bacdorslider - My son went to the NTIS last year. He had just finished 14U summer ball, and the age grouping was different then (so he was trying out on a 15U team for the 16U team that would be formed for the following year). Since then, USA Baseball has changed the age groupings for their teams, and I believe there is no 16U team anymore, just 15U and 17U. He will be attending regional tryouts this week for the team this year, with hopes of going back again next month.
Anyway, it sounds like you are already through the tryout process (or maybe halfway through), so I am going to assume you are asking about the NTIS experience itself.
For the most part, it was like most other showcase tryout experiences, just on MUCH NICER fields than we're used to, in MUCH WARMER WEATHER than we're used to in the northwest. They did a short, pro-style infield-outfield workout, and then BP, in front of the USA Baseball evaluators, then ran 60s and did some other workouts (something akin to SPARQ testing, IIRC - I wasn't there for that). After that, they played three or four games against randomly-assigned teams from other regions of the country. The NW team got a tough draw - one of the two Florida teams, the Mid-Atlantic, and Southern Califoria (can't remember the fourth, or if there was a fourth), and the timing wasn't great for kids coming across all those time zones - an 8:00 AM game and the last game of the day on the first day (too early and too late for their time clocks), and they predictably didn't pay too well. If that is an issue (which if you're in Tennesee, may not be), think about heading out a day earlier and acclimating a bit.
The USA Baseball scouts pick 8 kids to go on in the team selection process for the age-appropriate national team out of the NTIS, so it is far from the primary method of picking those 40 or so kids who get to that next level (the former Junior Olympics, one held in FL and one in AZ, now called the __U National Championships or something like that, is the primary method for identifying most of those kids). That doesn't mean that it isn't well-attended by college recruiters and scouts, though - it is still a great experience and that area of NC is beautiful, IMO.
I hope I have given you a little bit of the flavor of the experience. If not, feel free to ask questions, and I'll do my best to answer. I'm sure there will be others who have been through this who will chime in, as well.
