"A" class players

[beingasponge12]

I can promise you there are A class players in your area. There may be no top teams but those players travel to play on these top teams. In our area of Tennessee there are no high level teams available but there are multiple power 5 committed players. They all travel hours to play on these teams. Once we went to a national type team and did practice and lessons on our own it worked much better for us.

Now one thing I have found is many people do not realize what or where the highest level ball is played. Until you have been to the big tournaments and see that level for yourself it’s hard to understand. Until your see the top teams playing with power 5 coaches lining up the backstop at 14u for example you just don’t understand. I’ve seen many people talking about their kid wanting to go play for xyz sec schools. I ask if they have seen those schools recruiting the tournaments they play. And the normal response is no we are not 2nd year 16 so those schools are not recruiting our age group yet. Until you have been there and seen it then it’s hard to comprehend.

I agree alot of people don't know how to locate teams. I meet people that don't even know how to find average teams much less a high level team.

 

[Orange Socks]

@Agbracing is correct. If your team has been playing local Hittin' Kitten tourneys, you will have huge awakening when you see legit Gold/Elite teams.

14U Ronald McDonald tourney. DD's team was labeled as an "A" team. What a laugh! RM set up Pools of teams and if you are in the know, you are in the know. DD's team was halfway done with their and all of sudden all these D1 coaches started showing up at our field. It took me a minute to realize they were not there to see our team play. They were waiting for the next grouping of teams to take the field after us. That's when I started to understand pools and how the TD's group the elite and the not so elite teams. Coaches can concentrate their efforts in time slots, especially if they have to go to a different field complex miles away.

Look up tournaments on TourneyMachine.com or look at the teams playing in your Triple Crown State tourney. Look at the different pools and the teams playing in these pools. They will group the better teams together.

I always say, you don't have to be on the best 5 teams in your area/region, but how about being on a team that plays those 5 best teams every weekend. There are Elite teams and there are sub elite teams that will have solid players. Elite (All D1), Sub Elite (mix of D1, D2, D3), Low A/B (maybe a low level D1 player with CC, Juco, NAIA, D3). You get the point.

There are "boutique" teams that are making some noise that are not affiliated with the big programs that earn their stripes and get invites into these tourneys. There are also teams that are affiliated with big programs that have 15 teams per age division. Bombers-Coach Name, Firecrackers-Coach Name, Batbusters-Coach Name, Unity-Coach Name, etc. You can easily find a spot on any of these teams and work your way up if your kid is good enough. Many ways to skin a cat.