travel teams in Northeastern IN

[_MIA_]

She's a big strong girl 6'2" 120lbs at 11,

I assume you mean 5'2" but if not may I suggest basketball?

 

[riczaj01]

I assume you mean 5'2" but if not may I suggest basketball?

lol I wish, no she is 11, 12 in Nov and 5'6". She definitely has started playing basketball and took to it quite naturally. Normally(i know b/c i was tall very young also) dribbling is awkward but she became very solid at it. But she has a killer arm and has become deadly accurate behind the plate, throwing darts on the 12U field I have her practice on.

 

[jmdub]

We are a couple years ahead of you, but one thing I would recommend is go looking on gamechanger for the current coach/team and see how they are doing. Will tell you a lot about whether the team struggles to win or is dominant or is somewhere in between.

We've played Summit City teams and no red flags. Ft Wayne Force and Ft Wayne Freeze are a couple that come to mind (the older Freeze team is good).

Go to tryouts for a bunch. Talk to coaches. Try and talk to parents. Being her first year, I wouldn't want a 13 kid roster where she may never play.... and I want to avoid crazy parent drama too...

 

[riczaj01]

We are a couple years ahead of you, but one thing I would recommend is go looking on gamechanger for the current coach/team and see how they are doing. Will tell you a lot about whether the team struggles to win or is dominant or is somewhere in between.

We've played Summit City teams and no red flags. Ft Wayne Force and Ft Wayne Freeze are a couple that come to mind (the older Freeze team is good).

Go to tryouts for a bunch. Talk to coaches. Try and talk to parents. Being her first year, I wouldn't want a 13 kid roster where she may never play.... and I want to avoid crazy parent drama too...

Thanks for the help.

We have 2 summit cities, one is the sluggers one is select, which one showed no red flags? The Freeze's younger teams are now the Gators, they were asked to join the Gators org b/c they liked the development path they were seeing from the Freeze.

We talked to one teams coaches after the private workout and he was honest and said if they move to 12U this fall she has a spot on the team, but they would prefer to stay 11U through fall b/c the girls still need development. My daughter w/out question would be one of, if not the best player on that team, so I'm waiting to see how the others go.

 

[ChrisSB]

I plan on having my daughter try out for some travel teams in this area. I was wondering if anyone has any knowledge of the travel teams, she's trying out for just about all of them in hopes of making at least 1. Not sure how far any of them travel, but I think at least one is more regional ie programs in other states. The teams would be Summit City Sluggers, Summit City Select, Gators and Huntertown Lions. Or is there another team in that area she should look into.

I want to make sure she's in a program that is competitive and can help build her skillset. What are some things I should be looking for, and questions I should ask? She'll be 12U this year.

I have a 14 year old daughter that has done a couple clinics at Summit City Sluggers and they have been great. I've also heard good things about Fort Wayne Freeze. If I had to do it over again, I would have tried to get my daughter in to Indiana Magic Gold's development program. 12 u is the last year for it I believe before it moves over to their regular program.

 

[ang2bmd]

Run from a team that's planning to play down in the fall. Nobody with any kind of reputation in softball does that. You don't want her to be the best kid on the team. Upper part of the middle is the best spot to be.

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[riczaj01]

I have a 14 year old daughter that has done a couple clinics at Summit City Sluggers and they have been great. I've also heard good things about Fort Wayne Freeze. If I had to do it over again, I would have tried to get my daughter in to Indiana Magic Gold's development program. 12 u is the last year for it I believe before it moves over to their regular program.

I have heard great things about IMG but for 12U it's in Indy or South Bend, I'm 1.5 to 2hrs away from both and I work fulltime and my wife is closer to 60hours, there is just no way to get here there reliably and regularly. And honestly I'm not sure she's that good right now. If I had my choice it would be Freeze(Gators is there 10-12U) or Sluggers or NIE, but my wife isn't sure and would rather her play w/kids she knows which would be the Huntertown Lions

 

[riczaj01]

Run from a team that's planning to play down in the fall. Nobody with any kind of reputation in softball does that. You don't want her to be the best kid on the team. Upper part of the middle is the best spot to be.

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I felt the same way. I get why they are doing it, if you have mostly 10-11yr olds that are pretty new to the game playing against 12-13 yr olds is probably just going to cause the girls to lose heart/interest. I felt the same, don't be at the bottom of the roster but don't be the clear best either.

 

[inumpire]

The gators north branch is a new branch of the gators organization out of Indianapolis. Like most organizations that branch out like this there is very little quality control. In Indy where the main branch is their teams are hit or miss...some good, some not. IMO they've become a B organization with an occasional local/regional A team but aren't really competitive on a national level like IMG or the Bandits.

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Well, I am from southern Indiana and almost all of the IMG teams play a B schedule for the most part. And struggle to win consistently. There is one at 14U that does play more of a “A” schedule. And since the home of the organization is out of Bloomingto, and I have known the main guy of the Gator organization, I have to disagree with you that IMG is competitive on a national level more than the Gators. Gators have been around a whole lot longer then IMG, and probably in reality has more national recogniztion than IMG. And they have been inducted in the USA Softball of Indiana HOF. IMG came on the scene a few year back and do have so very good older teams, but most of their younger teams are B teams in our area. And yes, both have tried to add more teams to their rosters, and that unfortunately leads to some lower level teams. Now the Bandits, that is a different story so far. But as they try to add more and more teams, I am sure some of them will be lower level teams.

 

[ang2bmd]

Bandits are not adding more teams. Bill Conroy has 2 branches premier and demarini 1 team at each level and none of them play at a lower level. IMG 04 bay, boetleir, and Kleiner, and 05 moore as well as the older IMG teams like Rudd absolutely compete on the national stage. the 06 teams are weak. The north and south branches are weak. The Gators have been around longer. There is not currently a gators team that can compete on the national stage.

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