If your child plays 13U baseball, what is the plan for next year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you PPs. Very helpful. Just want my kid to have fun and not throw out his arm. Shouldn’t be so hard, but glad to hear that 13u overall is kind of a mess. A lot of the above resonates with me. Son is being recruited by pretty much every coach he meets, but I honestly don’t know who to trust. Maybe best to stay with the devil you know.

A coach that is actively trying to recruit a kid from a team mid-season is not a coach you want to play for.

Huge red flags

For the fall, not now.

Honestly, I still think that's shitty.

Why? Tryouts are in may for fall.

What team is having a try-out in May? I've never seen that for a 14U team. Tryouts are July or August. In May, the season is just getting started

NP here. I’m in the VA travel tryouts Facebook page right now and see at least 3 organizations having tryouts for 14u in May or earlier. Metro Senators was supposed to have had their first tryout last night.

I wrote this and need to amend that only 13u was last night. 14u is “coming soon” but it will be in May.

Seems like they try to lock in players now, but does anyone know if they will still have spots in July or August or do rosters get full?

But what do they do with a kid that is currently on the team, that doesn't make the fall/upcoming 14u team?

"Sorry kid. I know we still have 6 more tournaments ahead of us, but those will be your last with this team"

I’m the poster who wrote about Metro Senators holding baseball tryouts already. So, yes, typically the way they hold tryouts is a source of stress for the families! However, while they say that each current kid has to try out again and that there are no guarantees, most kids make the team again. There are some who are “counseled out” so to speak and see the writing on the wall to not re-try out and a few who don’t receive offers to return. That has made for awkward times, as you say, with those players finishing out the season when they and Metro both know they are not returning.

Metro teams typically play into late July or early August (too long, in my opinion) and for some teams, they won’t extend offers to current team members until their season is up. But they do ask if current players plan to return. So they are constantly hedging bets by holding numerous tryouts throughout the late spring/early summer until they feel they’ve constructed the team they want via new try outs and players who don’t decide to opt out of returning.

Advanced Baseball in Burke is holding 13u/14u tryouts on May 9th at South County MS.

That sounds absolutely horrible. I can't imagine "counseling out" a player but still expecting them to come to games/tournaments and perform their best.

I would avoid those organizations at all costs.

Again, maybe this is regional. But I'm pretty plugged in with southern PA and MD club baseball and haven't seen this

I have not seen this is NOVA, but we are only first year 13U and then were with the same club for many years before that. People moved and I've seen 1 or 2 kids asked to move to a lower team, but sadly, they usually just quit. I have not heard of Advanced Baseball and I couldn't find them on game changer, and I don't think Metro Senators is that good, at least they weren't at 12U.

[Anonymous]

Advanced Baseball is listed as AB Astros- Lare on GameChanger. The organization is newer to travel baseball, from my understanding, but they’ve been a long-time training facility and teams like the Burke Bulldogs trained there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you PPs. Very helpful. Just want my kid to have fun and not throw out his arm. Shouldn’t be so hard, but glad to hear that 13u overall is kind of a mess. A lot of the above resonates with me. Son is being recruited by pretty much every coach he meets, but I honestly don’t know who to trust. Maybe best to stay with the devil you know.

A coach that is actively trying to recruit a kid from a team mid-season is not a coach you want to play for.

Huge red flags

For the fall, not now.

Honestly, I still think that's shitty.

Why? Tryouts are in may for fall.

What team is having a try-out in May? I've never seen that for a 14U team. Tryouts are July or August. In May, the season is just getting started

NP here. I’m in the VA travel tryouts Facebook page right now and see at least 3 organizations having tryouts for 14u in May or earlier. Metro Senators was supposed to have had their first tryout last night.

I wrote this and need to amend that only 13u was last night. 14u is “coming soon” but it will be in May.

Seems like they try to lock in players now, but does anyone know if they will still have spots in July or August or do rosters get full?

But what do they do with a kid that is currently on the team, that doesn't make the fall/upcoming 14u team?

"Sorry kid. I know we still have 6 more tournaments ahead of us, but those will be your last with this team"

I’m the poster who wrote about Metro Senators holding baseball tryouts already. So, yes, typically the way they hold tryouts is a source of stress for the families! However, while they say that each current kid has to try out again and that there are no guarantees, most kids make the team again. There are some who are “counseled out” so to speak and see the writing on the wall to not re-try out and a few who don’t receive offers to return. That has made for awkward times, as you say, with those players finishing out the season when they and Metro both know they are not returning.

