Archive for Travel Baseball
Typical Travel Baseball Team Budget
Posted by: | Comments| QTY | Cost | Total | |
| USSSA Registration Fee | 1 | 45 | $ 45.00 |
| BPA Registration Fee | 1 | 45 | $ 45.00 |
| Super Series Registration Fee | 1 | 45 | $ 45.00 |
| Team Liability Insurance | 1 | 145 | $ 145.00 |
| 12 USSSA Baseballs backup | 1 | 36 | $ 36.00 |
| 12 BPA Baseballs backup | 1 | 36 | $ 36.00 |
| 12 Super Series Baseballs backup | 1 | 36 | $ 36.00 |
| Crieve Hall Sponsorship | 1 | 500 | $ 500.00 |
| Practice Games – Umpire Fees | 4 | 30 | $ 120.00 |
| Coaching Game Shirts | 4 | 35 | $ 140.00 |
| Coaching Practice Shirts | 4 | 25 | $ 100.00 |
| Premium Youth Pant | 24 | 35 | $ 840.00 |
| Premium Youth Jersey – reversable | 12 | 70 | $ 840.00 |
| Premium Youth Practice Jersey | 12 | 30 | $ 360.00 |
| Youth Socks | 24 | 4.5 | $ 108.00 |
| Youth Belts | 24 | 4.5 | $ 108.00 |
| Youth Caps | 24 | 20 | $ 480.00 |
| Batting Helmet | 12 | 20 | $ 240.00 |
| Bat Bag | 12 | 70 | $ 840.00 |
| Fall Tournament 1 | 1 | 185 | $ 185.00 |
| Fall Tournament 2 | 1 | 185 | $ 185.00 |
| Spring Tournament 1 | 1 | 185 | $ 185.00 |
| Spring Tournament 2 | 1 | 185 | $ 185.00 |
| Spring Tournament 3 | 1 | 185 | $ 185.00 |
| Spring Tournament 4 | 1 | 225 | $ 225.00 |
| Spring Tournament 5 | 1 | 225 | $ 225.00 |
| Spring Tournament 6 | 1 | 275 | $ 275.00 |
| Misc | 1 | 300 | $ 300.00 |
| Total Travel/Select Team | $ 7,014.00 | ||
| Cost Per Player | $ 584.50 | ||
| Academy Training – Per Player | 12 | 500 | $ 6,000.00 |
| Baseball League Spring 2011 Registration – Per Player | 12 | 140 | $ 1,680.00 |
| Team Totals | $14,694.00 | ||
| Cost Per Player | $ 1,224.50 |
Maverick Baseball Practice 6
Posted by: | CommentsMaverick Practice
We held our 6th pre-season practice this weekend out our indoor facility in Franklin, TN. All players were in attendance. We are 8 weeks away from the start of our season and the boys are progressing very well with our pre-season conditioning plan.
Our practice plan for Saturday:
Footwork/Defense Drill – Players lined up in two groups with an agility ladder set up in the middle of them. A Coach we out in front of the boys ready to throw pop ups to them. The idea of the drill was to have the boys run sideways through the ladder and once through it they would immediately run forward toward the coach who would throw a pop up for them to run under and catch.
Here is a diagram for you to use in setting up the drill.
Agility Pop-ups
Hitting – 3 groups
- One group working front toss. Coaches utilized L screen with underhand throws to players. 1 player in cage hitting with other players on deck working on dry swings calling out the 5 points of the swing we teach. Stance, load, point of contact, extension and finish.
- One group working soft toss with small hitting stick. Used to develop hand eye coordination and bat speed. This drill is done with small plastic golf balls.
- Once group doing tee work. Players continue to work in a static situation to grove swing using our 5 points of the swing as a guide.
Rocket Relay Drill – This drill was set up to teach accurate throwing and catching. Two teams were set up with the players 10 yards apart. On the go command the starting player would throw the ball to the first player, who would turn and throw it to the next. The ball would go down the line until it reached the end at which time the player at the end would run all the way back to the front and take the place of the starter. All other players would move down 10 yards and the throwing would continue until all boys rotated from start to start at which time the relay was over. They team that finished first was the winner.
Here is a diagram of the drill.
Rocket Relay Baseball Drill
Maverick Practice Update
Posted by: | CommentsI hope you have enjoyed our posts about our travel baseball team practices.
