My son will be a freshman this year at a small parochial school (K-12) that doesn't have a baseball team. There are not enough players interested to start one (we tried). He really would like to play college and hopefully someday pro ball. Is it still possible for him to play college ball if he plays AAU and/or Legion ball for 4 years, plus Little League? Thanks!
Posts: 2 | Location: Northeast | Registered: August 19, 2008
Of course it is. The fact the school he attends does not have a team will only mean he will not be able to play high school baseball. If he works on his game and plays during the summer and fall on other teams he will be fine. It would be a negative imo if the school did have a team and he decided not to play high school baseball because people would wonder why. But the fact they dont have one is not his fault.
If there are other kids at his school that play baseball maybe they can get together during the high school season and work out together. Maybe there is enough private school kids to field a team that can play some games. In Wake County NC there is a homeschool high school team that plays high school teams during the high school season. Good luck and keep trying to get that team started.
If he is playing outside of school and working on skills and conditioning, anything is possible. Carlton Fisk played 10 high school games a year before entering that baseball power U. of New Hampshire, and then the Red Sox.
Posts: 4783 | Location: Florida | Registered: December 26, 2002
The 1st thing I’d do if I were you, was to check with your state assn to see if you son wasn’t eligible to play for some other HS team. http://www.nfhs.org/stateassociations.aspx
I know times have really changed, and now many states allow home schooled kids to play with the HS they’d normally be going to, and possibly yours would grant a waiver to allow your child to play ball. After all, you do pay for the school.
Posts: 162 | Location: California | Registered: July 23, 2008
Originally posted by SKeep: The 1st thing I’d do if I were you, was to check with your state assn to see if you son wasn’t eligible to play for some other HS team. http://www.nfhs.org/stateassociations.aspx
I know times have really changed, and now many states allow home schooled kids to play with the HS they’d normally be going to, and possibly yours would grant a waiver to allow your child to play ball. After all, you do pay for the school.
That had crossed my mind, since he goes to a private school, could he play at the local public school?
Posts: 991 | Location: CA | Registered: March 12, 2003
since he goes to a private school, could he play at the local public school
I'm sure this varies from state to state and maybe sport to sport, but my son had a similar situation in HS, with hockey. He had played on the local travel hockey teams from age 6 on up, but attended a private HS that did not have a hockey team. The public HS hockey coach requested that my son be allowed to play hockey for the public school but the ruling was this:
If he was home-schooled, he would have been eligible for the public school team. But since he attended a private HS, he could not play for the public HS. It didn't make a lot of sense to us, but that was the rule in Minnesota.
Julie
Posts: 3616 | Location: Minnesota | Registered: January 04, 2003
I think that choosing to go to a private school changes the discussion. When choosing the school, you must have known that there was not a baseball team.
At that point you likely looked at the most important things to you in choosing a school. Those factors outweighed the fact there was no baseball team.
Kudos to you for having priorities, but you now have to find alternatives to HS baseball.
Posts: 108 | Location: Florida | Registered: December 08, 2006
Our school district allows children to play in their "zoned" high school if they attend a school which doesn't have their sport. There are also many home school baseball teams in our area as well.
My younger son's school doesn't have a team, so we are in the same boat. He isn't interested in college ball, but he does want to play in school.
In GA he can't join a home school team (we have 2-3) because if he is not home schooled, but enrolled in a regular/private HS, the home school league rules prohibit him from competing in games against other home schooled teams. The GA HS Athletic Association doesn't allow kids to join district school teams, even if their school doesn't offer the sport because it is a decision under the control of the parents, it is not considered a hardship.
The end result is: our local park has organized a HS team for kids like mine, some home schooled kids, as well as some who don't make their HS team. They have enough this fall for two teams out of the park and will play other HS fall teams that want practice games, and they'll play in the fall HS league since these aren't regular season games. They'll reform in the spring and create a schedule with local teams, playing non-region games and pick-up games. Maybe a tournament or two later in the season.
See if you have a local park that might be interested in offering this option.
Posts: 359 | Location: Georgia | Registered: July 11, 2006
There was a player on my son's middle school team attending a small Christian school without a baseball team. Our middle school was the one he would have attended had he been in public school. Check with the governing bodies for your situation. I would start at the top/state level.
Posts: 1632 | Location: Mid-Atlantic | Registered: October 29, 2007
Where is your local park? That sounds like something my son would be interested in, especially if he doesn't make his HS team. If it is not in my area I'd still like to contact your park board to see how that is put together. Possibly my local park would follow suit and you'd have another team to play.
quote:
Originally posted by quillgirl: My younger son's school doesn't have a team, so we are in the same boat. He isn't interested in college ball, but he does want to play in school.
In GA he can't join a home school team (we have 2-3) because if he is not home schooled, but enrolled in a regular/private HS, the home school league rules prohibit him from competing in games against other home schooled teams. The GA HS Athletic Association doesn't allow kids to join district school teams, even if their school doesn't offer the sport because it is a decision under the control of the parents, it is not considered a hardship.
The end result is: our local park has organized a HS team for kids like mine, some home schooled kids, as well as some who don't make their HS team. They have enough this fall for two teams out of the park and will play other HS fall teams that want practice games, and they'll play in the fall HS league since these aren't regular season games. They'll reform in the spring and create a schedule with local teams, playing non-region games and pick-up games. Maybe a tournament or two later in the season.
See if you have a local park that might be interested in offering this option.
Posts: 16 | Location: Georgia | Registered: August 18, 2008
My son will be a freshman this year at a small parochial school (K-12) that doesn't have a baseball team.
Plenty of options are open for your son. Im not sure what part of the northeast you are in. I am in Pa and there are plenty of options to play on another larger parochial schools team or on your "districted" team. Contact your state association....and your local schools AD....
Dont expect this to be accomplished without some hurdles along the way or challenges.....but like all of higher baseball, the better he plays the easier the time he will have and more opportunity will come his way.........
best of luck.
Posts: 1915 | Location: Pennsylvania | Registered: January 07, 2003
Thanks to everyone for their input. I will look into the public school options (he goes to school in Connecticut but we live across the border in Rhode Island, so that may pose a quirk. If I come up with some additional options I will post them for other's benefit.
Posts: 2 | Location: Northeast | Registered: August 19, 2008
