What kind of specialized teams did your kid play on?

       
       
As  a fellow parent of a young kid I don't see much value.  I know we got something about going out for 'team wisconsin' supposedly $300 to 'try out' while I think that is probably $300 to play either way I am not interested.

Never played on any of those type of teams.  My son is older and Im not sure there were as many of those around at that point.  I do remember seeing stuff occasionally.  

Play on the best select (travel team) team he can play on. (Note he needs to play not set the bench so the highest he can get playing time on).  When he gets in high school get him to a perfect game showcase per year.  At that time if he gets invited to the Area Code tryouts go (it's free, they ask for a small donation like $20 which is optional).  as far as the other invites take them one at a time and ask people who have been some are great and many are money grabs.  I don't think any of that really matters till high school, till then just play against the best competition he can find! and have fun.  My son played up until he was 13 or 14 to play with better players.  Other than that play catch, go fishing, hunting what ever you can as often as you can you will blink and he will have graduated.  Enjoy this time.

CaCo, if your son is interested, go try out for USA Baseball NTIS.  Especially if local.  The tryouts themselves are a good experience.  The age cutoffs are different than USSSA, other travel sanctioning bodies.  But probably not worth the time and money to actually travel the family across country, assuming he gets an invite.

 

Took my son to one, and he was humbled in the tryouts, but several of the kids he played against went and made the 12u USA Baseball National team and went to Mexico last summer to play (Pan Am series, I think)

 

To be clear, I'm recommending the tryouts, not the team experience.  But to each his own.

My son made the Ohio Valley NTIS team when he was 13.  We went to NC in October.  Great fields....great weather...but really not very good baseball.  Our team was made up of maybe 4 or 5 kids who could play top level 13U here in Ohio...and we went 3-1....and destroyed Texas.  It was a great experience, don't get me wrong....my son got to visit UNC...tour the locker room and walk on the field (only took a phone call to an assistant coach to get it done)....but other than that....it was just a nice warm vacation in October.  At older ages, the NTIS is much better.  We watched some 15U games...and the 17U.  They were completely different.  A lot of top level players...and college coaches watching. 

My son made the 14u team USA development team.   At 14, they only do development, no actual games.   But it was still one of the. best experiences of his life.   He was flown to North Carolina for a week of intense training and coaching.   He came back a changed kid.  And the best part:  once he made the team, the week in North Carolina was free.   That was two years ago and he still wears his team USA t-shirt with pride.

 

he would have also tried out for the 15u team last summer, but had to withdraw do to injury.

I didn't see any value playing at the lower level. Once you get to the large field and have to contend with tryouts I think it is very beneficial. Very strict and very straight forward on the structure of the tryouts kind of what he will see at any showcase. I have taken my son to the USA NTIS and he found it difficult to show your skill with only a few balls. He did ultimately make it to Cary, NC for team Capital, but he realized that it was a little harder than he thought it would be. It made it easier for him to tryout for other teams that he wanted to play on. The more he practices, the better he will get.

Be careful. Some of these USA opportunities aren't special teams. The biggest qualification is the family can write the check. There have been threads on this in the past.

I tried looking at past threads but I don't think I have the correct wording.  Is there something else I can call them other than "specialized teams"?  The closest I found was a thread from 2004, has to be more recent info on this.

Find a team going to the national championships in June. This is where many of the top players go to try and make the team.  I am not sure who from Georgia is going this year.  You need to be the right age and a top player. But they do select about 12 players from that week long event.  

 

http://web.usabaseball.com/art...4&vkey=news_usab

At 12U most of the best opportunities for good baseball are with your travel team.  USSSA has it's Elite 32, USA baseball has the NYBC - these are tournaments your team has to qualify for and results in really good teams coming together.  For us the NYBC was the best - great baseball, great venue, broadcast on CBS Sports, a really great time.  When they get older (14U+) the USA Baseball Team Championships and PG become the big things, and these are also centered around your travel team.

