Looking back it couldn't have been a better season. Boys made 4 finals in 5 tournaments, won two of them, were default winners on another with a rainout, had a good season in Franlin, and finished the year in the final in Omaha.

Most importantly my son finished the year pain free in his elbow. We did have one scare during the season but when you grow 4 inches in six months you're going to have some growing pains which is all it was.

I'm just so thankful he is healthy again. I may not let him pitch next year but am at least going to get him back out in the outfield.

And, one last time for those younger than us, carry 12 kids. You cannot safely manage a team with 10 or in my opinion 11. You may think you can because so far you have been lucky but you really can't. Next year going into 7th grade all our boys will be running UIL track and we may pick up a 13th kid to take any pressure off of them. Watch out for overuse. I have seen it happen way too many times now. All sports too. Not just baseball.

We are going to end up having two dads that destroy this team. Both are Longhorn fans. One at least is a graduate but the other just bought a t-shirt at Academy. But I can already tell that this is not going to go well, mostly because they are tone deaf. Of the 12 kids so 24 parents we have 9 A&M grads and 1 sip and the one Academy shopper.

It is probably a good thing we are not playing fall ball. We will see.

Is that the Vengeance or Vendetta org or something like that? I actually thing Vengeance was an offshoot of Vendetta a year or two ago.

Yes. When they get called out, they play their "card" and claim racism. It has nothing to do them being majority black, but everything to do with them blatantly cheating in little kid baseball. I don't get how their own parents put up with that. If I took a kids jersey off of him in the middle of a game and gave it to another kid, I'm pretty sure I would have a pissed off momma in my dugout. Sad part is they have some really good kids.

Our boys run ruled them on a Saturday in Houston this year. Can't remember if they were AAA or majors but I remember us expecting them to be better then they were. They tried to throw a couple of kids that weren't ready and we crushed them. I wasn't there but my son said their coach was a nutcase and even his own players were saying how much they don't like him.

I know a number of kids who my oldest used to play with at Dynasty out of Kingwood back before Wildcatters bought the org who split off with one coach and a team called "Pro Baseball Training" or something like that. Well last spring when they were in 12U (after my son jumped a level to play on grade level instead of age level) this team was going to join Vendetta/Vengeance or whatever en masse and it lasted about 2 tournaments.

The V/V org took a bunch of money because they had a batting cage facility only they weren't paying the rent and got locked out so that was gone really quick- like the boys showed up for practice in the cages and were locked out. Then, the guy who had coached the team when the were PBT had taken a step back to just watch and be a dad finds out when they all show up for a tournament that the V/V group brought in like 8 pickup players for a tournament and they had 20 kids in the dugout.

At that point these kids we knew all jumped ship elsewhere because the V/V org was a disaster.

TarponChaser said:

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I know a number of kids who my oldest used to play with at Dynasty out of Kingwood back before Wildcatters bought the org who split off with one coach and a team called "Pro Baseball Training" or something like that. Well last spring when they were in 12U (after my son jumped a level to play on grade level instead of age level) this team was going to join Vendetta/Vengeance or whatever en masse and it lasted about 2 tournaments.

The V/V org took a bunch of money because they had a batting cage facility only they weren't paying the rent and got locked out so that was gone really quick- like the boys showed up for practice in the cages and were locked out. Then, the guy who had coached the team when the were PBT had taken a step back to just watch and be a dad finds out when they all show up for a tournament that the V/V group brought in like 8 pickup players for a tournament and they had 20 kids in the dugout.

At that point these kids we knew all jumped ship elsewhere because the V/V org was a disaster.

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They called themselves "Pro Training" and they missed a perfect opportunity it sounds like, because their coach was awful as well.

We've played against them once out at Scrapyard. By far the worst experience I have seen from an organization. The parents ran their mouth the entire time, talked smack to our players/coaches, and argued every borderline call. The umpire said he would have thrown a couple of them out, but it would have caused much more drama.

We were on a field across from one of the teams at the NIT in La Porte. Cops were called to the field due to some altercation.

If PG or USSSA had any backbone, they would put them on some sort of probation. If they act up, they are done. Embarrassing.

Thats where we run ruled them. At scrapyard.

You talking about the 6'4" black dude? If so, then he was a major reason we left his teams.

Yep, we've seen a lot of terrible behavior by coaches, but he was probably consistently the worst.

He has a lot of baseball knowledge but was a serious daddy-baller.

Dr. Doctor said:

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Warning: bragging post.

We finished up a rollercoaster season for my son on a 10U major team this season.

Originally thought we'd be out of our league, but he started learning and getting better, even though we lost 2 players (mostly parental issues). Then about 6 weeks ago, the team implodes on coaching issues/parental issues again and instead of going to Orlando (cocoa beach, USSSA) world series, we end up in Beaumont (no offense to those from there, but man that's a step DOWN).

