Wheres the competition and more exposure? Travel vs. HS. We have a coach that has now forbidden any travel player to play travel ball next year-if the player chooses to play travel, regardless of talent, he will be benched according to the coach.

That is hard to believe, but if it's true my first visit would be to the Coach himself, The AD, the Principal and the to the Board.

No HS Coach has the right to do that.

Ask yourself this.....

Is this directive supposed to be about the school? the coach? or the kid?

According to a prep newspaper article in the Suntimes this month high school summer baseball coaches have to realize it's not what it use to be. The top players are playing in travel leagues similiar to AAU summer basketball. (See Suntimes prep athletic website.)

The article will need to be "googled"..."Has time passed for high school summer baseball?" by Tim Stablein July 4th Pioneer Local.

dacoach,
Down Here in Texas we have an "extracurricular governing board", University Interscholastic League, UIL for short. This is our K-12 version of NCAA, in a way.
Clearly this coach would be in violation of our UIL sanctioning body policy.
If I were you, I'd suggest you look into the Illinois counterpart...read the rules..then get his edict in writing or a recording of this coaches directive...If he's in violation, you will want to take it up with not only your schools Athletic Director, but also the School District Athletic Director & your School Board & Superintendent.
Sounds like this guy is an intimidator, not a coach!

his nc42dad-please explain the meaning to your question. If I were a HS baseball coach, and I had 75% of my players playing at a higher level during the weekends-I would be thrilled when they came back to play for me during the week.

Anddd-BBMom-you hit the nail on the head.

dacoach1-

First off, there are many coaches who HATE travel baseball. They do not think kids should be playing at a higher level if it in anyway interferes with the high school summer season. The player's entire focus should be nothing except the high school season and the coach does not even want a balance. That is why the directive comes out that your kid is going to sit, or even worse yet, gets cut from the team in the spring if he plays elsewhere. Personally, I DO NOT understand it. Is this about the coach and his record and future goals? Is it about representing the school & community and making men out of them?

The question is why does this attitude exist? I am not sure I can give you a blanket answer for all coaches nor do I attempt to do so. I can really only speculate. Actions generally speak louder than words but as I have said many times, your kid is NOT going to get much exposure thru high school summer ball.

If you were a college coach and you were recruiting a hitter, do you want to watch him against a pitcher throwing 88 mph or a kid throwing 78 mph? Next question, how many high school summer games did you see & did you see anyone throwing 88 mph?

BBMom - I am jealous of your TX rules. Speaking in the dark, I do not know if any rule exists here. However, unfortunately many AD's are going to support whatever decision their high school coaches make.

How do you prove your kid is being "punished" when all they have to say is "coach's decision?" Every parent is afraid of repercusions on their kid.. and that is why I think you see so much angst on this topic in this forum. JMHO

Your kid only gets one real shot at this & why anyone would do something to squash a kid's dream...boggles my mind as well as many, many others.

It is sad because you also rarely see a kid going to the next level because his HS coach had made phone calls for him, put work outs together that invited colleges to see him, etc. I know you see travel ball guys do that. Colleges don't want to come to HS games because in any game there's an average of probably 3-4 kids on the field that are college level talent and like you mentioned they want to see kids competing against better competition so they can gauge how they will be against that better competition in the future. They can go to any summer tournament game and for alot of the good programs there's going to be 18 kids that are college players, so instead of going from HS game to HS game you can go to one tournament game and see 25 kids playing against each other in one location that are college type players.

Travel ball doesn't interfere with HS in the spring, they stop all correspondence with the kids, they then resume in the summer. This is essential because how the HS rules are you can't work out in the winter and the winter is when alot of these kids work on their skills and get better. The solution is less games in the summer for HS baseball, they play way too many games and way too many that are meaningless. Double headers Mon-Thursday is more games than they play in the spring even. These travel tournaments are roughly thurs-sunday. why can't the HS just play Mon and Wed, double headers. 4 games a week? Then everyone would be happy, there's barely be any interference, the kids would have some days off and not be burned out. The HS wouldn't have to spend all that money on umps and travling, the coach wouldn't have to spend all his time either becuase if you ask them none of them like coaching the summer because it's too much for too little. That's too simple of a concept I guess.

******Edited By Moderator**********************

***************Edited By Moderator****************

quote:

The question is why does this attitude exist?

Attitude has nothing to do with it. The REAL question is whether or not a SCHOOL coach has the authority to control out of school activities!

quote:

How do you prove your kid is being "punished" when all they have to say is "coach's decision?" Every parent is afraid of repercusions on their kid..

Find out the Rules! Surely there is an oversight committee or something.

When does baseball season begin in Illinois?
What does the State Education Board have to say?
How have the Dullin Dodgers done it for so many years? Aren't the out of Chicago?

Down here, practices start in Feb, 3-4 three day double elim. tournaments, and season begins the end of March-beginning of April. 2 games a week till mid May, then post season for as long as a team can hang on. State Championship is played in June.