 

There are individual opportunities that the younger player can try out for - NTIS, USSSA All-American to name a couple.  These are fun and a nice pat on the back, but nothing really comes from it.  The value is what you get out of it - fun, experience playing a few games with other good players, whatever.

I am n agreement with RJM.  Money makers. That being said, my son was invited to Carey several times, and we went once.  If the opportunity arises, I think you should go one time.  It is a great experience.  However, don't expect to make the national team.  The guise of a "Tryout" is somewhat ridiculous.  The team is picked long before the tryout. If some kid shows up and sets the world on fire, he may have a chance of making the team, but they aren't picking the whole team from the "tryout".

That sounds like some very sound advice Smitty28....but that is the exact double edged sword that I am dealing with. 

 

On the one hand, my kid wants to play with and against the tough competition, wants to play with the best so he can see if he is one of the best.  I as the parent don't want him to be so intense about baseball at 12u, which is what is required for these super elite teams that enter those types of tourneys. He already spends 20+ hours on baseball a week for the team and I'd estimate an additional 15+ hours on his own working out or doing drills.

 

I have heard countless stories of kids being over used at 12u leading to injury later in life or kids burning out from the intense pressure and that I should be letting him be a kid and enjoy the moment and just have fun playing baseball.

 

Well, to him "fun" is playing with better kids in better tourneys, but he is as high as he can go without being on one of the super elite teams you mentioned.....at what point did y'all let your kid be on that super elite team?

CaCo3girl,

At 12, let him have fun.  If he is on a top "fun" team, that is where he should be at 12.  13 is a hard year with getting ready for the big field.  At 14, he will know how badly he wants it.  If he still wants to put in all those hours and is good enough, find the best team you can.  But if this is the summer he is 12, keep it fun.  My son just wanted to play anytime and anywhere at 12.  But we never did the national teams at that age.  

CaCO3Girl,

let me flip your question around - if there's a better team that is accessible to you, why wouldn't you have your son play for it?  Given where you are from, I assume that very high level teams are relatively local.  From what I gather from your posts, you and your son take baseball very seriously and enjoy competing against good players, so isn't his definition of "fun" consistent with playing for the best team available?  We put our son on a very high caliber team when he started playing travel at 11U because it was local and very fun for him.  It would not have been less time or money to play on a lesser team so seemed like an easy decision for us.  We traveled a lot more than we might have otherwise but that was great family fun.

Get him to Cooperstown Dream Park!! 

At 12 yrs old that's the last time he will have to hit on a 200ft fence. GREAT Tourney and an awesome experience!!

 

My son was fortunate to get to play there 3 times at 12 yrs old and still talks about staying in the barracks,  spending time with teammates, and interacting with other teams there.   After that your son should probably make a choice if he has the desire to continue to put the long hours in for years to come.

 

 

Talking about USA ... My son loved the challenge!  It's HARD. He didn't make the 14 Developmental team but went back the next year (after working hard in the off season) and made the USA 15 team. He traveled to Mexico,  it really changed his life and increased his drive even more.   Yes, it is expensive in all types of travel ball.  But the memories and relationship you make are priceless.  

 

It sounds like you guy's might be ready to go play the tougher circuit. I wouldn't want him to get burned out playing just for fun when he has what it takes to get challenged and pushed by bigger, tougher, stronger kids. Sometimes a new coach and new competition makes a kid take his game to the next level.

At the end of the day, exclusive of "in the moment competitiveness/iron sharpening iron/national exposure" playing for any of these elite teams wont matter if he isn't good enough to play in college. There are lots of options for college, so many good players get to move on but most do not. Your kid can bang with the best at 8-9-10-11-12 and be playing lacrosse at 16 because he didn't make the transition to the dimensions, the position, the got passed up by others who are better players OR completely out of the game. Some do grind and that experience carries them through the tough times above and they persevere...but i know plenty of kids/parents who sported the jerseys, traveled the earth, were in the "best of the best" and they are not even in baseball today. What you hear he "HE fell in love with Lacrosse, or track or glee club"...but we all know what happened. He didnt get better.