Frustrated with hitting (he started ~0.400+ and went on a slump for 0-for something for a while) and finally busted that. He'd been wanting to pitch the WHOLE season, but never used. Would go to extra practices with me to cages to work on hitting and pitching (just him and I; I stopped playing in 6th or 7th grade and never pitched, so mostly youtube/past coaches advice).

So this series comes around; 1st game we win on close calls, mostly due to weather. Started raining while we were hitting and their pitchers couldn't control balls (long 2nd inning, like 9 runs). We had same issue, but it had stopped raining. Just dealing with wet ground.

We start the 2nd game and the 1st inning looks the same: pitching can't control on our side and runs coming in. 2nd inning, they finally give the ball to my son. And I watched him surprise EVERYONE on his team. The only one not surprised is a dad/asst. coach who is always there with me on cage days with his 2-3 boys practicing.

He pitched 3 shut out innings; only allowed one on base due to HBP. 32 pitches/18 strikes. Only one K (Looking).

Over the next 6 games he played in, he pitches in 4 more (5 GP out of 10 we played; but we missed 3 games due to birthday during WS). Pitched 9 innings total, 128 total pitches / 78 strikes, 34 batters faced, 3.889 ERA, 2 BB, 10 SO (8 Looking), and got the 'top' PG pitching award for the tournament.

They lost a game and ended up in the losers bracket on Friday and had to win all 3 on Saturday to go to ship. We didn't play because we planned the party well before they changed plans on us (and we're supposed to be free that weekend) so if they made it to Sunday, we'd play. He pitched the first game on Sunday, win to get to the 'ship, and he pitches the complete game (4 inninngs).

His beaming and pride in himself finally shines through. Also think he finally realizes that dad might know something about pitching (thanks TA!). That if you throw strikes, and have a decent defense behind you, you can shine and be a great pitcher.

SO glad this season is done and now onto what to do next. Thinking about taking the fall off and then doing something different in the spring.

~egon

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Congrats to your son and I am happy he got to shine.

I know people are piling on for the majors to aa team stuff, but I don't even care about that. Look at this thread for the arm issues, and that is what you should be concerned about. My son threw like that at a young age and now it's all catching up with him. Your boy threw 78 pitches in the first few days of the tournament, was on one day of rest and threw another 53 pitches Sunday.

It's fun as hell when they are mowing people down, but I would trade my boys arm health for whatever accolades he got from pitching at that age.

You should leave this team because they never threw your son, found the err in their ways, and then overused him.

I'm not sure y'all are talking about the same team, but if you're looking at PG stats, he did not pitch that. They didn't change the pitcher for one game but credited him with all the pitches.

He pitched 32 on one day, 44 the next, 1 day rest, then 52.

I do watch and talk to him about his arm. For him, most of those pitches were "normal" throws. As he describes, no different than throwing with me in the backyard. He threw gas, but didn't force everything.

There were other pitchers that were used more.

~egon

TarponChaser said:

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lil99chris said:

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Yep….you are correct. That was my Little League experience. Going from my last year of pee-wee experience of 9 years olds pitching to Little League majors was a bit crazy now that I think about it. Played against some legit big kids.

I can only imagine the parents complaining about it nowadays.

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I can vividly recall facing a few 6'2"-6'3" 12-year olds when I was 10. One that I remember never got taller than 6'3" and ended up playing baseball & football at West Point. Another one grew to 6'6" and was a very late-round pick as a lefty pitcher but I don't think he ever got out of rookie ball.

I'm 6'3" but didn't get there until I was 16.

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You talking about KF ?

Who was the 6'6 lefty pitcher ?

Yup.

The lefty was Hejl. Not sure I spelled it right though

Man I forgot about Hejl. I wonder what happened to him. I can't remember if you were on the team when I was 10 but to this day I have flashbacks when I am at travis thinking about when he hit one over the train track when we played him. I think he threw a no hit shut out and that bomb was with a 2 1/4 bat.

Haha

Scanned this thread and did a search…hopefully i didn't miss something.

Anybody here have experience with Five Star Performance in DFW? We are looking into a team that would funnel into that program. Any good or bad insight?


Still at a coach pitch age group.

thriller03 said:

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Scanned this thread and did a search…hopefully i didn't miss something.

Anybody here have experience with Five Star Performance in DFW? We are looking into a team that would funnel into that program. Any good or bad insight?


Still at a coach pitch age group.

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5 Star is a big national brand with branches all across the country. They have a "National" team at older ages made up of kids from all across the country. Most of the big national organizations do the same. The younger kids pay for the National Team.

