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| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| morrsco |
Posted - 01/12/2016 : 11:25:51
I'm trying to help my son's coach put together a strong schedule for his 10U team. The team just started up this past fall so I have some questions.
1. When do most team's start playing? Mid-March or earlier?
2. How many tournaments total do most teams play? 8,9,10, more?
3. Do most teams stop after the July 4th weekend?
Any other tips or pointers are also appreciated.
Thanks |
| 10 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| SweeperBaseball |
Posted - 01/19/2016 : 21:09:23
Tournament planning is time consuming! I have planned our tournaments for our team for 5 years and I have done it many different ways. For our team, we have the best system going now so far! I sit down with all of the school schedules ( many schools) and go through the calendar. Do you want to play on Easter weekend, Mothers Day weekend, Memorial Etc. Then I go through the spring breaks...
From there I have my weekends! Many times we play the first weekend of spring break and families can leave Sunday or Monday. I submit a calendar of tournament weekends by Christmas and they mark them. There are so many good tournaments to play in that I sign up as we go! We play 10 plus a world series..and I hope that is the case as last spring was a raining nightmare!! We always end our season with our world series in late June. By that time, families are ready to do their own thing and take some time off! |
| sebaseball |
Posted - 01/14/2016 : 16:50:33
My foundational thoughts for 9U - 12U:
-These are kids, not professional athletes. You can kill their love for the game with too much of it.
-Keep the expenses to a minimum and minimize Sat/Sun tourneys. Saturday only tourneys can be long, but it's super nice to have a day to recouperate before heading back to work/school. Plus, one less night in a hotel!
-Focus more on skill development and less on wins.
-Under pitch your best pitchers & develop a team full of pitchers. You're best guys will still be your best in 2 years, but the others will be ready to help as well. Protect those young arms!
-Rotate defensive positions as much as individual ability allows. You don't know what position they'll play in HS, so let them learn as many as they can.
-Fastballs & changeups until 12U & then only limited curves. You can rack up the Ks with a decent changeup.
As far as tourneys, my experience leads me to recommend:
1) Start tourneys no earlier than March 1. Tourneys on a freezing, wet February Sat are no fun; for anyone.
2) Wrap it up before July 4th.
3) If you play rec and travel, don't go back & forth between machine and live arm. Hitter's timing will constantly be off.
4) Play twice a month with a very occasional third in a month & don't play more than 2 weekends in a row. This will get you 8-10 tournaments which is plenty. |
| OPHornets |
Posted - 01/14/2016 : 08:29:01
@ morrsco: We are and have been a AA team since beginning at 10U. Here's my $.02.
1) Try to play at as many different parks as you can. I know my boys hated going back to the same park time and again and enjoyed being able to mix it up.
2) I agree with Tums Mum on much of what she said. U$$$A makes things easier but their price keeps going up (I paid $325/tournament last year and this year is $405) and the quality of the tournaments isn't quite escalating at the same rate. You will still run into sandbaggers in U$$$A and, for the price, you can find better deals.
3) Our schedule is/was 2 tournaments/month, one weekend where we play 3 scrimmages against other local teams over Friday and Saturday (Sunday off), and one weekend completely off. The kids always seemed to play better after the weekend off.
4) I also agree with bball. Start with your end of season tournament and work backwards. If you are going to U$$$A at Orange Beach, you'd better get your 5 tournaments in + the state tournament.
5) Set up when you are playing early on your calendar. This will let your parents schedule other activities for the family.
5b) If you set up when you are playing, your parents *should* give you more leeway on telling them later on where you are playing. You may have to enter your team into three different tournaments to make sure one has enough teams to play.
6)Last but not least, don't fall into the traps. The NIT and Super NITs are fun because you can play ALOT of baseball in a short amount of time. On the flip side, scheduling is a nightmare (1PM Friday afternoon) and the locations can be an absolute bear to get to.
Keep the driving distances to a minimum, play as many different teams as you can, and don't be afraid to use the tournaments link here to save some dollars. |
| Crazyforbball |
Posted - 01/13/2016 : 09:14:24
I agree with bballman. Don't overdo it. Their little bodies need some time to rest. They need some weekends to just hang out. Don't let the Gung ho parents convince you to play the boys to death because they want to be out there (the parents). This is where burnout starts. Put a fork in that. And if they are AA find tourneys where they can be competitive and have some fun, with some challenge but not overkill. Give them time to develop and have fun doing it. |
| CaCO3Girl |
Posted - 01/13/2016 : 07:56:48
quote:
Originally posted by morrsco
We will most likely do a Baseball Youth Majors tourney to cap off the season. Some parents wanted to continue to play until the end of July, but we are leaning toward stopping after that destination tournament. The team is just AA. Some of the parents are very gung-ho, but others aren't so much. I'd like to start early March and play 10 local type tournaments until we end with the trip. Vacations, holidays, weddings, etc are just making it tough. Might have to start in Feb to get it all in or stretch into July. I'm probably over analyzing it since weather will most likely change all of my preset plans.
