quote:
Originally posted by RedSoxFan21:
Not sure I agree. If Legion fixes what they broke, only time will tell if it can be rejuvenated. Travel has an achilles heel called High Cost and Moderate Results. Travel has developed into a perception of Must Have in your rising senior summer because of the belief that that is where the college coaches look. But coaches will look where they believe there is talent so if Legion can reshape itself to field stronger rising senior full teams, they have a much better chance of attracting the coaches, particularly in their region of play.
That may be bad news for Travel administrators looking to turn a profit or Daddy coaches looking to extend their ride with Junior, but in the end it will be good news for the economic stability of the family, and a higher likelihood of moderately talented players of lower economic resource to be found.
I’m sure it’s different in every location. But here in Virginia? Legion has played itself out. Here’s why.
Seniors who just graduated, and who have committed to play in college, many of them want to play Legion. Why? It’s laid back. They get to play with / against their buddies from school. It’s cheap. It’s local.
So this aspect right here detracts from coaches at the next level being there. The best players, the players who will be starting, are many times already committed in their plans for after high school.
Add to that the fact that, for now, 19 year olds can still play. I’ve seen kids who aren’t playing college ball (and most who never will) come back to play for their Legion team. They end up taking a roster / starting spot from a younger player who will likely play college ball.
All this combines to make many younger, GOOD players (Juniors and below) get stuck on a JR LEGION team. How good are the coaches?
I’ve seen kids playing Legion ball who didn’t make their high school teams.
The competition is so-so at best, until teams get to the State / Regional tournament.
I watched a Regional tournament a couple of years ago and at a bigger venue that was local. There was one college coach in attendance. He was local to the area. He was just there randomly when he heard about it. I spoke to some parents. All but one of the kids I spoke to them about was already committed to play somewhere in college.
And “High Cost” and “moderate results”? Depends on the quality and schedule of the travel ball in question for sure.
What are your desired “Results”? Play against the best competition? Get quality reps? Get the chance to be exposed to the next level of play and likely play in front of college coaches?
The organization I’m with now has two private workouts each Summer / Fall at two different DIV I schools. Only players in our organization are eligible. They do a combine and play games in front of the coaching staff at that college.
Our summer schedule includes stops at East Cobb and the majority of the other events are at college facilities.
Cost? Dues, uniforms and hats are less than $500 for the entire Summer. Gas and hotels not included. Still cheaper than ANY other organization (except the few fully funded teams) that I know of.
If a parent / player is looking for a travel organization or coach to get their kid into college, they’ll likely be waiting a while. Even the best organizations, where coaches have relationships with college programs, it’s not like they have personal relationships with 100 different programs. It doesn’t work like that.
Legion here has become stale. Last year I was asked to coach the JR Legion team. I couldn’t commit, since I was taking my travel team to East Cobb. I ended up helping. One of the better players in our borders was CUT from the team. It wasn’t because of attitude, or ability. It was because of the “buddy” system. Even the kids on the team wanted to know why he didn’t make it.
The better players are playing travel in this area, period. The ones who can’t afford it, but the kids are good? Well our organization has a few of those. No one is getting rich off the program.
Just because it’s travel, and the competition is good and the coaching is solid, doesn’t mean it has to cost thousands of dollars a season. Those “established” teams are moneymakers. Period. At the older age groups kids that are just looking for a bit more exposure often play with these teams at the big National Level tourneys (East Cobb etc). The teams encourage this. You think those kids are paying full price? The team gets a stud in the line up. It makes them look better. The kid gets more potential exposure.
