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Summer high school club ball is here.

Don't have a dog in this fight but as a youth track coach, my position is that youth baseball monopolizes these kids time to the extreme. My neighbor's kids play in the fall, inside in the winter then outside before the frost is out of the ground. Have fun kids life is too short.
 
Don't have a dog in this fight but as a youth track coach, my position is that youth baseball monopolizes these kids time to the extreme. My neighbor's kids play in the fall, inside in the winter then outside before the frost is out of the ground. Have fun kids life is too short.

I agree 100%

Folks want travel baseball to start at 7 years old these days. Silly.
 
I also agree travel ball starts too early. I also agree baseball takes up too much of the year. Have good summer HS travel/showcase teams and then you have no need for fall travel ball. Fall ball is happening because summer Legion is inadequate. The kids have no choice. Until the central Nebraska stars formed we had central Nebraska kids driving to Omaha to play fall ball. The need is obvious.

Once August or September hits they need to be in offseason training mode. The current system in Nebraska has forced us to grow fall ball.
 



I agree 100%

Folks want travel baseball to start at 7 years old these days. Silly.

So does Hockey and pretty sure Volleyball does too, I guess my point is that pushing kids so much to compete at the 'highest' level they can just doesn't seem fair to the kid. While I guess kids need to play the best to be the best I really would like to see some sort of data that shows it. I don't blame parents that want that for their kids but I also don't blame the parents that want their kids part of something else. Play with friends, help the 'local' legion team, have some time to be a kid and for those that can't afford to pay for all that travel, a good place to play good ball. Again this isn't just baseball, it is just my experience fwiw.
 
My experience with this at the HS age has been we had 2 or 3 on the fall team that mom/dad were pushing. He rest it was the kids pushing and the parents and coaches trying to slow them down for fear of burnout. This summer with the Sluggers was just that. 20+ highly driven young men. All of them were doing something baseball or something to get better 7 days/week. It might just be hitting off a tee in the cages, but they did it on their own.
 
And a big complaint about Legion was 1/2 the team didn’t care and was more interested in jacking around with friends in the dugout.

What it really comes down to is choice. Have both and let the players and families decide what direction they want to go. Free market. Locking them into a single antiquated system just burns me up.
 
The one thing to me most of all is that kids are outside playing/doing something. When Midland University added esports to their 'Athletic' department I kind of chuckled, not that esports in college as a sport is stupid, just that I picture kids going from class to a computer lab and not coming out until it is dark and never seeing the sun.

Not sure there will ever be a perfect system, personally I would advocate for moving baseball into the summer like Iowa does, might allow kids to play more sports in high school, but that is a discussion for a different day.
 



With snow on the ground and storm clouds looming dangerously low, I don't get the title to this thread. It's almost December, how can "summer" club ball be here?


edit: I just noticed the date of October 20, but that still isn't "Summer" so I still don't get the title.
 
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With snow on the ground and storm clouds looming dangerously low, I don't get the title to this thread. It's almost December, how can "summer" club ball be here?


edit: I just noticed the date of October 20, but that still isn't "Summer" so I still don't get the title.
They play during the summer (instead of playing American Legion Ball), hence the title 'Summer Ball'.
 



Can’t call it self promotion when I don’t work or coach for them. Don’t even have a kid on one of the teams. The reason I’m promoting them is I believe in the cause.

What makes me chuckle are grown men (I think you are) making fun of teenagers who sign at anything other than D1. Clubs like the Prospects are helping all of these boys better their chances and opportunities. Private colleges are expensive but offer great education and are the choice of many. Helping a young man get an extra couple of thousand dollars over the standard low NAIA scholarship of $2,000-$2,500 is a big deal. You as grown men making fun of smaller colleges and kids being excited about these opportunities is pathetic and just another reason I support these clubs and hope more come around. Break the cycle. I know of nobody that earned an extra $2,000 in collegiate scholarships due to a good summer Legion season.

I found out last week that one of the Omaha legion teams is losing it’s top four pitchers to these guys. The parents are tired of paying $1,000 to play on a legion team that rarely practices and plays games 6 days/week with hotel stays in Nebraska. In addition they are paying for private coaching because the legion program doesn’t practice or teach. It will be cheaper for these families to play for the Prospects summer teams in the long run because they are offering actually training from qualified collegiate coaches so they can drop the extra pained lessons.

Why pay equal money for a lesser program? You may call it pay to play, but these guys are only taking the ones who have the baseline skills and want to better themselves. I know I’m tired of watching legion teams where the dugout is playing grab-ass and the volunteer/teacher coach is sitting on a bucket reliving his high school glory days.
 

Due to playing fall baseball, last summer with the Sluggers and other things my son was talking to Ball State, Indiana State, Eastern Illinois for D1 and Emporia State and Northwest Missouri State at the D2 level. Turned down opportunities at all of them to attend a private school because 1) Wanted a stronger faith based environment 2) They have a 70% placement into med school 3) he likely will play all 4 years. the D1 and D2 programs were honest and told him it would take 2-3 years of development before he’d get much playtime. Not what he wanted. All the extra training and moving away from legion ball gave him negotiation power. Put him in a position to make choices and have opportunities. His HS and Legion coaches got him no contacts. One promised to call some colleges but he never did. His fall coach did, those colleges came out to see him play and it provided opportunities. That’s all I expect.

That’s what I’m talking about here. Providing opportunities. If you support legion and feel it’s the best, then you better be working on making that program stronger. You better have a board of directors and coach that are willing to put in the time. If you don’t adapt and change to the current landscape you will be roadkill. Don’t blow smoke up my butt and tell me the current system of HS coaches also coaching Legion is in the best interest of these boys.
 

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