 

There's only so much you can do when the dimensions change and he starts playing against 18 year old young men in HS, get ready for therapy if you cannot live without baseball or these boards.

 

Smitty28 is 100% correct in that my son thinks going to a more elite team will be more fun.  He is playing AAA right now, they aren't slouches by any means, but during a conversation last night he made the point to me that he wants to be on a team where he can let loose and not worry about how fast he is throwing or pitching, or if someone will be paying attention at first for a pick off from the catcher spot...in general he said he feels like he is less of a player than he should be...so I'm guessing I have no choice now. 

 

Due to an odd birthday he will start the 8th grade as a 12 year old, so he has made the decision to jump up to 14u next year and skip 13u entirely, he said if it doesn't work out he can just stay at 14u the following year too.  This is HIS baseball experience and I can't think of a reason to say no.

 

Oh well, hoping to placate him with one of these specialized teams he asked about doesn't seem like it is going to work.  Thanks everyone.

Fun means different things to different people. As a dominate 12 year old on the smaller field you can have a lot of fun.  Moving up to bigger dimensions means making adjustments which may mean less fun, but everyone has to move up at sometime.

My suggestion is to make wise choices.  While making the transition, take the less expensive option available.  Have your son participate in other sports to work out different muscle groups and limit any "workouts", if injury is your concern.

 

If your son makes his HS team he will have many opportunities to play in all different types of situations with better teams against tough competition.  He can attend a PG showcase for evaluation and that alone will let him see if he is as good as the competition, which should be his peer group he is competing against for college opportunities.

Playing makes you better, no doubt. So does watching. There are lots of college and milb venues in your geographical area.  Spend time together enjoying the game because IMO you can learn a lot from observing.

I am sorry, 35 hours a week on baseball related activities for a 12 year old is a bit much.  So try to get in some other activity this summer, it will do a young growing body good.

 

 

.

I totally agree...but this seems to be falling into the category of his life, his choice. Sadly until baseball is no longer an option, for whatever reason, he won't do anything else.  I've offered, I've enticed, heck I tried to bribe him into playing football for just ONE fall season...even with the coaches and football players stalking him at school it always comes back to "I don't want to miss Fall Baseball".  Don't know what can be done with that.  I think he is downstairs reading, turns out he is in the backyard at his "baseball workout stations" (that he built)...again...nothing I can do about that.  Can't see it going over well if I said "Stop playing outside, go inside"...just sounds wrong.

You are the boss at his age.  Not really sure about what you mean by workouts...his workouts or at the gym?
Maybe you are missing my point. There are other ways to enjoy the game or life at 12.  Football not the answer for sure.

Do you have an indoor baseball facility near you?  Parents drop their kids off everyday for one reason or another. Its like indoor camp.They have all types of activities going on not just baseball.

He calls them workouts...he has created a sort of batting cage for practicing his swing...he uses wiffle ball and bat.  He has some kind of pitching screen (sheet of plastic with holes cut out) that let's him practice placing his pitches into holes, and he has marked off the mound distance on the grass.  He has set up a 60 yard dash in sand...(there went the horse shoe pit!), and he has some fake grass/rug thing that he slides around on with his catchers gear on the cement and pretends to block stray pitches....none of it is high tech, but he seems to enjoy them.  On a rare occasion he will ask for help with something, most recently he needed me to toss the wiffle ball at his knees from the side....couldn't do that one on his own.

 

Can't think of a facility like you are talking about...in the summer he takes a speed and agility class he enjoys.  And he watches other teams play while at the ball park, but he doesn't like baseball on TV, never has.

