Daughter, a junior (and not a pitcher if that matters), is currently being wooed by a couple of the large national teams - the flagship teams where the org owner/creator is always listed as the coach. What are some questions to ask before accepting, or maybe just some things to know that might shock someone who hasn't been involved at that level? We haven't heard a number, but we assume the fees will be at least triple what we're paying now. We've seen the summer schedules and we're good with them. It's one of those things where we don't know what we don't know.
Questions to ask and/or things to know when joining a large "national" team
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- Jun 20, 2015
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are they telling you the fees involved? As well as the substantial time and fees for the travel?
Just because a name is on the team doesn't always mean that person is actually coaching/running the team - ask that
Are you joining for recruiting purposes? Are you already committed? IE - want to be on the best fields in the best tourneys against the best competition in order to get seen? Is that team going to provide that? What are the connections and assistance that team/org can offer? Has the team already been selected for those tourneys, are they in power pools? What's the status of the other players on the roster, what is their recruiting status? Is everyone already recruited?
What's her role going to be, how will she contribute to the lineup/roster?
Fees will be just a small sliver of the costs - with travel/hotels/flights, etc.
Are you joining for recruiting purposes? Are you already committed? IE - want to be on the best fields in the best tourneys against the best competition in order to get seen? Is that team going to provide that? What are the connections and assistance that team/org can offer? Has the team already been selected for those tourneys, are they in power pools? What's the status of the other players on the roster, what is their recruiting status? Is everyone already recruited?
What's her role going to be, how will she contribute to the lineup/roster?
Fees will be just a small sliver of the costs - with travel/hotels/flights, etc.
My daughter's former organization listed the head on three different teams: 14U, 16U, and 18U. He was the head coach of the 16U team only and was never there for the other ages. So make sure if his/her name is on the team, they will actually be there for the games, or you're just filling their coffers.
JOHNN
Just a dad of 3 girls
First and foremost, Id want to do some research to find out who will be the actual coach. Secondly, you mention that the org owner's name is listed on the team name. Is that for the purpose of getting placed on better fields during bigger tournaments?
we are aware of the schedule, but have not discussed org fees yet. I do expect them to be at least 3x what we're paying now.
This would be for recruiting purposes. They play on all the right fields. Have D1 commits on the rosters.
That should be one of the first questions to ask.
How are practices run? How often? Weekends only or during the week or both?
How will my DD be utilized?
You can easily go back and look at past results in the major tourneys and see how they performed and who they played which will give you an idea of the team...but you might already know.
Uniform fees? Some teams have uniform combinations and need to be purchased every 2 years.
How much travel in fall?
DD played on a National Team but it was a very small organization. They did it very economically to make it affordable and was not a money maker for the coach.
