Anonymous wrote:My son was on ABR Aces in 9U and now is on ATB in 11U.
They are fairly similar, although I think the ATB program is more organized and stronger. I was frustrated with ABR when my son played because they didn't have a coach for his team (they rely on parent coaches), and it was not a great experience. ATB hires professional coaches and just seems to have a more streamlined experience as far as organization goes. Commitment in fall is 2 practices a week and doubleheaders on Sundays. Plus 2-3 tournaments - usually local. It goes through end of August through mid-November. Then there is training over the winter at VBC or Primetime 1-2 times a week. Summer consists of practices 2-3 times a week once rec. baseball is done in June, and it goes through end of July with usually 3 tournaments. The furthest we've traveled is Charlottesville, although I know some teams have gone to Pennsylvania and Rehoboth. I know kids who play on Storm and Aces, and commitment is about the same. Storm is the A team and Aces is the B team. Likewise, ATB has Blue and White teams. ATB seems to be much more baseball focused as far as the kids go - few play other sports. ABR seems to honor that kids play soccer, lacrosse, etc, and figures that into their schedules.
I will also add that I think ABR travel works great when they have good coaches - parent or otherwise. We just did not have the best experience because we didn't have a parent who could/wanted to coach at a travel level. I believe they did make some changes to the program after that experience.