i first saw the dreamspark in 96. 4 fields dirt roads etc. my kids were playing LL. and i was amazed at the talent i was seeing. our area wasn't a baseball hot bed. so these kids looked like colege kids to me. when i went home and saw our level of play again. it was very disappointing. nobody could believe when i told them about these kids i saw in cooperstown.

son played there in 98. didn't win a game.but he saw what good players looked like. great motivator for us. and he had a ball.

in 2000 we started sending a team to cooperstown. not really to win anything, as we play LL in our town. but to show parents and kids how good baseball at that age can be. really how far behind we are in developing/teaching the players. if you love baseball it is a blast. parents start the week very protective of jr. but the players bond quickly and forget mom and dad aren't there. they meet kids from every where. as a coach there i met some great people,and had a ball.

it isn't cheap and times are tough,it's a great weeks vacation. and the kids will never forget it. this will be the 8th year we send a team from our community. and our baseball has improved, it may have anyway by now. but i like to think that week helped out. when kids see me they still talk about there week with me. that is priceless,to me.

Cooperstown is a trip of a lifetime.....

I still remember driving out of the park - the last day---our son looked at us - with tears in his eyes and said "thanks for this, I will never forget it"

The pin trading was awesome---ceremonies incredible--had a little boy from Canada sing their anthem---had boys from Hawaii doing their thing--

If you have a chance to create this memory with your family---do it!

My son went in 2005. It was by far his best experience ever for tournaments or baseball. He has won tournaments, lost miserably in tournaments and everything in etween. None of that mattered that week. They made the elite 8 and it still do not matter. He cried leaving the park and talked about it everyday for weeks w a new story.

He is now playing HS ball and will likely play Varsity next year as a soph... it is nothing compared to the Cooperstown experience.
Anyone who can get heir kid to this tournament do it and cherish every moment of it! It really is baseball heaven!

I have to disagree with the folks who thought it was overhyped.

Our team went in the summer of 2005, and ironically were assigned the same week as our (then) rival (2Bmom's) team from the Gainesville, Fl area. (Players from those two teams now play HS with/against each other ..and mostly form the better part of travel/showcase team in the summer)

I went as a coach to my little brothers team (13 years my junior) and it was by far the best baseball experience of our lives to date ...including an AAU state championship, and many other tournaments since. My brother and I both would LOVE to go back. Heck, my brother STILL talks to players he played against from Nebraska and Ohio.

For a 12y/o and the coaches there is nothing like forgetting about the rest of life; living with your teammates and playing 1 or 2 ballgames a day.

When you think about the amount of people that are there, and subsequently the amount of food, and laundry etc. etc. that are supplied...the services are second to none.

I noticed for many kids, it is a unique growing up experience in the guise of a baseball tournament; somewhat seperated from parents...close living quarters, the "group" shower experience (you cant imagine the looks I got when explaining to players that it was ok/normal/expected to wear flip-flops INTO the shower), and getting to know players from thousands of miles away...are all very unique for a 12y/o.

My brother was fortunate enough to set a record for hits in a game...but with or without that, it is an incredible experience.

**my only complaint/suggestion would be that they put window a/c units in the barracks and use a master power switch to turn them on whne the temp goes over 85 for an extended period.

So how did those who went last week do?

What did you think of the experience, other then the dang rain!!