Winners/Loser from tryouts

[DayDreams]

As the titles says. Who were the winners and losers at tryouts?

There appeared to be a lot of movement this year - teams splitting into 2 teams - teams merging with others - new teams formed..etc..

At 14u - who got stronger?

At 16u - is there anyone that will dominate? They all seem to be very young - I would assume that with 5 16u teams that the Gators would have a stud team in there somewhere.

At 18u - not sure - seems like a few new teams being coached by college kids. See how that works out.

How long before players start looking for a new team, when they realize their team is not an actual showcase team.

10u and 12u - not interested.....

[slapperdad]

16's and 18's will most likely be the usual suspects. We play this weekend but I'm not expecting much, my DD has barely touched a Softball in a month, I'm sure most teams are in the same boat. I'll get back to you in October.

[snoop]

I would assume that with 5 16u teams that the Gators would have a stud team in there somewhere.

5 teams are you kiddin me!!??

[looking in]

I would assume that with 5 16u teams that the Gators would have a stud team in there somewhere.

Let the watering down begin!!!!!!! 5???$$

[gunshy]

One organization fielding 5 teams in the same age group in Central Indiana??? Regardless of the organization, that is the recipe for a LONG, drama-filled season. They will be playing one another constantly.......not fun.

[SnapDown1]

I see what you mean, hopefully they are spread out in different tournaments other wise they will be playing each other and probably one of the four 16U teams that the Shockwaves are fielding.... Of course both these organizations could have some of their 16U playing up in 18U to keep from playing each other as much.... With these organizations past performance and outlook on developing players, I am sure they have both taken this into consideration.

[gunshy]

So at the first ASA qualifier next year that has 15 teams, 9 of them will be either Gators or Shockwaves. Guaranteed that teams from the same organization will knock each other out of berths to ASA Nationals; not a possibility, but a virtual guarantee at every qualifier. I understand wanting to affiliate with one of these organizations to assist in getting accepted into some exposure events, etc, but I am not sure this really benefits the organization or the squadron of teams in the long run. Given these 9 teams, there will always be 2-3 good ones, 2-3 competitive ones and 2-3 that get beat like a drum. These teams will go thru the year being asked by friends, college coaches, etc "Are you the good Shockwave Team?", "do you play on the Gators team that is........struggling?", "when do you play, the bracket just says SHOCKWAVES in 4 different places." Who does this help?
I do applaud the efforts to give kids organizational structure and a place to play, but I don't believe there are enough A level players OR coaches in 1 age group in Central Indiana to support 9 teams within just 2 organizations.

[slapperdad]

Gunshy brings up good points. As I see it, the advantages in being with an established organization are:
1. Being a name brand gets you into showcase events that the Hill Jack County All-Stars can't get into.
2. It gets you some cost savings, a little buying power when it comes to uniforms, equipment, etc.
3. It gets you some degree of stability. I'm going to pick on the Gators here, if you join one of their teams, most likely if you have a kid or two who's parents get pissed off and leave, the team will continue on. It's not like the Hill Jack County All-Stars, when they lose two key players, they're most likely done, and everyone is left scrambling to find something else to do.

Now, all that being said, and I'm not aiming this at any organization or team, but teams need to be realistic in what they have. If you're one of the middle to lower tier teams, you need to realize that, and play in B, play in USFA, play NSA, and skip Colorado, Stingrays, Demarini, pick your high level showcase.... As a high school coach, I have VERY FEW kids who can afford to play on a high profile team, I have even fewer who have the talent, and even fewer than that who will play at the next level. On my current roster, I have MAYBE four kids who have any kind of chance to move to the next level. For the rest of them, the 4th or 5th Gators 16U team is the ticket they need to make them better to help our high school program.

As a parent, coach, and fan of this game, I'm excited as hell that the sport is growing, there are kids who want to play as they get older, kids who want to get better. I think it's a bit snobbish to throw out the "watered down daddyball" moniker every time a new team attempts to form. Or in this case, when one organization is growing.

Gunshy, I'll use one of the teams in your organization as an example, Donny Harper's team. We have played them a gazillion times over the last few years. When they started out they weren't very good. But over the last two years, I've seen them turn into a pretty decent team. We didn't get to play them this past summer, but I saw them quite a bit, and they are a team who's definitely getting better. It would have been very easy to write them off two years ago, but they soldiered on and turned into a pretty solid team. Donny's a great guy who's clearly doing something right. Maybe there's another Donny Harper in this group of Gator's 16U's, who knows? Only time will tell, my hat's off to Mark and what he does there.

[coolstuff]

This will all be sorted out on the field, as usual.

[DayDreams]

This will all be sorted out on the field, as usual.

Also, I think Team Indiana has 4 16u teams also.

I wonder how these programs approve who joins their organizations? I think the Gators probably are more of an organization, were it appears that the Shockwaves are single teams that can use the name. Are they getting guidance from the head of the organization. Does Ramsey have any input with the Shockwaves 18u 93 team? Or is Klienbub benefiting from that teams success? Or is Paczen benefiting from the older Gators success?
Are there really any organizatiosn out there, where the president/Head cheif is heavily involved with the all the teams - Besides having built in hitting students. Or they all really a single team that use the name and it has the appearance of an organization.