Metro teams typically play into late July or early August (too long, in my opinion) and for some teams, they won’t extend offers to current team members until their season is up. But they do ask if current players plan to return. So they are constantly hedging bets by holding numerous tryouts throughout the late spring/early summer until they feel they’ve constructed the team they want via new try outs and players who don’t decide to opt out of returning.

Advanced Baseball in Burke is holding 13u/14u tryouts on May 9th at South County MS.

That sounds absolutely horrible. I can't imagine "counseling out" a player but still expecting them to come to games/tournaments and perform their best.

I would avoid those organizations at all costs.

Again, maybe this is regional. But I'm pretty plugged in with southern PA and MD club baseball and haven't seen this

I have not seen this is NOVA, but we are only first year 13U and then were with the same club for many years before that. People moved and I've seen 1 or 2 kids asked to move to a lower team, but sadly, they usually just quit. I have not heard of Advanced Baseball and I couldn't find them on game changer, and I don't think Metro Senators is that good, at least they weren't at 12U.

You can find them on GC if you search prior seasons. Looks like they had teams 2021-2023, but can't find any active teams for spring or summer 2024.

So maybe they are trying to form a brand-new team, which sort of makes sense. But its still weird to hold tryouts in May; you're only going to get the kids coming from rec. You won't get anyone that's currently on a club team

[Anonymous]

AB Astros has a current 13u team this spring and last fall. They had what would now be a 15u team recently but it fell apart and they are not fielding a current 14u team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Advanced Baseball is listed as AB Astros- Lare on GameChanger. The organization is newer to travel baseball, from my understanding, but they’ve been a long-time training facility and teams like the Burke Bulldogs trained there.

Thanks, I found them. I think we were at the same tournament last weekend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AB Astros has a current 13u team this spring and last fall. They had what would now be a 15u team recently but it fell apart and they are not fielding a current 14u team.

That would make me nervous as a prospective parent, but I've seen it in a lot of orgs. Lots of moving around, and it seems like all of 13U is kind of a disaster IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AB Astros has a current 13u team this spring and last fall. They had what would now be a 15u team recently but it fell apart and they are not fielding a current 14u team.

That would make me nervous as a prospective parent, but I've seen it in a lot of orgs. Lots of moving around, and it seems like all of 13U is kind of a disaster IMO.

Yeah. Team dissolving + weird tryout schedule would definitely raise some red flags

[Anonymous]

This is no different than how travel soccer operates, at least in NOVA. Not saying that makes it ok, but it’s very typical. My kid will try out for next fall/spring this week when there are still multiple weeks of league games and a tournament left to play through mid June.

Another of my kids plays for Metro at an older age so we’ve been around a while, and he has played with one of the other larger organizations around this area. Metro operates very similarly to lots of the other baseball organizations. 13u tryouts always seem to be the earliest because so many kids are looking to move at that age, often from more local, dad-coached teams to one of the bigger organizations with paid coaches.

[Anonymous]

So, I was wrong about them not fielding a 15u team- they are not currently because it’s high school ball season. They did have one in the fall and I know in the 22-23 season, they had 2 14u teams, one being better than the other. I believe it’s the so-called “B” team that dissolved. I don’t know what AB intends to do with its 2027 team in the fall.

Re: the current 14u team slot- a local dad-coached team was supposed to take that slot but AB didn’t want dad coaches, only paid coaches, so that team moved to the Stars. I don’t know why they didn’t stand up a 14u team to replace it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is no different than how travel soccer operates, at least in NOVA. Not saying that makes it ok, but it’s very typical. My kid will try out for next fall/spring this week when there are still multiple weeks of league games and a tournament left to play through mid June.

Another of my kids plays for Metro at an older age so we’ve been around a while, and he has played with one of the other larger organizations around this area. Metro operates very similarly to lots of the other baseball organizations. 13u tryouts always seem to be the earliest because so many kids are looking to move at that age, often from more local, dad-coached teams to one of the bigger organizations with paid coaches.

So what do those soccer players that don't make the 24-25 team, but there are still league and tournament games ahead? They still go to the games? Still travel to the tournaments? Coaches still play them?