I've watched this thread with interest because although I know very little about baseball I know a bit about parenting, having been fortunate enough to have a ROCKSTAR mother who spent her whole life educating children.  I can hear her voice as I type what would be her words:  YOU are in charge, you are his parent and not his friend, and as much as this is about his love for baseball, it is also about the very real need for him--at age 12--to understand the fact that YOU are still in charge of his well-being in all areas of his life.  It seems awfully early to throw up your hands as the authority figure in his life because believe me--I have a 12 year-old too but also two teenagers--once you abdicate that role you will not get it back.  Not saying anything at all about your kid, but there are some who give up something very positive and replace it with negative behaviors when they hit high school...even the ones who were athletes, great students, etc.  I hope you don't take offense, this is just my opinion, but also backed by the parenting advice of a very wise woman. It sounds like you have a great kid and you clearly love and want the very best for him.  From one mom to another, keep it up...you're doing great!

AliasGrace - thanks for adding your well grounded opinion to this thread.  I would recommend that parents effectively divorce child rearing from skills training.  I am a huge fan of including athletics in a childs life, including team sports for all the "team"reasons.  I can also be convinced that some skill training at early ages can be beneficial, although while kids remain on the smaller fields I think solid coaching generally suffices.  I think the explosion of travel ball at 12U and below is a tremendous disservice to today's youth.  I see kids these days who have no business playing "travel ball" other than the fact that the local park ball has been relagated to non-players - kids convincing their parents (and parents convincing themselves) that "travel ball" is an absolute necessity - at least to keep up with the Jones' kid.  There are lots of posts on this board that discuss having a child play multiple sports so that when the time comes (think big field) they have the necessary athleticism to compete.  A 12 year old kid focused 100% on baseball can be a recipe for disaster when/if the stumble and cannot keep up with the competition. 

It's a tough balancing act for sure.  While he has no choice about when he cleans his room, what chores he is responsible for or what is expected from him in regards to school and his behavior towards others I can't in good conscience force him to play another sport or keep him at his current baseball level when HE feels he needs to be playing with better kids, HE feels he is holding himself back, and HE feels he would do better on a team with older kids and at a higher level.

 

I know there is a line of parent/friend, and if he was a 4'10 85# 12 year old I would explain that he needs to let his body grow up before he tries to play with the big boys...BUT he's 5'7 and 145#'s.  He looks like a 14u, I can't think of a logical reason to keep him back from what he wants to do.  He wants to go hit 50 wiffle balls, can't see anything wrong with that.  He wants to go run the 60 yard dash until he is red faced...again...not what I would be doing but he seems to enjoy it and I can't see the problem.  I do restrict his pitching apparatus to no more than 10 minutes at a time, and he isn't suppose to throw full force...but if the kid wants to work on his releases again...can't see the problem.  I don't think I have given up my parental control, just given more weight to what he wants as it relates to HIS sport.

2017LHP I have made the point myself of travel ball not being what it once was and having 5 parks within 5 miles of me that claim to have travel teams but are really just rec parks in disguise.  We took our son out of the rec park because he was being over used in pitching and catching by coaches that just thought he was the "go to guy" and literally had an OBP of 1.00 in his final season there, it was time to go. 

 

As for the multi-sport thing...I've posted on those threads too and asked what I could do.  He isn't 5, he's in 8th grade.  He has made it clear, multiple times, he doesn't want to play anything else.  While I feel comfortable playing the heavy when he fails a test or has a fight with his sister...I can't see myself dictating he can't do what he loves he has to play another sport. (He is on a team that is together 11 months out of the year)

CaCO - I realize you started things off with a specific question and so you probably feel that all the feedback is personally directed at you.  Howeveer, I view most threads as an opportunity to read what I consider to be somewhat generic advice.  When I chimed in earlier it was not really directed ant anyone but more of an opportunity to express my thoughts and concerns - just so happens it is on your thread.  As many posters start out - posters can seldom provide specific advice as it is generally iompossible to get all the facts on the table - bigs ones and small ones.  You sound like you are actively thinking things through instead of defaulting to your decisions.  I wish all parents did this.  I sit on pins and needles thinking about the possibility of my son's baseball experience coming to an end sooner than later.  I think he has been raised in such a way that he would eventually get over it and move on but this is something that keeps me up at night.  Is he well rounded enough to handle the end if it were to come tomorrow? 

I think your kid sounds like a great kid. I love the ingenuity and initiative he showed in designing and building his own work-out station (instead of asking you to go out and buy him one.).  

