USSSA All American Games

Definite money maker!

You have to go through the Amateur Baseball Report to get invited. We went to the ABR event and they claimed that a select few would be invited to the USSSA All American Games. Come to find out everyone we knew that went was invited. We had an awful experience with ABR along with many others and chose not to attend the USSSA ALL American Games. We knew others that went and were extremely disappointed with the talent level and exposure. From what it sounded like, they made everyone feel like this was an exclusive event and it ended up being far from it. == Edited by moderator - MN-Mom ==

Thanks F-51.

Not to speak unkindly toward USSSA, as they serve a function, But...

I don't know of a single person who matters when it comes to playing beyind high school, that pays any attention at all to stuff related to USSSA. I have never even heard that organization mentioned by a single college coach that I can recall. USSSA is more of a 'pre-high school' type thing, IMO. Kids do get opportunities to compete in tournaments through their organization, and that helps them for the future, but nothing directly associated with them is paid any attention to, by people that matter, that I'm aware of.

I agree with 06CD for the most part that it's best function is for 14u and below. However, FTB Mizuno, who many here know is a national powerhouse on the travel ball scene, is affiliated with USSSA and plays in several of their tournaments throughout the year. So, I think to say nobody that matters pays attention is a bit of a broad statement. Also, I believe East Cobb fields teams for the Elite 32 Championships.

I agree with 2013 Dad. There are a lot of the 2011 players who went through the USSSA All-American Games and have now signed at huge D1 schools...i've been following them. I also saw that their 18u World Championships is part of the ESPN rise series. they've definitely got the talent. i know the colleges down in florida are well aware of them

And as for ABR, I've been to a couple events and just recently to their top 30 in florida. it was extremely well organized and well run and there was tremendous talent there. the kids all got great exposure. i will definitely continue sending my son and players to their events

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences.

There are two sides to USSSA, based on my experience.
1) My son played lots of USSSA tournaments, and the Elite 24 (as it was constituted then) as a 13 and again as a 14 year old. All good experience and IMO part of becoming a better baseball player. I also think that many of the kids that play in the Elite series will play college ball, some at a pretty high level.

2) Just as 06CatcherDad said, no college or pro organization cares in the least. The accomplishments a player has in his early teens can be indicative of potential, but truly his performance at that time is not important in rating him as a high school jumior/senior.

Recent performance (summer after sophomore year, junior high school season, and the following summer) is important. So is projection based on recent performance.

All I know is we have had our kids attend a number of recent abr events. High quality, great colleges and universities there, great price, and they delivered what they promised. Oh..... At a great price. Fantastic organization. My friends team in Michigan had kids attend the Michigan event. They were thrilled with it. On the usssa all American games..... Usssa great organization. We were at the last two years events and the quality of kids was very good. We enjoyed it. Anyone claiming there was not talent there is wrong. Look at their national teams. The program is a great program....

Usssa high school program has improved greatly. We played in the world championships and they were very good. Top level teams, great fields, great value, and they are constantly improving. Look at the look who's coming for this year. They are the up and coming program. Quality organization.

[B]Fuentes51 you seem to be all over abr and usssa. Obviously you have not attended recent events. My team as well as friends of mine appreciate what abr and usssa are doing. The events we were at had Illinois state, notre dame, northwestern, valpo, uic, Michigan, eastern Michigan.... Need I say more. I'd suggest trying them again unless you have a different agenda.....you are spending a lot of time on them. Curious.....

I had a parent ask me this same question about the USSSA All American Games as their son also received an invite. I went to someone who I knew went to FL to attend the tryout for the USSSA All American Team. The player and parent both said it was very disappointing and would not recommend it.

The parent who asked the question son attended the ABR Event which is where he showed well to receive the invite. They were also not impressed the with the ABR Showcase as compared to PG Showcases. Not in the same league.

My experience in coaching in USSSA events is that at times they have tournaments at decent venues but do not have college coaches, recruiters or scouts at them which is what most 16u, 17u, 18u teams are looking for. If you are looking for exposure in the Midwest go to a Diamond Sports Promotion Tournament and you will not play USSSA again unless you have to.

Shortnquick. Obviously you made that one up. You and Fuentes are clearly the same. As an FYI team mizuno which is one of the top programs in the country as well as Florida sent all their guys to an abr scouted event. That event had 20 major colleges. Call George gonzales from team mizuno for verification. Mizuno as well as most of florid as main programs have attended the abr events there. Funny how all you know it alls have no facts.

ILcoach not sure why you think I am Fuentes, I am not. I have had other posts on the site in the past.

I am not one of those posters who will get pulled into an arguement that is impossible to win.

