I am pretty new to the site - we are looking for a summer team for next year 2007 to play on.
My son is 15 now so we are looking for a 16U summer team. I know tryouts usually happen in August.

He was a catcher on the Lockport High School Freshman team. They did very well this year with 33 & 3 record and for summer ball went 19 & 0 winning the championship against Andrew.

I thought if someone needed an additional catcher or know of the tryouts you can send that information my way. Thanks.

I assume from your comments that he played for his high school team during the summer as well?

Does that not continue as a Soph?

Yes, he did play for the summer High School team but we are looking for a travel team for him to play on the weekends for next summer. The High School team only plays Monday - Thursday allowing them to be on a travel team as well.

We all know the more they play the better they get.

Please forgive me for asking you more questions as I cannot help you with a team at this age group.

Is playing on the HS team mandatory during the summer? Could it affect his ability to play in the spring if he doesn't play summer ball with them?

My son is in 8th grade and we are trying to figure out what summers will be like in the future.

We are learning too since we only have one son.

No coach has said that it is mandatory but I would assume that it is frowned upon if they don't. This gives the coach the ability to see what his Sophomore or Varsity team looks likes and how competative they are against the other schools. I will say all but one of the starters played on the summer team and the only reason the one kid didn't was because of illness. He was out for the summer.

What we have found during the summer team is that our coach played everyone pretty fairly. Didn't seem too stressed out if a kid missed because of prior commitments or vacation.

The High School summer team played Monday - Thursday which allowed the boys to play on travel teams on the weekends. So baseball 7 days a week.

During the regular season baseball was 6 days a week with Sundays off. But the season ends early because they are done once school is over. That is why summer ball with the HS is nice.

My son is a 15U player who was a catcher for his varsity high school team. He also plays travel ball and has since he was 12.
We put the high school as the priority. Some people don't. Even so, he missed a week of hs summer ball to travel to a tournament with his travel team (with the hs coaches permission).
Playing for both teams can work well. Make sure both coaches know your schedule, where your priorities are, and where you will be when. Commumication is the key.
Good hs programs and travel programs will work with you in the best inteest of the development of you son. If they fight over him, what are their motives?
My son did not catch for the travel team, so he got experience and exposure at another position. It is much trickier if your son is a pitcher. Both teams will want innings, and you must protect his arm.
Good luck. There are plenty of teams, just check the web sites like usasportsrankings and leaguelineup.