One additional thing we do is give the players a quiz each week. This baseball quiz consists of 10 questions based on their age level. We require them to answer 90% correct each week to continue on to the next quiz. Over the next several days I’ll give you the questions to our quiz. Feel free to use them with your players.
I guarantee you the players will enjoy it and you might learn something along the way.
If you need answers to the questions just email me and I’ll be happy to provide them.
So here we go….
Quiz #1 Questions:
1) MLB is made up of 30 teams divided into 2 leagues. What are the names of the 2 leagues?
a) __________________________________
b) __________________________________
2) During our swing, from load to point of contact, our hands should be……
a) Far away from the body
b) Close to the body
c) Doesn’t matter
3) The proper grip on the baseball when throwing is a 4-seam grip or a 2-seam grip?
a) 4-seam grip
b) 2-seam grip
4) Runner on 1st base, groundball to the second baseman, who covers the second base bag?
a) Shortstop
b) Third baseman
c) Centerfielder
5) Do we walk on the baseball field?
a) Yes
b) No
6) On a slowly hit groundball, do we…
a) Wait for it to roll to us
b) Charge it and make a play
c) Throw our glove at it
7) What is the easiest, most effective way to catch a fly ball?
a) With 2 hands and the ball stays in front of our nose
b) Let it hit the ground and then pick it up
c) One hand, behind the back
8) Once you catch a fly-ball in the outfield, we…
a) Celebrate because we caught it
b) Look to see where the runners are
c) Throw the ball to the cut-off man as quickly as possible
9) When you are throwing the baseball what should you be looking at?
a) Your coach
b) The base runner
c) The player you are throwing to
d) Mom
10) List all the players on our team.
1. ____________________________
2. ____________________________
3. ____________________________
4. ____________________________
5. ____________________________
6. ____________________________
7. ____________________________
8. ____________________________
9. ____________________________
10. __________________________
11. __________________________
12. __________________________
13. __________________________
Bonus The Hall of Fame just voted to add 2 new players. Who are these players and what position did each play?
a) ___________________________ Position _____________
b) ___________________________ Position _____________
Mad Mavericks Practice 2
Posted by: | CommentsMaverick Practice this past Saturday
This week we continued to focus on team hitting.
In addition to our practice we had a fitting for our practice jersey and hats. Next week we will hold a fitting for our season uniforms. I encourage all coaches to have your players try the uniforms and hats on prior to embroidery or screen printing. Your players will look much better if you ensure the uniform’s are not hanging off of them.
Practice Plan:
11:00 – 11:05 – Quick team meeting with the boys to explain what we plan to do today and get them motivated to perform at their best.
I would encourage you to have this before each practice and let the players know your practice plan. It’s also a good time to get them focused to give their best during practice.
11:05 – 11:45 – Drill Groups
We broke the players up into 4 groups, 3 with 3 players and 1 with 4.
Group 1: Hitting – underhand front toss in cage ( you could use your practice field and if you don’t have L Screen just find some type of net to protect you)
We set up an L screen directly in front of the player about 15-20 feet. The coach will throw to the middle, outside and inside of the plate allowing the players to hit pitches from different locations. The coach should work to not loop the ball as it should be thrown as flat as possible. Have them show the ball to the player before throwing it.
Group 1: Hitting – Overhand front toss in cage ( you could use your practice field and if you don’t have L Screen just find some type of net to protect you)
Group 3: Hitting – tee work
We set up 4 tee’s in a cage and the players work on correct set up and hitting off the tee. Before doing the tee work we have them dry swing, step by step to grove the correct muscle memory. We teach hitting step by step; stance, load or position of power, hip turn to point of contact, extension and finish. We have the players set up in their stance and on the coaches command go to load, point of contact, extension and finish. I encourage you to walk your players throw this regardless of their age. This will develop the muscle memory needed to execute the swing correctly without any thought.
Group 4: Hitting - Wiffle Ball
Basically this gives the players additional swings without the need for a cage. We worked the same fundamentals during our wiffle ball stage.
11:45 – 12:00 – Defense – fielding grounders without gloves. We used the flat paddles for this drill.
The players stayed together for this drill. We had each field ground balls rolled to them with the SKILZ paddles. We worked on fielding the ball with both hands, with the throwing hand coming over top of the paddle to secure the ball. We had them throw to a coach about 50 feet away to complete the drill. Any poor throws resulted in the boy’s having to do 5 situps.