The idea of the site is to ask a question and get information. Sometimes the information will go against your personal feelings. You are free to express your opinion on any topic as well as anyone else, but why attack me when I gave an honest assessment of USSSA from my experience. I wasn't looking to get in between you and another poster but if I have information that could help someone make a decision before they spend $$$ to go to FL for a USSSA tryout I will chime in. If there is unlimite funds for a family then go. If the family asking the question does have limited funds and is looking to maximize opportunity for money spent then attend PG Events and leave USSSA All American alone.

It is always good to hear the positives as well as the negatives but you shouldn't take any of it personal, from me anyway.

I am the president of MCYSA a not for profit that has run the 15U International Championships in Crystal Lake Illinois. This will be our 19th annual year and our 4th with utrip. No one on the board of MCYSA profits from the event = we run it to benefit the community and local youth baseball programs.

I cannot speak to any details of how the All American events are run but I can speak to the commitment that utrip has made to the high school age program in the past 4 years.

They are looking to bring the HS program up to the level and beyond what they have accomplished on the younger age levels.

The 15U MCYSA International Championships are seen as their first step or gateway to improving the HS program and taking it to the next level. Our event has been looked at by many as the top 15U event by numerous folks for many years. First as the mcysa/caba 15u world series and now as the mcysa/utip International Championships.

Long and short of what I am saying is that I believe that utrip is committed to the high school age program

Shortnquick..... You should research more completely before making unfounded comments. I usually do not participate in these forums because there are to many biased comments that are not based upon fact. I have played pg as well as others. All I can say is do not knock what you do not have facts on. The events for abr are awesome and much better priced than pg. I suggest each person independently check into what they want to do. I could go ahead and tell all the problems I have experienced with pg, diamond, and others. I could also tell about the times they ran good events. I choose not to.... Each company will have a problem. There were over 200 people in attendance at the all American games and my son was one. I will tell you, I was there, the over whelming majority loved it. In fact former major leaguers walt Weiss, Calvin shiraldi, and a few others kids participated in it. Former Yankee Charlie Hayes coached in it with former major leaguers shiraldi, Weiss, bluma, Thames,Murray, and there were it others. The all American games were designed to pick the usssa 14, 15,16, and17u national teams. Usssa brings in international countries to play against their national team and sends their 17u team to play internationally. Last year they went to japan, this year to Prague. Usssa picks up all the expenses for their national teams. This year usssa is adding to the all American games college coaches. So not only will it be a tryout but it will have the participants interacting with college coaches. Usssa and abr have gone to great lengths to provide low cyst quality product to it's membership. Their plan is on track and proceeding greatly. I would suggest researching abr and usssa more completely. Baseball America covers the program and many former big leaguers are involved with it. Go to www.amateurbaseballreport.com. I'd contact them for references and testimonials. They are very open people. Lastly go to www.usssahselitebaseball.com. Go to the world championships and see the quality programs attending their events this year. It is over 120 between it's prestigious crystal lake world series that is run by mcysa and it's 16,17, and 18u events in Florida. Please note the 18u event is the espn rise usssa world championships at Disney. They have just been made part of the espn rise games. A lit of quality people and organizations now involved. Things change.... And obviously abr and usssa are doing it right. Before you harm someone give them the courtesy if accurate research.

Didn't mean to set off the verbal sparring but thanks to those that responded.

== Text removed by moderator - MN-Mom ==

I experienced this as a parent and the fact is I would never spend money with ABR again and I feel the right to inform others of my experience especially when others ask. Is that not the point of this forum?... To inform other parents and answer questions based off experiences?

== Text removed by moderator - MN-Mom ==

You are correct Fuentes, that is what the site is for.

ILcoach I think you proved the point about the USSSA All American being worth it if you want to meet Charlie Hayes,Shiraldi, Weiss, Bluma, Thames,Murray. However not really what parents and players are thinking of when they look for exposure and recruitment. Thank you for also adding that this year college coaches would be there. This would imply in the past they were not which would then make all the assessments of the past USSSA All American correct, lack of any exposure and lack of college coaches.

I believe it would have come off better in your posts if you said USSSA is looking to make the All American tryout process better from the past and this is how they or we intend on doing so without attcking posters. And please do not compare USSSA and ABR to DSP and PG, now your embarrassing yourself.

fuentes51 and shortnquick-it's obvious both of you are a competitor of ABR's and USSSA's. Neither of you have factual information. I've only heard superb things about both organizations. If my kid has a chance to travel internationally, ALL EXPENSES PAID, why wouldn't I send him?! They went to Japan last year and going to Prague this year...unbelievable opportunity!! Not to mention the talent they have. You 2 have such fabricated stories that I'm actually finding it entertaining. Enough said

and to shortnquick-who is DSP? i've never even heard of them

hard hitter,

My son and I were extremely disappointed with the regional invitation workout we went to and thats it! Other parents were also angry. And with the job I have right now and when money is tight, every penny we spend towards his future is valuable. We felt like we were ripped off and that angered me.