I just don't understand the need to have the tryouts so early. Not only does it seem really disrespectful to the current roster, it seems that you won't get the best available talent coming to your tryout. It just seems so weird

[Anonymous]

Lots of kids in our area are on the tryout circuit- some are indeed looking to leave a current team, some are just testing the waters to see if they get a better offer, and some just do it for the experience of tryouts. Now, you might not get acceptances for every kid you make an offer to, but there’s no reason to think you won’t get good talent attending tryouts.

And honestly, I think it takes just one team holding tryouts early to cause a chain reaction of everyone else thinking they’ll lose out on kids and that makes them also hold early tryouts. And the teams then make you accept within like 72 hours with a deposit. My son’s team holds tryouts as needed shortly after our season ends, so late June, and by then, many potential players have already accepted other teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is no different than how travel soccer operates, at least in NOVA. Not saying that makes it ok, but it’s very typical. My kid will try out for next fall/spring this week when there are still multiple weeks of league games and a tournament left to play through mid June.

Another of my kids plays for Metro at an older age so we’ve been around a while, and he has played with one of the other larger organizations around this area. Metro operates very similarly to lots of the other baseball organizations. 13u tryouts always seem to be the earliest because so many kids are looking to move at that age, often from more local, dad-coached teams to one of the bigger organizations with paid coaches.

So what do those soccer players that don't make the 24-25 team, but there are still league and tournament games ahead? They still go to the games? Still travel to the tournaments? Coaches still play them?

I just don't understand the need to have the tryouts so early. Not only does it seem really disrespectful to the current roster, it seems that you won't get the best available talent coming to your tryout. It just seems so weird

They either stick with it and finish the season or they don’t. I’ve seen both in soccer. For most I’d say the movement is down a level, not getting cut from the organization completely. As a PP noted, this is like an arms race, clubs moving earlier and earlier to try to lock in the best talent. When my baseball kid moved to 13u, he tried out in June, now apparently it’s May. Baseball seems a bit more all over the place in terms of orgs and timing. For soccer, most of the big clubs all tryout right around the same time, within a couple weeks of each other so this has just become the norm. I agree it’s crazy, but I don’t think you can necessarily write off whole orgs that are just playing the game like most everyone else in their area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is no different than how travel soccer operates, at least in NOVA. Not saying that makes it ok, but it’s very typical. My kid will try out for next fall/spring this week when there are still multiple weeks of league games and a tournament left to play through mid June.

Another of my kids plays for Metro at an older age so we’ve been around a while, and he has played with one of the other larger organizations around this area. Metro operates very similarly to lots of the other baseball organizations. 13u tryouts always seem to be the earliest because so many kids are looking to move at that age, often from more local, dad-coached teams to one of the bigger organizations with paid coaches.

So what do those soccer players that don't make the 24-25 team, but there are still league and tournament games ahead? They still go to the games? Still travel to the tournaments? Coaches still play them?

I just don't understand the need to have the tryouts so early. Not only does it seem really disrespectful to the current roster, it seems that you won't get the best available talent coming to your tryout. It just seems so weird

They either stick with it and finish the season or they don’t. I’ve seen both in soccer. For most I’d say the movement is down a level, not getting cut from the organization completely. As a PP noted, this is like an arms race, clubs moving earlier and earlier to try to lock in the best talent. When my baseball kid moved to 13u, he tried out in June, now apparently it’s May. Baseball seems a bit more all over the place in terms of orgs and timing. For soccer, most of the big clubs all tryout right around the same time, within a couple weeks of each other so this has just become the norm. I agree it’s crazy, but I don’t think you can necessarily write off whole orgs that are just playing the game like most everyone else in their area.

Honestly, I would write off an entire org that treats its own players that way.

I'll admit I know virtually nothing about soccer, but as a parent of a HS baseball player, and a B level MS softball player(with college softball aspirations), I know how the games gets played. But I also know that good orgs treat their own athletes with respect. And telling a kid that they're not invited back but still expecting them to play for you for another 6 weeks is not treating that athlete with respect.

I get that cuts are a part of the game. But the right way to handle it is to have a conversation with the player in late June, and recommend they attend some open practices/tryouts for other teams.

It's incredible to me that a coach would essentially tell a kid they are not coming back when they still have 8-10 weeks of baseball ahead of them. But I also understand that around here, tryouts don't happen until July-Early August, and each club typically offers 2-3 tryout dates, over the course of 2 weeks. So its different.

