There seems to be an overreach of state high school associations in several states that don’t always have logic in their rules…

In Illinois, players were removed from the field because the state high school association said they couldn’t participate in “travel all-star games”. After much controversy, this was later clarified and amended. Another state says a coach can only practice with four kids at a time out of season and only at certain times they allow. Another example in one state an ambidextrous pitchers’ pitch counts are tallied for the player and not each arm. Finally, in many states after high school tryouts you are not supposed to be at your travel facility(especially with players from your high school team), play in travel tournaments, etc. Doing so can get you suspended from High School Baseball. 

These are just a few examples of the overreach of some of the state high school associations. Their heart is probably in the right place, however, some of these organizations do not understand the ever changing landscape of youth sports. There is also a pressure to win for HIGH SCHOOL coaches that drives all of this.  I think looking inward, instead of focusing so much on policing travel sports would be advantageous to the student athlete. 

The problem to me isn’t in really travel baseball coaches either…for the most part. Most baseball coaches I have  encountered seem to be understanding of multi-sport athletes and STUDENT athletes. The baseball season is pretty short overall April-June in HS and June-August in Travel baseball.  Do some travel organizations and coaches go overboard, of course they do; however, the discussion for the moment is about High School Athletics.

I very much understand the overuse argument too. High school associations should focus more on these things rather than be so hyper-focused on travel sports:

1. No HIGH SCHOOL practices(or very Limited) when the school is closed or on break for any high school sports(coaches always want more and are going to try to keep up with the joneses). Snow Days especially. If school is closed because of inclement weather, there shouldn't be practice. Dead periods for these times would be recommended. Also,  dead periods for out of season HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS in the SUMMER.
2. Instead of making athletes work in small groups, just tell HIGH SCHOOL coaches when the season can start and limit  practices/contact for out-of-season sports. From there an athlete can train on their own. 
3. Quit allowing HIGH SCHOOL off-season sports to encroach on in-season sports. (See number 2) Not sure the answer, but there has to be a way. Some sports are now going 9-10 months out of the year and working through loopholes of the State Associations. (Hint: its not Baseball)

In many states, football and basketball start a week after school is out in the Summer during the height of baseball season. While these workouts aren’t mandatory, they are expected. Athletes have enough pressure on them and feeling like they have to choose between three sports at a time is not logical. Many are juggling these 2-3 sports and are exhausted without time for recovery and/or free time with friends.  Many athletes are being pulled in all directions. As a result, this is pushing MORE kids in to choosing(specializing).

From a parents' perspective, we need to just teach our kids to say no. Sometimes they want to do everything all at once and it is just not sustainable. If a coach cannot deal with it, so be it. Finally, there needs to be more representation from travel sports in these associations. Travel sports have a lot of bright minds that could provide valuable input to these organizations.

Please feel free to share the article: ​https://www.travelbaseballrankings.com/blog/are-state-high-school-officials-overreaching

It is Winter. What better time to reflect on baseball? Not all heroes wear capes, some do wear umpire gear though. At TBR tournaments, we do what we can to attempt to get games in through inclement weather. Behind the scenes, it can be hectic when a weather event hits. We scratch and claw to get games in and the competitive spirit in me wants to prove mother nature, and sometimes coaches/parents wrong.  Unfortunately, mother nature sometimes wins, but we NEVER go down without a fight. I am fortunate that some of my partners (Shoutout to Kyle, Shawn, Billy, and Logan from Action Sports Center) have a similar viewpoint as me. Umps have things to do and places to go and when a rain delay hits some are not always able to stay.

One game Left...
We had one game that needed to be played in order to finish moving all teams to bracket play. If the game didn't get played the other two contingencies were: 1. to revert back and erase games played OR 2. restart the ONE pool play game left on the next day. Taking a game played away is not good, especially if a team "upset" another team and/or is vying for gold bracket status. The second option of moving the ONE final pool play game to the next day, then starting the bracket right after, leaves teams in limbo overnight. This is also less than ideal for teams and the tournament as a whole. Neither are good positions to be in.  The only other option is to figure out how to play the game. 

The Problem...
We didn't have a place to play or have ANY extra umpires willing to stay. Many were already umping other games. The field agreed to let us play one more game and both teams also agreed to play. Now we needed to find an ump. The ump assigner and myself were striking out left and right.  It occurred to me that I know an experienced ump playing in the 16u division playing in game right now in my tournament. I called his mom and he was more than willing to come down and ump a game, right after his game was finished.  He was even prepared to be the home plate ump if needed. In the end, another home plate ump stepped up and the young man ended up umping the bases and did a tremendous job. We also finished the hectic day with two umps per game, every game!  More importantly we were able to advance ALL teams to their respective brackets. 

We oftentimes feel battered, bruised, and mentally exhausted after tournaments, especially ones filled with weather events. We always do what is best for the MOST teams and also balance it with the teams that have performed well up to that point. Our umps, ump assigner, and park personnel are such hard workers and that is another story altogether. In this particular case I would like to thank Noah D., for saving this age group.