For your own practice:
You could modify this by doing it on a regular field with both teams hitting. You could still judge line drives, grounders and pop ups. Develop your own scoring system, but remember the goal is to hit the ball solidly on a line drive especially up the middle.
We hope you get something out of seeing what we do in our practices. Even if you only learn 1 or 2 things it’s better than nothing. Good luck and may all your baseball dreams come true.
2011 Travel Baseball Team Adventure – Come with US!
Posted by: | CommentsI’m starting a series of articles that will keep you informed about the 7U travel baseball team I’m coaching this season through the MAD Sports Baseball Academy in Franklin, TN. I encourage you to check back every Monday this year as I’ll have a new article outlining what took place with our team. It will be like you are with us the entire way.
You as a coach or parent can get a feel for what it’s like to be involved in “Travel/Select” baseball. I believe you will get benefit from what is talked about in these articles.
Here is what’s planned:
- I plan to walk you through our practices. What we taught and how we taught it.
- I plan to provide you with our practice plans.
- I plan to encourage you to start a travel baseball team and will provide you some advice if needed.
- I plan to provide you with ideas for your own travel team. They can be used in recreational leagues as well.
- I plan to show you how we teach more than just baseball. Learn how Speed and Agility plays a role in all sports including baseball.
Now, to get you up to date on what we have done so far.
Preliminary Details:
We did not hold a formal tryout as I don’t believe in having tryouts for children this young. Our team was hand selected by one other coach and myself. We selected children that we felt would be great team players and could perform at the competitive level. Our goal is to keep this team together for years and develop them into great baseball players.
I encourage all of you coaches out there to consider hand selection for players under 9. Can you imagine how you would have felt if you got cut from a team at the age of 7. What has it come to? Hand select, you will be glad you did.
Parents Meeting held December 4, 2010:
We held a parents meeting to provide details on the team and what would be expected. We provide an opening letter that outlined the coaching philosophy, season’s goals, parent’s expectations, team rules and coaches background. In addition we provide the parents with a budget that outlined the entire cost for the season. Our budget is just over $650 per child and will include about 35 baseball games. The budget provides money for 3 uniforms, batting helmets, league dues, insurance and tournament fees. We gave the parents until December 11, 2010 to commit.
Team Formed on December 11, 2010:
We formed the 7U team with 13 young boys for the up coming 2011 season.
Video Evaluation of Team held on December 18, 2010:
As with all the teams I’ve been involved with it’s important to get a baseline for performance improvement. We video taped the boys hitting, fielding and throwing. We timed them in a running drill along with measuring them in the broad jump. The video analysis will be used to individualize the training to each child based on what’s needed most. We plan to do another video analysis a couple of times during the season to show improvement.
Hitting Camps held on December 21st and 27th, 2010:
We held two hitting camps for our boys at the MAD Sports Training Complex at the direction of a previous Major League Player. While our coaches were involved and understand the terminology taught by the professional hitting instructor it was a chance for the boys to get hands on instruction from a high level instructor. The coaches were able to hone their skills as well during these sessions. We are part of the MAD Sports Baseball Academy and sessions like this help us all get on the same page and ensure we are teaching the boys the same thing. They should hear the same lingo year after year.
As I said this is the first article in a series that I truly hope you enjoy.
Our first regular practice starts this Saturday so look for a quality update next Monday.
Until then, may all your baseball dreams come true.
Case for Travel Baseball
Posted by: | CommentsI’m sure you are no different than a lot of my readers. I don’t think I’m ready to give my weekends up so my son can play on a travel baseball team. It just takes too much time away from the family.
Then you get to thinking….
Does my child need to play this brand of baseball to remain competitive and have a chance to play the game at a higher level?
Confused?
I’m sure you are.
Let me address the first point regarding the need for your child to play travel baseball in order to get a college scholarship.
A few months ago I put a poll out on this site asking that very question and the results didn’t surprise me one bit. Almost 70% of those responding said they felt their son would have to play travel or select baseball to be competitive enough to earn a college scholarship.
So, what do I think?
I think travel baseball is great and yes it will help build your son into a good competitive baseball player; however I don’t think you have to play travel baseball in order to be good enough to get a college scholarship.