Also, I call a little BS on this "arms race" Sure, (to use some Maryland teams as an example) if WOW Factor or Dig In or any of those national teams did it, sure. But the teams referenced earlier in the thread just look like run of the mill club teams. Heck, that Senators North team is 1-7 on the year so far. I highly doubt the top tier talent is knocking down their door to get on their team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is no different than how travel soccer operates, at least in NOVA. Not saying that makes it ok, but it’s very typical. My kid will try out for next fall/spring this week when there are still multiple weeks of league games and a tournament left to play through mid June.

Another of my kids plays for Metro at an older age so we’ve been around a while, and he has played with one of the other larger organizations around this area. Metro operates very similarly to lots of the other baseball organizations. 13u tryouts always seem to be the earliest because so many kids are looking to move at that age, often from more local, dad-coached teams to one of the bigger organizations with paid coaches.

So what do those soccer players that don't make the 24-25 team, but there are still league and tournament games ahead? They still go to the games? Still travel to the tournaments? Coaches still play them?

I just don't understand the need to have the tryouts so early. Not only does it seem really disrespectful to the current roster, it seems that you won't get the best available talent coming to your tryout. It just seems so weird

They either stick with it and finish the season or they don’t. I’ve seen both in soccer. For most I’d say the movement is down a level, not getting cut from the organization completely. As a PP noted, this is like an arms race, clubs moving earlier and earlier to try to lock in the best talent. When my baseball kid moved to 13u, he tried out in June, now apparently it’s May. Baseball seems a bit more all over the place in terms of orgs and timing. For soccer, most of the big clubs all tryout right around the same time, within a couple weeks of each other so this has just become the norm. I agree it’s crazy, but I don’t think you can necessarily write off whole orgs that are just playing the game like most everyone else in their area.

Honestly, I would write off an entire org that treats its own players that way.

I'll admit I know virtually nothing about soccer, but as a parent of a HS baseball player, and a B level MS softball player(with college softball aspirations), I know how the games gets played. But I also know that good orgs treat their own athletes with respect. And telling a kid that they're not invited back but still expecting them to play for you for another 6 weeks is not treating that athlete with respect.

I get that cuts are a part of the game. But the right way to handle it is to have a conversation with the player in late June, and recommend they attend some open practices/tryouts for other teams.

It's incredible to me that a coach would essentially tell a kid they are not coming back when they still have 8-10 weeks of baseball ahead of them. But I also understand that around here, tryouts don't happen until July-Early August, and each club typically offers 2-3 tryout dates, over the course of 2 weeks. So its different.

Also, I call a little BS on this "arms race" Sure, (to use some Maryland teams as an example) if WOW Factor or Dig In or any of those national teams did it, sure. But the teams referenced earlier in the thread just look like run of the mill club teams. Heck, that Senators North team is 1-7 on the year so far. I highly doubt the top tier talent is knocking down their door to get on their team.

We all do what we’re comfortable with given the choices we have. I’m just sharing what I have seen in two sports, which is largely similar. Some choose to tryout for organizations that have tryouts much later, which is great, but the org fields 6-8 teams in an age group and they don’t tell you what team placement or coach your kid will have in the offer. That wasn’t for us, but lots of others are clearly fine with it.

Coaching, organization, communication, interest in development and your kid, distance for practices (until DS started driving), ability and interest in helping with recruitment (if your kid is on that track which is hard to tell at 13u but becomes more clear by 16u) were all things we considered, plus talking to those who already have kids with the organizations. Also it’s hard to label some of the smaller orgs as “good” teams or “bad” teams—often, some are good and some are not so good, just like the individual coaches. Some consistently get better over the years as talent sort of consolidates at 16u-17u, new higher level talent is added to the team and lower level talent is dropped down or they choose to leave. Sure, if you’re talking the real national teams of some big organizations, those will obviously be consistently outstanding, but most kids aren’t landing there. And you don’t have to land there to get noticed and recruited based on current experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any thoughts on Arlington united?

The coach they put in charge of the new org is one of the best true coaches in the area. Knows the game, great with kids of all ages, works with lots of the top players in nova. Focused on development and character. I would be thrilled if I had a kid in that program.

What is his name?

Tyler Womer