I don't have any specific info about the organization in DFW, but I wouldn't really worry as much about being in a national organization for coach pitch. If your kid is good enough when the National Team time comes, they will take him no matter if he played for them before or not.

Coach pitch is still square in the have fun bracket. Put a team together with as many of his friend that want to play and go have fun. Plenty of time to worry about 'programs' later on.

PhatMack19 said:

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thriller03 said:

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Scanned this thread and did a search…hopefully i didn't miss something.

Anybody here have experience with Five Star Performance in DFW? We are looking into a team that would funnel into that program. Any good or bad insight?


Still at a coach pitch age group.

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5 Star is a big national brand with branches all across the country. They have a "National" team at older ages made up of kids from all across the country. Most of the big national organizations do the same. The younger kids pay for the National Team.

I don't have any specific info about the organization in DFW, but I wouldn't really worry as much about being in a national organization for coach pitch. If your kid is good enough when the National Team time comes, they will take him no matter if he played for them before or not.

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I would add that just because it's a big, national organization that doesn't mean anything at the younger ages or lower levels. Coaching can be hit or miss so you've got to do your due diligence. Below about the HS level the biggest benefits to these national organizations are usually having their own private facility or at least regular access to one and you're not likely to have trouble getting teams to make because they'll attract a lot of kids to tryout because of the name on the front of the jersey.

Like @PhatMack19 said, the younger teams and lower-level teams in each age group finance the top-tier teams and national/scout teams.

The big, national organizations that I can think of are (in no particular order and there's probably other ones I'm not thinking of):
5 Star
Canes
USA Prime
Wow Factor
ZT Elite
Dulins Dodgers
Marucci

There's also a lot of big organizations that are more regional or only have franchises within a state. They may occasionally have outposts in other states though. The ones in Texas I can think of off the top of my head:
Banditos
Twelve
Wildcatters
Dallas Tigers

Again, I'm sure I'm missing some names but those are what come to mind.

5 Star just bought out or joined with one of our local organizations. It's the same coaches and kids as before wearing a different hat with higher dues. They did get a little bump in interest from some of the older kids.

One guy pretty much has a monopoly in my area running all the tourneys for younger kids, then they all have to play for him at HS ages. This new 5 Star team will give the HS age kids another option.

PhatMack19 said:

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5 Star just bought out or joined with one of our local organizations. It's the same coaches and kids as before wearing a different hat with higher dues. They did get a little bump in interest from some of the older kids.

One guy pretty much has a monopoly in my area running all the tourneys for younger kids, then they all have to play for him at HS ages. This new 5 Star team will give the HS age kids another option.

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Who did 5 Star buy out in your neck of the woods? They've got a few teams here in Houston and my older son has played one of them several times. They're out of Baytown/Mont Belvieu, and I haven't been real impressed with them. IIRC, they bought Lumberjacks Baseball which was a smaller local org.

But, yeah, lots of bigger orgs buy up smaller ones or have teams jump ship wholesale.

At the Mizuno org here in Houston where my boys have been playing the org has been around for like 18 years and the owner just decided he doesn't want to coach younger kids so Mizuno will only be HS age going forward. Which means my younger son's team, headed to 11U this fall, is joining Marucci. And that may cause us to leave because practices might be moved even farther away from us than they are now which just isn't feasible for us.

Athletes in Port Neches started by the Bost family in 2010. As their kids got older and both were playing for A&M, they didn't put as much in the business side of it as they did when their kids were playing. A younger family bought it 2 years ago and is doing a great job of getting teams back in their facility. It's a nice place that's less than a mile from my house, so I'm in there nearly every day.

Port Neches had 4 kids drafted in last years draft not including Austin Bost. They all grew up in that facility.

Thanks for all the feedback. Talked to the coach of the 7U team we will be playing on and it is very much still a "have fun" environment as far as I could tell. We are gonna give it a go for fall for the start-up. Coach seemed to understand - and encourage - kids playing other sports as well (soccer for us). Said he looks for athletes, and he will teach them baseball. I think the coach is really just looking to put a team together where every kid has some understanding of the basics of baseball.

Wife and I have been slow to consider "clubs" at this age for any sport, but the kiddo seems to like baseball a bit more, and we are curious to see how he handles a little more competition (meaning everybody will be able to generally field/throw/hit with some level of skill).

At the young age like 7U to say 10 or 11U the reason you SHOULD be looking at club or select in any sport, IMHO, is to be with like-minded kids. Skill and success should not be the defining reason to move. What I see for the reasons should be a kid who has shown a desire to put in more work and improve and who WANTS to be out there and is mentally engaged vs. the kids who are just out there to be out there.

There are tons of kids who are only playing because their parents make them or are the kids picking flowers in the outfield or whatever. Going to select is for the kids who are constantly asking to play catch or will go hit off the tee on their own or asking you to practice with them more. Trying to judge talent before puberty is a fool's errand.