Dulins Dodgers are out of Western Tennessee.

Thanks for the correction. I wasn't sure where DD was from, just know they had a national reputation...

Just a little research goes a long way...
I'd definately be challenging the "intimidator" ...I mean Coach, if what you report is accurate.
Ok, this from the Illinois Athletic Association...see page 64, by-law 3.150
http://www.ihsa.org/org/policy/2007-08/section3.pdf


201) NON-SCHOOL COMPETITION
Q. May a student who is on a school team and who participates in competition outside the season in the same sport
with a non-school organization, participate in a non-school competition in that sport on the day after the high school
season ends?
A. Yes. (By-law 3.101)

3.150 3.150 SPECIAL PROVISIONS FOR SUMMER PARTICIPATION
3.151 Participation by high school students in summer programs must be voluntary and in no way be an actual or implied prerequisite for membership on a high school team.
3.152 Students may participate in summer baseball/softball leagues sponsored by schools, during the period between Monday
of Week 44 and Saturday of Week 7 in the IHSA Standardized Calendar.
3.153 Persons who coach a sport at a member school may have a maximum of 25 days of contact in that sport with students
from that school during the period between the last day of classes or Monday of Week 49 in the IHSA Standardized
Calendar (whichever date is earlier) in the spring each year and Sunday of Week 5 in the IHSA Standardized Calendar.
Students may have a maximum of 25 days of contact per sport with persons who coach that sport at the school they attend during the same time period. A day of contact is defined as any date on which any coaching or instruction in the skills
and techniques of any sport takes place. These limitations apply to all sports except Baseball and Softball. An exception
may be made by the Executive Director under the guidelines adopted by the Board of Directors for competitions
sponsored and conducted directly by the National Governing Body for the sport.

Just a thought. Is it possible that these coaches want their players to commit themselves to the summer program so that the kids who do not have the means to travel all over the country (and internationally) and pay for hotel rooms every weekend have a place to continue to develop their skills? For the kids that can only afford to pay the summer ball activity fee, I don't think that meeting twice a week is enough repetition. I don't believe a coach should not allow kids to play travel baseball, but I think it is fair to expect the travel baseball kids to do their best to make the summer program work for the kids that might not have the ability/means to travel like they do.

quote:

Ok, this from the Illinois Athletic Association...
I'd definately be challenging the "intimidator" ...I mean Coach, if what you report is accurate.

201) NON-SCHOOL COMPETITION
Q. May a student who is on a school team and who participates in competition outside the season in the same sport
with a non-school organization, participate in a non-school competition in that sport on the day after the high school
season ends?
A. Yes. (By-law 3.101)

bbmom - Thanks for the info. If I read that correctly it states that they cannot stop you from doing travel. But what is to keep them from benching your kid? Some of these guys you can talk to until you are blue in the face.....selective memory, you know. I cannot say how often & I cannot say if it happens much, but the point I want to make is that intimidation IS going on. The words "coaches decision" goes a long way with many high school administrators. Would you agree that is possible? Thanks again for the info - it is a must save!

What year is your son? What are his stats from this past or any previous season? How long has he been on the team? Is he a starter? Who else plays his position?
Repeat to Administration the facts and figures, and the threat from the coach. Then, refer to By-law 3.150.
Is the Coach going to cut all the guys? doubtful. Is he recruiting outside his District, if several guys are benched? There is a rule for that, too. Does he have enough talent available now, to be so cavelier as to bench/cut ANY player?

I'm not usually this confrontational, but this kind of situation is not good for the player or the team. If these comments were made in front of the team, in my book, the coach is TOAST! Can any of the other players/parents co-oberrate this threat?

Let us not forget that the smummer league is not an IHSA sanctioned anything, its is an IHSBCA event (Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association). The bottom line is that Illinois high school baseball is OUT OF SEASON during the summer. My recommendation is to also bring this to the attention of the school, the IHSA, and a lawyer for sure. All it may take is a simply letter from a lawyer and the school will launch the coach. This is the last thing that the schools want. Remember most of these coaches are not highly qualified, all they need to do is pass a ASEP test.

Can't wait to hear the recaps from the coaches of all the great games today?

I'd be real interested to hear what people have to say about a coach (almost) requiring weight lifting and conditioning in the off-season if you don't play another sport....

quote:

3.152 Students may participate in summer baseball/softball leagues sponsored by schools, during the period between Monday
of Week 44 and Saturday of Week 7 in the IHSA Standardized Calendar.

Play dog you are wrong, summer baseball is sanctioned by the IHSA, read again.

Nails not sure what your agenda is gotta believe your could be more responsible than the comments you made

nc42, I have always respected your comments and opinion but I have been to a good number of Travel ball games not sure every kid throws 88?

If we are trying to get a greater understanding of HS baseball, lets make sure we draw an accurate picture of the scope of travel baseball.