When you sign up a team for a travel baseball team, you will be asked to register them in a particular age bracket. If you are coaching a 10 and under team, you will want to look for tournaments that are 10u.
Travel baseball can be a little tricky because of people who may schedule summer vacations during weeks or weekends that you have games. You want to make sure that you have enough players to fill a team, but not too many players that many kids have to sit, which could upset parents who paid for them to play.
The ideal number of committed players would be 12. I highly suggest that you don’t go above 15 as it will be a nightmare trying to juggle playing time for all of those kids.
Each tournament that you enter will have a price you need to pay to enter. Go through the web to find baseball tournaments to register your team for. If you do a Google Search with specifics about what you are looking for, you will be able to find plenty of tournaments. You will want to register well in advance, probably up to 6 months in advance, because they will fill up fast. You can also check out https://www.usssa.com/baseball for a list of tournaments as well.
The second financial factor that you will have to include in the price is the cost of the uniforms. Check out local sporting companies that supply uniforms or check out https://www.boombah.com/us/uniforms/baseball.html to find some great uniform ideas.
The third financial factor you will need to consider is equipment. Most kids today have their own equipment, but if you will need to purchase catcher’s equipment, team bags, helmets, or baseballs, you will have to add that to your price. You may also have to pay to rent a field or batting cages. Increase your final number by 10-20% to cover any unforeseen expenses.
The cost can add up quickly, so you want to make sure that you are giving potential players a figure that they will be able to afford. The more tournaments that you enter, the higher the price will be. Many parents may be ok with this because they want their child to play as much baseball as possible.
If you have a team in mind, you can certainly ask kids to join your team. If not, you will need to host a tryout to select a team. Advertise for tryouts at local youth leagues and baseball facilities. Determine your coaching staff that will help you out, secure a field, and select a tryout date(s).
Write up a plan for the tryout and research some plans ahead of time that you could use such as Baseball Excellence Tryouts or 14 Tips for Hosting a Baseball Tryout.
One of the most crucial steps you can take in this baseball process is to be upfront and honest with both the kids and the parents. Develop a list of expectations that you will have for the team. Discuss your coaching philosophy so there will be no confusion on playing time. After the meeting, have parents and kids sign an acknowledgment of the expectations in case you run into any trouble later in the season.
Once you have informed the players that they have made the team, you will want to create a team name, begin collecting money from the parents and outline a practice schedule. You may decide on setting up indoor batting cage time during the winter or, depending on the weather, setting up field practice days. Keep it consistent. Parents are more likely to plan their days around the baseball schedule.