And it definitely needs to be more on the "have fun" level than serious competition at that age. Because if they're not having fun they won't pay attention to coaching and learn.

I will also say that you will 100% have to deal with crazy-ass parents at the younger ages but it does die out to almost nothing by 14U and for sure in HS. As one of my older son's former coaches has said, "from 7U to 12U or so parents are convinced their kid is the next Mike Trout but by 13U they're just hoping their kid will be good enough to make the HS team."

TarponChaser said:

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At the young age like 7U to say 10 or 11U the reason you SHOULD be looking at club or select in any sport, IMHO, is to be with like-minded kids. Skill and success should not be the defining reason to move. What I see for the reasons should be a kid who has shown a desire to put in more work and improve and who WANTS to be out there and is mentally engaged vs. the kids who are just out there to be out there.

There are tons of kids who are only playing because their parents make them or are the kids picking flowers in the outfield or whatever. Going to select is for the kids who are constantly asking to play catch or will go hit off the tee on their own or asking you to practice with them more. Trying to judge talent before puberty is a fool's errand.

And it definitely needs to be more on the "have fun" level than serious competition at that age. Because if they're not having fun they won't pay attention to coaching and learn.

I will also say that you will 100% have to deal with crazy-ass parents at the younger ages but it does die out to almost nothing by 14U and for sure in HS. As one of my older son's former coaches has said, "from 7U to 12U or so parents are convinced their kid is the next Mike Trout but by 13U they're just hoping their kid will be good enough to make the HS team."

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I can't speak for the parents' stuff, at least not in ball. But the top half of this post is spot on. We just made the jump from rec to select and it's very true. Everyone wants to be there. Everyone works hard. They push each other. You can start to let the kids get a little more responsibility. They can lead their own stretches. They don't need to be reminded every batter what they should be doing.

Its early in our journey, but so far so good.

That is such a fun age. My youngest plays 13u so I am done with that but I have several friends with youngsters and I am jealous as hell. We coach all of these boys so we spend a lot of time reflecting on what to do better with the younger groups coming through.(we are a small town org non affiliated one team per age group anywhere from majors to AA)

We have an active rec league but I know most dont so I will leave that out.

But definitely absolutely no matter what don't let coach pitch be anything but fun. If you are concentrating on anything else you are doing it wrong.

Make sure your coaches are moving kids around and not pigeon holing them into positions. Drives me crazy when I see coach pitch kids already stuck in one position.

try to stay with the same kids. Easy for us to do out here, but we do see a lo to kids go from team to team year after year and never have those lasting bonds with teammates. Usually by 12 or 13 those kids are jaded and don't know how to get along with other kids in the dugout. Find a good group of boys and stick together.

Good parents are infinitely more important than the skills of their kids. If you don't know what I mean yet you will soon. Make sure the coaches and parents do not yell at umpires. It is a shockingly bad problem in youth sports and parents and coaches forget that kids are watching you and will act like you.

Last, I wont get into arm care yet, but most teams do not carry enough kids and play too many innings for healthy arms. You don't have to worry about that yet at coach pitch. But when you get to kid pitch it is a major issue.

Had a conversation with a buddy a couple weekends ago and he made an interesting point. And as a frame of reference we're both former D1 athletes. His oldest daughter was a bit of a late bloomer but grew into a stud volleyball player and will be playing D1 college volleyball this coming fall having graduated HS in May. He's also a HS teacher and has been a head HS basketball coach but is taking a break from coaching to watch his kids play sports.

Anyway, we were discussing burnout and it was his contention that the kids who are really having success don't get burned out. He says "burn out" is just code for getting passed up and not being good enough anymore. His logic was that all the kids he's seen, including himself, kids he's coached, and kids he's seen only get burned out when despite all their work and effort they're just not able to compete and excel anymore so they get tired of that work not paying off.

And in the case of kids who get burned out in HS it's almost always the kids who mature early and have a ton of success but when other kids mature and catch up they lose their edge. He pointed to girls his daughter played volleyball with who were 5'6" at 12 and kicking ass but were still 5'6" at 18 while his daughter had grown to 6'1".

I don't have his breadth of experience on it since I haven't coached and my oldest is just about to start HS next month but I can absolutely recall guys I grew up with who were studs at 12-14 and were benchwarmers as seniors. I've also seen my oldest pass up kids he played with at younger ages who matured early but are also peaking early.

I thought it was an interesting observation that has a lot of accuracy too. What are y'all's thoughts?

PG just banned all -5's for 12u. Now we have $700 worth the bats we can't use….

PhatMack19 said:

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PG just banned all -5's for 12u. Now we have $700 worth the bats we can't use….

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what sizes?