You are obviously affiliated with ABR in some way cause you just registered on this site when this topic started and all you have commented on was USSSA and ABR. You guys are a joke..

Doesn't anyone else think it's strange that ever since this topic started up all these new people started registering soley to start pumping up ABR?? Seems fishy to me.

If by affiliated you mean partake in their events, then yes! I am a definite supporter and would recommend their events to everyone. I just want to defend an organization that deserves it. That's all

I have removed/edited some negative comments by fuentes51 which were not directly related to the events (and which I was notified by email and "alert" button might be considered slander or libel).

Please feel free to share your sincere observations about events, both positive and negative, in a constructive manner.

Thank you,

Julie

quote:

Doesn't anyone else think it's strange that ever since this topic started up all these new people started registering soley to start pumping up ABR?? Seems fishy to me.

it does seem somewhat coincidental that these folks chose to register just to refute your opinions on this (these) topic(s).

but the same may be thought of you fuentes. while you registered six months ago almost all of your posts have been recent and related to bashing ABR.

bottom line is there are plenty of groups out there doing exactly what ABR and USSSA are doing. they provide a service. they charge for their service a rate that obviously plenty of folks are willing to pay. you had a bad experience with them and are rightfully telling folks here about it. now it's up to them to decide if they want to deal with this group. blatantly accusing people (including players) of being ABR operatives because they don't share your opinions is just childish.

keep in mind there appear to be numerous branches of this group. it's quite possible that the illinois franchise isn't the most trustworthy in the nation. but obviously some people have had good experiences with the group as a whole or it would have faded away like many others just like it. and it would not get college coaches to come to camps if it weren't at least somewhat legit.

as many many many respected members here have posted....the way to start this process is to get an honest evaluation of the player. camps and showcases are the way to do that. it's a tough job trying to figure out the right event to attend.

my limited opinion is that you need to start at an event that will provide you with a written evaluation from reputable sources (college coaches/ pro scouts) in attendance. take that evaluation and work from there. if one of these events leads to some invitation to come to another event that costs hundred of dollars for a possible invite to some "national" team that's gonna cost you thousands........it's probably worth questioning.

just my two cents. there's usually two sides to every situation. not everyone sees things the same way.......why else would people be lining up to get their wristbands for Cubs tickets right now

Mood for Baseball - Well said!!

Nothing needs to be added except that Mood only registered on the site Oct 20, 2010 and I registered January 29, 2008 so my opinion counts more than his cause I have been registered longer. That was sarcastic in case anyone did not get it!!

quote:

Mood only registered on the site Oct 20, 2010 and I registered January 29, 2008 so my opinion counts more than his cause I have been registered longer.

but i have 64 posts and you only have 61!!!

This is good dialog for a person in a similar position as the original post. My son was at an USSSA tournament in KS a couple weeks ago playing U14's. We sent him with a coach. I got a call on a Tuesday from ABR saying they saw him at the tournament and wanted to invite him to the All American games.
I too was and still am trying to determine if this is something I want to send my son to.... Money Grab?
I have signed him up and at this point (although I will continue to read this forum) plan on taking him to Kissimee in early August.

My son is too young to worry about college. I am only hoping to see great competion at the 14U level and maybe learn something. My only data point that gives me comfort that this objective will be met is as follows.

Brody Wiess (Walt Wiess kid)started varsity as a freshman at a 5A (Top level) school in colorado. Won the State Championship last week as a Sof. He is an exceptional baseball player for his age... From the web site, it appears he was "second team" after the games last year..... I am deducting that the competition is very strong at the All American Games.

MY QUESTION: HOW DO I FIND OUT WHO ELSE IS GOING... SPECIFICALLY - FROM COLORADO (U14's or other). I WANT MY BOY TO HOOK UP WITH OTHERS BEFORE THE TRIP.

My son is going (u14 as well). We're from Wisconsin and we know of two other kids from the area who went last year. First was named to the 1st team after the event. Last year as a Freshman at a large and high quality high school team in the Milwaukee area he was 7-1 on the mound. Not sure what the rest of his stats were. Other kid is a freshman now and on varsity as well. He can throw mid 80's. He was named as a 2nd teamer last year.

Our goals are the same. Learn, have fun, and hope to see some very good competition.

quote:

Originally posted by ColoradoBaseballDad:
This is good dialog for a person in a similar position as the original post. My son was at an USSSA tournament in KS a couple weeks ago playing U14's. We sent him with a coach. I got a call on a Tuesday from ABR saying they saw him at the tournament and wanted to invite him to the All American games.
I too was and still am trying to determine if this is something I want to send my son to.... Money Grab?
I have signed him up and at this point (although I will continue to read this forum) plan on taking him to Kissimee in early August.

My son is too young to worry about college. I am only hoping to see great competion at the 14U level and maybe learn something. My only data point that gives me comfort that this objective will be met is as follows.

