USA Baseball

Honestly, these NTIS things are mostly fundraising for USA... for the most part they have already identified the players on all of their teams. Sure, they may find a needle in a haystack once in a while at these tournaments,  but as long as you don't get your hopes up, and realize that you're there to play in a nice event with some hopefully good competition - and that's it - then it should be a good experience.

When my son was 13, he went to the NTIS in Cary, NC as a member of Team Ohio Valley.  Overall, theevent was great, the facilities fantastic and I think was a great experience for him.  I would do a little research into the folks running the events in your region...as the tryouts are handled by groups other than the USA Baseball people.  They run the show once you get to Cary, but they don't pick the players who get to come there.  The only issue we had was that the organization running Team Ohio Valley at the time was a disaster.  Disorganized....tryouts weren't publicized well and they didn't get a team that was capable of winning games down there...so that took away some of the enjoyment. If the organization running your region is good, I think it's worth the time to take in a tryout...if it's like the group that was here at the time we went...then maybe not.

Do a search (top left corner) on NTIS. There is a boat load of information there. Overal good experience with the correct expectation.

As Buckeye said, do your research and know who's running the tryouts in your area.  We didn't have a great experience.  The tryouts were advertised as an all day pro-style tryout with scrimmages.  Ended up being a pro-style tryout only run by a local baseball club owner for $95. 

It is a hose job and they should be ashamed of themselves exploiting the hopes and dreams of children to finance a prearranged roster and inflated salaries of administrators.

I don't know if I would go as far or be as harsh as djgboy, but he makes a valid point.  Even so, I lean more toward what Bolts-Coach wrote - if you manage your (and your son's) expectations, it can be a good experience. A little spendy, and not many games or true evaluation for the money, but generally good competition, first-rate facilities, and a decent number of college recruiters and pro scouts attending (varying by age, of course).

 

There was a recent thread in the Showcase Forum that focused on both the NTIS tryout process and the NTIS experience in Cary, and I wrote a bit more on my families' experience with the NTIS process there.

Not at all what we experienced...but if I had to do it again, I think I would have waited until he was playing in the 15/16 group.  They had a bunch of college scouts at the games in Cary.  Nobody exploited anybody....we knew what we were getting into and realized his chances of making the 14U National team were slim....as he was 5'3 and 110 lbs at the time....but we did it anyway.  The one kid from our team who truly deserved a shot at the next round of tryouts did get invited back down...so they did what they promised to do.

All I can do is post our own experience.  I don't really have any advice one way or another...other than you can't make a team if you don't try out.

 

Anyways, I've had 2 sons play on USA Baseball teams.  Older one played twice for the 18U team...pretty straight up identification and final tryout process.  Big national tournament (used to be in Joplin, now in Cary I believe).  While they definitely have a beat on who the best players are likely to be, if you're a special player, they will notice.  He was probably ID'd about a week ahead of that selection tournament at the PG National.  I believe PG made a phone call or two to help him get into that tournament (for which I remain grateful).  Son played one year in Curacao (Pan Am championships) and next year in Taiwan (World championships).

 

Younger son played on 14U team about 5-6 years ago...first year of that team.  There were some ID tournaments in California...he was invited by a team to play.  Just thought it would be fun for him...wasn't focused on making the team at all  ID tournaments were followed up by a selection tournament (in AZ at that time).  He went down there...played very well...and to be honest, to my surprise was selected...went to Guatemala.  I don't think he was ID'd by anyone before that process began.

 

Two sons, both really good experiences.  Memories of a lifetime.  Jerseys with "USA" hanging in our house.  IMO, it was worth the risk so long as we didn't put any pressure on them to feel they failed if it hadn't worked out.

Thank you all for your input.  I will definitely do the search on this site as mcmmccm suggested and check out past feedback.  In reading the mixed responses, my initial reaction would be to discuss expectations with my son and pass along some others' experiences to him and then see if he still wanted to do it.  I think after reading these, that going at it with the right mindset could still be a fun experience that he will remember.