My son had a blast at 10u. His favorite tournaments were USSSA where "champs wear rings". He still has his rings on his dresser in his room, and this is 4 years later. He also liked the wooden bat tourney his team was in. 10u doesn't often get to play with wooden bats.
If we are talking AA here then my recommendation would be to keep things fluid for the season. Pick out maybe 4 MUST have tourneys and the rest of the time just designate weekends where you plan to play but haven't decided where yet. 2-3 tourneys a month from March 1 to July 4th should be good. Yes, most teams will be starting in late February and early March but if the weather isn't good enough yet there is no need for the torture. Composite bats don't like cold weather and neither do parents!
Triple crown tourneys are VERY well organized, but are about $500 for one weekend. USSSA have very cool trophies, break down the tourneys by true level so you won't have a major team and an AA team in the same tourney, and their tourneys are about $350-$400, so I would recommend them for a 10u AA team.
You also have a LOT of fundraiser tourneys listed on this website and those can run as cheap as $150 for a whole weekend of baseball...plus the gate fee of course.
Up until 14u my son's season ALWAYS ended on or by the fourth of July. Your entire summer shouldn't be about baseball when you are 10, people might want to visit grandparents, or out of state family...there should be SOME summer time available for the family stuff too. |
| morrsco |
Posted - 01/12/2016 : 16:37:06
We will most likely do a Baseball Youth Majors tourney to cap off the season. Some parents wanted to continue to play until the end of July, but we are leaning toward stopping after that destination tournament. The team is just AA. Some of the parents are very gung-ho, but others aren't so much. I'd like to start early March and play 10 local type tournaments until we end with the trip. Vacations, holidays, weddings, etc are just making it tough. Might have to start in Feb to get it all in or stretch into July. I'm probably over analyzing it since weather will most likely change all of my preset plans. |
| bballman |
Posted - 01/12/2016 : 16:12:04
With all due respect, we're talking about 10 year olds here. My suggestion - play maybe 2 tournaments a month. If you want to play on the in between weekends, schedule some local pick up games with other teams. There is no reason to travel anywhere. Metro Atlanta has some of the best baseball in the country. Start after you are pretty confident the weather is going to be reasonable. Why would you want to make a bunch of 10 year olds stand outside in the 30 degree weather. This is supposed to be fun! Maybe mid to late March. An end of the year tournament out of town would probably be a fun thing for the kids. End of June, early July is a good time to end. Give them some summer as a kid. |
| CaCO3Girl |
Posted - 01/12/2016 : 15:43:14
Good advice so far. I agree, you need to know if your team will have a grand end of the year tourney. My son did the Grand Slam in Panama City Beach at 10u, it was a blast! This meant his team had to be in a few Grand Slam tourneys to "qualify", but the team didn't have to win them, just participate.
The real question is, what kind of team do you have? A, AA, AAA, Major? what kind of budget can you live with? |
| turntwo |
Posted - 01/12/2016 : 13:12:46
My opinion? Would be in this order...
-Pick an 'end-game'... Will there be some sort of 'end of the season' "destination" tournament? If so, the rest could fall into play..
-Once your 'end game' is chosen, how do you get there? Is it Gulf Shores (USSSA- Global World Series), then USSSA tourneys (for the points AND prerequisites such as qualifiers, state, # of tourneys) would be priority (SNIT's, dual/quad point events, etc). Is it Panama City? Then maybe run the Grand Slam circuit. Ft. Myers? Perfect Game Super25's would be your choice, since you have to qualify. Disney? Again, SNIT's (Major) to 'earn your berth'.
-Now, if your 'end game' is more of a 'pay to play' (Ripken, Nations Baseball, Baseball Youth Nationals, TbS National Championship), then you can do whatever for the spring tourneys leading up to the end of the season.
-When to start/stop, and even how many tournaments you play, is more team specific. How 'intense' or 'dedicated' is your team? (And this goes for players AND parents) Most teams start up around the first of March, and run through anywhere from mid-June and first of August based on the 'end game' chosen. The number of tourneys in-between would be based on budget, and/or whether the families (players included) are 'all about baseball' or more of, 'this is fun for the spring'-type of mindset.
*Note, the 'end game' tourney may take a LOT of research and planning, and even 'in-season' travel (aside from the destination tourney). For some of the bigger (re: tougher) national championship tourneys, you have to earn a berth (win a tournament or be runner-up to someone who's already earned their berth). So, for PG or E32, this may take you to NC, SC, TN, AL, MS, FL for a weekend tournament, just to try and win your way into the 'end game' tourney.
Just my .02 |
| Enine |
Posted - 01/12/2016 : 12:59:47
1. Tournaments start as early as end of February. Murphy's Law of Travel Baseball states the following. If you are paid for a February tournament, the weather will be miserable. If you sit out a February tournament, the weather will be amazing and teams will get their minimum games in.
2. Depends on team budget and level of play. Triple Crown is expensive but the better teams will be in the mix. Plenty of teams putting on fundraiser tournaments with 8+ teams in the pool at this age.
3. Most don't go beyond July as the little ones need a break before tryouts begin anew. Again, depends on budget. If you are planning a destination world series (USSSA, Panama City, Ripkin, Disney, etc) that is typically the last.
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