Summerball for school or summer team?

[shrtstop2000]

Well personally I think its up to the player myself. Being I was a high school player and my high school we chose to stay together and we grew closer 2gether we worked better and were ready each year for high school ball. Again I think its up to the player and no high school coach should force him to do play anywhere.

[Gville80]

Good point shrtstop2000. It's the kid that's playing the actual sport, not mom and dad. Nor should a kid feel pressure from a coach about how his summer should be dictated. However, pcccoach makes several good points about players being pushed and playing against travel teams. I am all for players bettering themselves during the high school "off" season. I do believe that our high school summer teams are still in the infant stage of development. Since coaches work so hard during the "real" season, sometimes the summer league team responsibilities fall to a player's parent to take over. Nothing wrong with that - unless they don't know what they're doing. There are only 4 high school seasons for a player - less on varsity for some. I guess to sum it up is to think about all aspects of playing high school summer league vs. summer travel leagues - is it going to challenge you and make you a better player by the end of the summer or is it going to burn you out so bad you won't be returning to the sport you originally loved?

[popfly]

For Shelby Co and the surrounding area things have changed over the past few years. We have two of the premier travel teams in the country based here: Dulin's Dodgers and Memphis Tigers. It used to be that almost all of the top players would try out for these teams and most coaches were glad for their players to get that kind of experience. Everyone else stayed home and played Senior Babe Ruth (not too seriously) with what was left of their school team. A few years ago the coaches dropped the affiliation with SBR and started their own Shelby-Tipton League. The level of commitment has risen from coaches and thus players. Not nearly as many players from top programs go with travel teams. In addition to the local league (the quality of competition is excellent) many teams travel to one to three tournaments during the summer. I have no qualms about my son plying with his high school team because he will get the experience of travel, the exposure at the Memphis Tiger's 18 and under tournament in June, the possiblity of playing in the NABF World Series at USA in Millington, and most importantly he would be hard pressed to find better coaching no matter where he went (do I sound like a parent whose kid gets plenty of pt?).

 

I think the travel teams a still a good opotion for the top players who are at a small school in the city or live in a rural county where summer leagues may be less competitive.

[GLee]

You definitely see more radar guns and people taking notes while watching summer ball, whether it is a school team or not. You don't see nearly as many scouts at high school games as you do in "traveling team" ballgame. The competition is much better outside the boundaries of school ball, although teams that have coaches interested enough to travel them well would benefit. Most schools don't have enough interest to do this and this is what caused traveling teams to form. My kid has trully benefited by playing with players from several schools and while in school he ends up playing against most of them. After the games they always get together for a chat. He has made some great friends for now and the future. For the most of the youth, travel ball is the way to go but there are few schools (very few) who will go the extra mile for their baseball players. I am all for that also, it just isn't so around these parts.

[ksgovols]

My opinion is that staying with the high school team during the summer is more for the less talented players than the prospects. They get more instruction from the high school coach than they would if they weren't talented enough for the top notch summer league teams. The fact that the scouts are at more summer league games than high school games is just a sad commentary of the times. I believe most high school coaches in all sports have the best interests of the kid in mind. I'm not so sure that's always the case with these elite teams.

 

In my day, the high school coach could not have contact in the summer and American Legion or Sr. Babe Ruth coaches would 'recruit' players for their teams. Inevitably, the high school team would be split up 2 or 3 different ways and the rivalries from summer league had a negative impact on the high school team. Personally, I like the idea of keeping the kids for next years team together with the high school coach, provided they play an attractive schedule.

Edited May 20, 2004 by ksgovols

[brokenbat]

I played for my highschool's team for 3 years after our highschool season. My coaches pressured me every year to stay with the school team. The school I played at was high profile and in the summer we did play a decent schedule with a few good tournaments. However, the talent level at those "good" tournaments doesn't begin to compare with the talent at a pefect game event or the twitty city tournament. There is also a HUGE difference in the kind of exposure you get from a HS summer team as opposed to a high profile summer team.

I personally feel that if you play better competition your game will improve, and I think you should play with and against the best players you can. Last summer I played for a travel team that played the best competition in the country, and as a result my game improved more in those three months than it had in the past 3 years of highschool baseball. The competition forces you to play at the top of your game.

I don't think that most highschool players should play for travel teams. However, for the player that has the ability to play on a regular basis, and can afford to cover the costs of the travel I feel that they should jump at the opportunity. Highschool coaches shouldn't hold players back.

I also think its a good idea to hear different coaching philosophies and to hear things explained in a different way. The coaches on the summer team forgot more about the game than I'll ever know. I was lucky enough to be able to sit around and watch games and learn from them. It was the best experience I've had on a baseball field.

[BASEBALL99]

I think the player should make that decision where to play in the summer. because these are still kids let them have fun playing the game they love.

[BABOB]

I play with my school ball team and twitty city. Twitty City takes priority but i hardly miss any school ball games. I believe that playing with ure school ball team does help buld chemistry.

[rSquared]

Am I missing something here? From what I'm reading on this thread, are high school coaches COACHING their team in games played during the summer?

I thought that was a TSSAA violation and that the high school players could play together in a league as a team ONLY if no member of the coaching staff was coaching???

Somebody help clear this up and clarify it for me, please.

 

---rSquared

[ksgovols]

That changed a couple of years ago.

[huskerdog]

It is "difficult" decision for many players. I will tell you first hand that if your local high school cannot field a respectful team, play with other teams. These players "will learn to lose", if they cannot be competitive against "select" summer teams. Also, these players need a break from the "grind" of playing for their high school coach. It is good for them to play for other's. Tough Decision !!

[hardball23]

I think the only way to get better is to play the best teams most of the coaches wants there kids to play with traveling teams. it can only help the player in the long run it will help the school team.