 

The kid may or may not burn out on baseball.  He may or may not be competitive when other boys hit the puberty switch.   If it doesn't work out, no big deal.  He's having a great time along the way.  I don't see any reasons from this very distant perch to try to divert him. 

 

12 is about the time that my son actually decided that he loved baseball and wanted to actually work at it to get better at it.   Until then he was a take it or leave it baseball player.  Much more into roller coaster -- riding them, playing roller coaster tycoon -- and airplanes -- than baseball (or any other sport).  He was so into airplanes for awhile that he even took pilot lessons.  But then  something happened and he's been all in with respect to baseball ever since. 

No offense taken....I have no idea what he would do if baseball was taken away for some reason.  He;s popular, he has friends at school, but I don't know.

 

At age 6 I did demand he get in a sport, any sport, he picked baseball and has not looked back.  He was never a "I could take it or leave it kid", he was a "Do you think I could be on two baseball teams at once so I could play more" kid.  This past February he had his first Spring game with this team (yes they played in the fall as well), I went downstairs to wake him up at 6am so he could shower/change/get ready and we could be at the tourney an hour away....he was already up and showered and in complete uniform bouncing and said "Is it time to go?"...I should have had my coffee first...I was not prepared for that.  It was like Christmas morning to him!  I honestly can't look into that kids face and say "no fall ball for you!"

Absolutely you cannot force anyone to do something they dont want to do.

My reply was more or less about joining an expensive travel team just because that is what he wants. Thats when the parent makes the call.

I still take the stand that playing any sport year round may be unhealthy and takes years to show up.  But thats just one persons opinion.

Living in a state where you can be outside playing bb 12 months of the year, well you just got to learn to limit, especially if your son pitches.

 

How are his grades, CACO? Sorry if I missed it.

       
       
I will ask the same question I always ask when this comes up.  What evidence do you have other than anectdotal that specialization is bad?  And skills training at a young age is nothing but a good thing.  Especially to avoid injuries for pitchers.

His grades aren't great.  He hovers around a 3.0, excelling in math, and taking a nose dive in English...so they balance out.

I find it funny how some people say something on here, to only take a different side a few months later! Wow!

Hey CaCo3Girl, you guys are ready. Feed him while he's hungry. People tend to like what they are good at,especially kids. Get him on the best well coached team that gets him on the dirt every weekend and watch him fly. You guys will love it.

Doctor!

 

Every time I read your posts, I hear Red Barber saying "Oh-ho, Doctor!"

 

CaCo is doing the right thing.  Things will work out well for her son.

jolietboy - To rephrase my thoughts, there is "life" and there is "baseball".  While these can run parallel (and probably do for most on this board), they cannot be synonomus, especially at 12 years or age and younger.  There is nothing wrong with specialization in and of itself, but rather there can be problems with the route a parent takes to get there and the environment the create to keep the kid there.  Skills training - pretty much the same story.  In its proper place, skills training is great, especially as it relates to pitching and injury avoidance.  However, how many people have heard a dad talk about their 9 year old's pitching and hitting lessons.  At that age, nothing but a waste of money and an inflated little boy's ego. 

 

In short, make sure your kid has a life outside of baseball. 

My Grand Daddy taught me how to throw horse shoes, a music teacher gave my daughter piano lessons, and a MLB coach told my son to be a gap to gap hitter. I see nothing wrong with learning from the best that you can afford. I don't think anyone should take a 2nd mortgage on their sons future in the Majors. But if a package of instruction is able to be obtained why not learn from those who know.

I totally disagree that money spent on hitting lessons at 9 is a waste of money.  My son started at 8, and it served him well.  Why?  Because I never played baseball, and I couldn't teach him what I didn't know.  Other kids have fathers who played baseball, coached baseball, etc.  In order to give my son a level playing field, I got him lessons.  An added benefit, is that I learned a lot about hitting by watching these lessons. 

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I wouldn't pay back one dime.  Money well spent in my opinion.