Brody Wiess (Walt Wiess kid)started varsity as a freshman at a 5A (Top level) school in colorado. Won the State Championship last week as a Sof. He is an exceptional baseball player for his age... From the web site, it appears he was "second team" after the games last year..... I am deducting that the competition is very strong at the All American Games.

MY QUESTION: HOW DO I FIND OUT WHO ELSE IS GOING... SPECIFICALLY - FROM COLORADO (U14's or other). I WANT MY BOY TO HOOK UP WITH OTHERS BEFORE THE TRIP.

Did your boy end up going, and if so, how was it?

I will share my experience for what it is worth, and yes my son participated in this years USSSA All-American event in Florida. I will tell you from experience, that exposure, at the right time, in the right forum is a great thing for your athlete. The one recommendation that I will make to parents considering these events is: if you put your son in a group of 100 other baseball players, what is it that will make your son standout? Consider the 5 Tools that baseball players are evaluated on, when ansewring that question. For example, will your son run a 6.7 - 60yd dash? Will your son hit the wall when he bats? Does your son throw in the top 1/10th of 1% for players his age. What dramatic skill does your athlete demonstrate that will get him noticed? Now back to the USSSA All-American games, and understand that I have been at many of these events including USA Baseball, Perfect Game, TPX 60, Top Prospects, etc.

The venue was nice, and the fields were great, being on the Houston Astros spring training field. The weather was obnoxious, at 95 and humid. Registration was organized and orderly. Other than these items, I felt it was a waste of money, and yes it was about the fees. At our age group there were 12 teams, of which large number of the players would not have made our travel program. The "All-American" team, appears to have been chosen, in part, ahead of the games, and the rest on day 1. The team coaches were also the player evaluators, and there was only one per team. This meant they needed to watch the game, set lineups, coach third base, work players in/out, etc. by themselves.

So as an example, our coach from Texas, was recruiting a player who was on another team, the entire time we were there. Everyone knew this player would make it, as a result. He had an above average arm, at about 81 (14YO), but with some control issues. This player threw against us. Our caoch asked the opposing coach to let him throw first. He was given the preferred first pitcher to throw first game slot, and our coach spent more time with that player than his own players. Organizationally, the program was lacking. The players were asked to be at the field 1 hour early, but the coaches rarely showed up more than 10 to minutes before game time. One reason is that they were asked to coach games at other age levels, that occurred before ours. So the players received no organized warmups. Most teams threw on their own. There was no batting practice before any game. At most, the players received a couple of ground/fly balls, but this did not happen at all games. Our coach did not coach, and said it was to see how the boys reacted. I guess I understand, other than, every team, at every level they play on, will have a coach.

There were several good infielders, and a few good catchers. We saw only one outfielder who could play. In reviewing some of the players that were chosen, I question for what skills the players were chosen. For example, an outfielder who misjudged several balls and had no hits was chosen on the first team. Another reason to believe some of the players had an inside track, we saw a player advertising that he had made the second team, the week after the games. This is suspect because USSSA baseball said it would be awhile before the second team was announced, and about 3 weeks later put out an anouncement that the second team would be "announced shortly". Bottom line, right now, there are better, and more organized events. For example, look up the USA baseball NTIS events. The USA baseball games, are and were much more organized. Team had multiple coaches. Players were led through complete warmups, including stretching, running, and throwing. In addition, each team was allowed to take BP before games....in other words players were given the opportunity to demonstrate their true skills, with no excuses. Evaluators were independent of the coaches, and actually sat behind the fences with clipboards, stop watches, and radar guns. I believe USSSA baseball will improve over time, but right now it is not ready for prime time. Too many behind the scenes games.

My son also participated (U14) and I would agree with most aspects of 1958's post. The venue was nice and the weather was far worse than obnoxious. We were lucky we played early each day. For the kids with the noon or 2:00 time slots, I feel for them. Our team did get some BP before games but that's probably because we had the first game and our coach really seemed like a good guy and was there to help the boys.

CLEARLY most if not all of the First Team was selected ahead of time. Some deserved it and some did not. The one player from my son's team that made it "looked" the part but had two seeing eye ground ball hits, wasn't spactacular (but solid) in the field, and probably gave up more earned runs on the team than any other pitcher. I will also say that my son did NOT deserve to make it either. He played about as poorly as I could have imagined and I'll chalk that up to a bad first day. After that he did fine.

The kids were not timed in the 60. I thought that was a standard thing at these showcases. I guess not.

I will also say that a kid we know DID make 2nd team. I was extremely happy for him and he DID desevre it. He played well. Threw hard, allowed no runs in 5 innings and has 3 singles and a double. So, not ALL is predetermined - because there is no way they would have known this kid.

The cost (airfare, hotel, etc.) is far too much for the "exposure" the kids get.