We are trying to decide between Ripken and Sports @ Beach for our U14 team next year, would love to hear from those who may have done both.

Ripken was sweet. Beautiful fields and a well run tournament. That was the South Carolina tournament. I would imagine it is the same in Maryland - I think that's where it is. Not sure what the "Sports @ Beach" tournament is.

Went to Rehoboth in 2004. One of the worst tourney experiences we ever had. Wind blew hard in one direction constantly. If your field was oriented so that it blew out, lots of HR's. If the other way, hard to get a ball deep into the OF. Mounds were built with the wrong dirt, became pitted quickly to the point where pitchers' safety was at risk. At that time bathroom facilities were yet to be built.

The property went through bankruptcy at some point, so I'm not sure how this has worked out over the years. But I don't think the wind condition would have changed. Also it's tough to get a hotel within a half hour's drive of the place.

One of the attractions for Ripken is the ability to play on versions of major league stadiums. In Aberdeen this is a real treat for the kids. Be aware, however, that starting with 13U they only have two on-site fields. One is the home of the local minor league team and is a beautiful field; the other is their version of yankee stadium - also very nice. The other fields are off-site. The off-site fields are quality fields, and frankly better than many fields at other tournaments. You just have to realize you will be playing off-site for a number of games and that you will not be playing in "replica stadiums" at 13U and above.

I will say the Ripken people are quite helpful in terms of "customer relations", and there always appear to be tournament officials available in the event of an issue arising during games.

I did not have the same level of experience at Sports at the Beach. Not a bad experience, but Ripken was better.

Ripken is far superior to Sports At The Beach. The fields are better at Ripken. The kids will get to play in a real professional park (it's beautiful). My son got to meet Cal since his son was in the tournament. Both of them were working out in the cages at the same time.

The umpiring at SATB is brutal. I didn't see certification patches (state or Legion) on most of the umpires. In two of five games the umpires didn't know rules. We had to hold up games to get a site director.

I found the competition to be equally competitive at both venues.

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Wind blew hard in one direction constantly. If your field was oriented so that it blew out, lots of HR's.

The field in the back where it's only 300 to center. We had a football score in a 16U game even though it was wood.

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One of the attractions for Ripken is the ability to play on versions of major league stadiums.

I thought they were very weak representations of replicas. For 60/90 fields we played at a park, a high school and Ripken Field. The two off site venues were good fields.

The good thing about SATB is that the fields are all in one place. Went to Ripken Maryland once, one offsite field was at JUCO with a nice field, the other was at a park with a so-so field.

I agree that the competition is about the same.

Don't understand the hotel comment Midlo. About 15 minutes down the road is Rte.1, where all the hotels, resturants and shopping for the Rehobeth Beach resort are located.

We must've gone the wrong way! I think we stayed further away to find something more affordable.

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Originally posted by Midlo Dad:
We must've gone the wrong way! I think we stayed further away to find something more affordable.

Probably. The hotels along the beach are expensive if you miss the SATB discount deadline. Even with the discount, there were much less expensive hotels away from the beach.

Lots of bass in those two small ponds at SATB. They loved spinner baits.