Organize??? Or Not???

[specificgravity]

I help coach an independent travel team. We have been together for about 3 years and have done pretty well ( not top 10 ). We are currently in 14u here in So Cal and have been approached by a pretty well known organization to possibly join them.

My question is, what are the pros and cons of doing so? How do we know this one org. is the best choice if we decide to do this? How do we expand our options?

Sorry to sound naive but we want to make sure we do the best thing for this great group of players and parents. Thanks for the input.

[watchtonsofsoftball]

ORG Pros:
-Use of indoor facility if they have one
-RECOGNITION is probably the biggest one
-Discounts for gear depending on organization
-for some orgs, financial help
-Help from older coaches in some orgs. with developing players, recruiting process

ORG Cons:
-Have to answer to org if your team represents poorly
-Fundraising will now go through org, and your team may or may not benefit solely from
-Certain mandatory activities (coaches meetings, conditioning, fundraising)
-Losing players to other teams in the org. due to older coaches wanting them (does happen)
I'd actually make sure on that before committing if you plan to keep your team in tact.

Thats the ones I can think of off the top of my head from prior experience. In the end I think its best to move over to a big org. especially if its one that gets a lot of attention (recruiting). How to choose? The one that pitches you the best I suppose and the one that offers the most pros as opposed to cons? For us we had one offer and we took it and it worked out fine. At times the org. stuff was irritating but not a big deal. Fundraising was the biggest problem as we didnt always receive our profits. It got split up between teams which IMO is a terrible idea for various reasons. We just did our own and called it a softball fundraiser and left the team name out. Parents/family/friends and neighbors could care less what team its for. Hope this helps!

[GSB]

Another issue with going to a big organization is if you want to move up with your players or not. Many big organizations have the same 18U and/or 16U coach year after year. They only field one or two teams at 16U or 18U but will field 8 to 12 teams in 14U and 12U teams. That 18U coach gets to hand pick the girls he wants from the organization and the rest are left scrambling to find other teams at 16U or 18U. Not all do this, but some do. You should check before you commit.

Big organizations do seem to get a lot more interest from scouts.

[specificgravity]

Thanks for the input. Doing the right thing for the girls is important to our team. We just want to make sure we look at the right org. Some seem to be in it just for the $$$$.