Coaching is much more important and I’ve seen a lot of travel baseball teams with poor coaching. Learning correct fundamentals is the best solution to improve at baseball. Yes you need to play the game competitively but you can do that without the need to travel all over the country or spending your weekends 100′s of miles away from home.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you shouldn’t get your son involved with travel baseball. I just say there are ways to do it without giving up all your weekends for 26 weeks of the year.
Let me explain below.
Reasons why you should get your child on a competitive travel or select team:
- Playing against a higher caliber player will make your son better.
- Requires you to play an aggressive brand of baseball and that is very good for the player if they plan to play at higher levels.
- Builds a competitive fire in each player if done correctly.
- Teaches players how to win and lose in a healthy manner.
- Teaches team work and how to count on others.
- The higher quality players on the team will push your child to improve and be the best they can.
- Last but not least, it’s a lot of fun even for the parents.
I’ve coached a number of travel teams over the years and I’ve always done so without having to travel 100′s of miles from your home.
USSSA baseball has local tournaments in most states and if you live near a major city you can play all your tournaments within 50-75 miles from home. Over the last two years coaching a team in Franklin, TN I have been able to schedule 6-8 tournaments from March through July all within 50 miles of home. This allows you to return home each and every night and cuts down on expenses.
USSSA will help you start a team in your local city or you can find one to join. Obviously, starting your own will allow you to control it in such a way as outlined above. Remember, a lot of travel coaches go way over board and have a win at all cost mentality so make sure you ask questions before you allow your child to even tryout.
Key questions to ask the coach
- First and foremost you need to know how the tryouts will be run and what they are looking for. I will tell you I’m not in favor of holding tryouts for children under the age of 9-10. I just don’t think players younger than that should be cut from a team. On my young teams, we hand select the kids and don’t cut anyone.
- Find out how many tournaments and games they plan to play.
- Ask the coach if they will be playing in a recreational league of some kind when not playing in tournaments.
- Get costs associated with the team up front. Travel baseball can be expensive.
- Ask the coach about his baseball background.
- Find out how he plans to teach hitting and fielding fundamentals. If you don’t know what to look for then watch how he interacts with the kids and just use your best judgment. Remember, coaching is the key here. You would be better off playing for a great recreational league coach that teaches fundamentals correctly than on some competitive travel team that doesn’t have good coaching.
- Watch the coaches attitude and make sure he is positive with the kids even when correct their mistakes. That doesn’t mean a coach want get loud or raise his voice to a child, but if done it should be to get the players attention and correct the mistake. Watch how the coach handles it and see if he pulls the child away 1 on 1 to communicate what went wrong and how to fix it. If you notice then, then most likely you have a good coach even if he gets a little loud from time to time.
- If possible get a feel for the other parents and their attitudes.
- See if your coach is organized and has good communication skills.
- Last but not least, use your best judgment.
In summary, travel baseball can be a great experience for the entire family. Get involved, it will be well worth the effort. Just remember to go into it with open eyes and don’t think just because my son plays travel baseball he is going to get a college scholarship. If you do, there is a good chance you will be disappointed.
Have fun, and until next time may all your baseball dreams come true.
The Best National Youth Baseball Organization is?
Posted by: | CommentsPoll results are in!
Lasts weeks poll was about which National Youth Baseball Organization you felt was the best and the results might surprise you.
My personal opinion is the Little League Baseball Organization has always been a top notch organization and it’s what most people think about when they think youth baseball. It’s what you see on TV at the youth level so I really thought it would run away with it.
To my surprise USSSA won the voting and it clearly sends a message that parents and coaches of today’s youth want to be involved with a competitive brand of baseball and USSSA is a leader for select and travel tournaments in all 50 states. There is clearly a shift from the standard recreational leagues games to more travel or select based.
Parents want their kids playing against the most competitive players and in games that are played like baseball was meant to be played.
Here are the results:
USSSA received 38% of the votes
Little League Baseball received 35% of the votes
Cal Ripken Baseball received 12% of the votes
Babe Ruth Baseball received 8% of the votes
Pony League Baseball received 7% of the votes
As you can see the winner is USSSA with Little League Baseball coming in a close second.
Every organization listed here is great in its own right. You could not go wrong with being involved with any of them; however I do personally like USSSA and Little League Baseball the best.
Good luck and look for a new poll later this week.
