprise was seeing Yale at a game in Hendersonville.
How would the competition compare to a PG WWBA?
I would not doubt that some SEC schools are there. But likely to see a player on their list. My feeling was the OP was thinking in terms of how many new opportunities could come about from this event.
The competition really depends on the teams in your pool. WWBA has so many teams, you might not see great pitching. In the Music City event there are not as many teams, so the talent level is not as high.
I would say the WWBA overall is a much better event, but the Music City event is well worth attending
While we're on the topic, which perfect game tournament is better. The BCS Finals or the WWBA in the summer?
Baseballcomesthird posted:While we're on the topic, which perfect game tournament is better. The BCS Finals or the WWBA in the summer?
Personally I liked the WWBA better because it's wooden bat only.
Now, better for recruiting??? I may be in the minority but I saw more coaches and recruiters in GA at lake point for the pool play games at a WWBA than I did in Ft. Myers for a BCS.
WWBA is by far the most scouted.
Has anyone been to the Music City Classic and the BCS Finals? If so, how would the scouting and competition compare?
Baseballcomesthird posted:Has anyone been to the Music City Classic and the BCS Finals? If so, how would the scouting and competition compare?
Been to Music City Classic, no where near as many coaches as WWBA. Fields are scattered all over Nashville, the competition is solid. Access to downtown Nashville lots of fun for the parents, and great BBQ.
Gov posted:Baseballcomesthird posted:Has anyone been to the Music City Classic and the BCS Finals? If so, how would the scouting and competition compare?
Been to Music City Classic, no where near as many coaches as WWBA. Fields are scattered all over Nashville, the competition is solid. Access to downtown Nashville lots of fun for the parents, and great BBQ.
What I saw was a bit different. With the exception of Lakepoint we only saw one or two coaches total at the 5 games played at middle of no where HS fields at WWBA. However there were a hand full of coaches at every music city game. Now at lake point we saw more coaches than at all of music city put together.
Like bacdorslider said though most all of the coaches we saw at music city were TN or close to TN schools. Which is fine for my son since that's where he wants to go to school but for a kid who wants to play somewhere else I don't know.
I thought both were great tournaments.
If your son is above others in talent, I would highly recommend Team USA National Team. It starts at 12/13 yrs and goes up including college. If fortunate enough to make the team this will open up many opportunities and you will be on the radar for every school and scout.
