2015 8U through 12U Travel Team (formerly known as summer tournament teams) Information
Travel Team Selection Dates/In-House Evaluation Dates:
Monday, March 23 from 6 pm to 9 pm for 11U and 12U Bronco Players
8U, 9U and 10U will be on Saturday, March 21 (8U from Noon to 2 pm, 9U from 2 to 3:30 pm and 10U from 3:30 to 5 pm) or Tuesday, March 24 (8U from 6 to 8 pm) and Wednesday, March 25 (9U from 6 to 7:30 and 10U from 7:30 to 9)
Monday, March 30-All in-house and travel team rosters will be published to the Mars Baseball website
Note: This tryout/evaluation will determine in-house placement and A and B travel team placement. Players will indicate during spring registration whether they want to be considered for a travel team.
Travel Team Selection Process:
As the coach of the 12A team, Edwin Palmer will be the chairperson of a “competition committee”. Every travel team manager will delegate one person who is willing to meet with that committee. Spring commissioners will also sit on the committee. The committee will come up with one score sheet and evaluation process for every age group from 8U through 12U. The committee will also recruit and select disinterested evaluators for every tryout.The head coach of the 12A team will be the chairperson of this committee every year.
Assistant Coach Selection:
The designated head coach of each team will formally select his assistant coaches AFTER the team has been formed. However, the head coach is free to discuss the Travel Team with parents of players who he thinks might be on his Travel Team. The children of all assistant coaches MUST qualify for the team (either by scoring in the top 9 at the tryout or by being a coach’s pick).
Travel Team Rosters:
*The players will the top 9 scores at the evaluation will automatically be placed on the A team in their age group (unless they specifically request to be placed on the B team). Note that in order to be eligible to be placed on a Travel Team, parents have to indicate on the spring registration form that their child is interested in participating on a Travel Team.
*Head coaches can choose additional players as “coach’s picks” in their discretion based on positional needs of the teams, pitching, etc.
*All teams must have a minimum of 11 players on them.
*All A teams must also designate a minimum number of 2 alternates/practice players primarily for spring ball.The alternates should be invited to practice with the team in the spring. Also, if the A team is short on players in the spring (or summer), the alternates should be invited before inviting anyone else. The alternates will be on a B team during the summer tournament season and their primary obligationwill be to their B team. In other words, if the A team and the B team have games, the alternate is required to play for the B team (unless the B team coach permits otherwise). The rationale is that the travel teams will now be playing from April through October so there likely will be more conflicts with AAU baseball, family commitments, other sports, etc.
*A Note about B teams-We will endeavor to try to form B teams at the time of the March tryout. However, in some cases, there may be fewer than 11 players interested in playing on a B team. In that case, the players who are interested in playing on a B team will placed on a B team and other players may be added to the team throughout the course of the in-house season.
*Mars Baseball will support as many summer tournament teams as there are players willing to play and coaches willing to coach.
Travel Team Managers:
8A-Bryan Brunsell
9A-Pat Koroly
10A Fireballs-Joe Buttermore
11A-Dave Kuremsky
12A Dust Devils-Edwin Palmer
PONY Qualifier:
All A teams from 10U and up are required to participate in the Super Regional Pony Qualifier.
Winter Training:
Elite
The Elite Winter Training (formerly AAU style winter training) will be on Sunday mornings, Tuesday evenings and Friday evenings.The Elite Winter Training is open to all interested 9U through 12U players in Mars Baseball but is intended for players who are serious about baseball. Strict behavior guidelines will be in place during all practices and no horseplay will be tolerated. The cost to attend this program once a week is $250; the cost to attend this program twice per week is $495.
Players will receive training on hitting, pitching and fieldingas well as some general conditioning to prepare them for the upcoming spring season.
Note thatpaid, professional coaches will provide instruction onhitting,pitching and fielding. However, we will also useparent volunteers as additional helpers in each session.
Players will get a minimum of 11 practice sessions (1 sessions per week) with high quality instruction on hitting, pitching and fielding. They will also receive a T-shirt ORa hoodie.
Basic
The BasicWinterTraining sessions are organized by age group as indicated below. Players will receive training on batting and fieldingas well as some general conditioning to prepare them for the upcoming spring season. Each age group will participate in 8 sessionsfrom early January through the middle of March. The cost is $135.
All instruction willbe given by VOLUNTEER dads/coaches.
Currently the scheduled days and times for the sessions are as follows but these days and times are subject to change:
Farm 7 Players (7U as of April 30, 2015) - Wednesdays from 6 pm to 7:30 pm
Farm 8 Players (8U as of April 30, 2015) - Wednesdays from 7:30 pm to 9 pm
Minor League Players (9U and 10U as of April 30, 2015)– Mondays from 5:45 pm to 7:30 pm
11U through 13Uas of April 30, 2015)– Mondays from 7:30 pm to 9:15 pm
High School Players (14U through 18U as of April 30, 2014) -4 pm to 5:45 pm on select days
Spring Baseball League:
Bryan Brunsell has created a league of northern teams that will compete in the spring.To the extent available, all travel teams from 9U through 11U will participate in that league. The 12U travel team likely will compete in the Quad County League. All travel team players also will be rostered on an in-house team.
Hats and Jerseys:
All A and B teams will be required to purchase the Mars Baseball approved hat and the Mars Baseball approved navy jersey (i.e. every team must have the same navy jersey). There can be no duplicate numbers on A and B teams in the same age group. Our vendor will sew on PONY patches on the navy jerseys of all teams. A and B teams are also permitted to have an alternate jersey if they wish. If a B team desires to wear their in-house hats instead of the Mars Baseball approved tournament hat, they need to communicate that to ASAP.
Tournaments in Mars:
All A teams from 7U through 12U are required to host a tournament in Mars. Tournament dates are picked by seniority. The 12U and 10B teams will host on June 19-21.Dates for other teams will be announced soon.
When hosting, teams need to pay $125 per registration fee received to Mars Baseball. Teams then pay for all tournament expenses – trophies, umpires, concession food, etc. – and then retain the profits.
Fundraiser for Lights:
All A travel teams are expected to create one fundraiser that is designed to raise approximately $1500 for the Lights Project. If the fundraiser raises more than $1500, any excess can be retained by the travel team. This could be done in connection with the tournament that the travel team hosts if desired. All B teams are expected to assist with and support the fundraiser organized by the A teams in the same age group.
Team Names:
All teams are encouraged to pick a name rather than simply be known as the 12A or 12B Mars Team.
Self-Funding:
All travel teams are self-funding which means that the cost of uniforms, umpires , leagues, tournaments, etc. are borne exclusively by the players participating on such team and are in addition in-house registration fees. Mars Baseball supports such travel teams by providing insurance, fields, baseballs, etc. However, all out of pocket expenses shall be paid for by the families of the players participating on such teams.
8U Travel Team Items Only
Head Coach of A Team: Bryan Brunsell
Goals
• With my baseball background consisting of competing at the college level, I would look to utilize my knowledge of the game to improve and strengthen the baseball program by creating transparency between all age group coaches. To do so, best practices and coaching template guides can be passed down our feeder system to always maintain a high level of communications and knowledge transfer between all coaches. This is essential to assure consistency throughout each age group. For example would be my spearheading a new ‘Travel League’ between Northern baseball teams and making sure the younger 7U coach can do the same for his age group, etc... I created this league from scratch, inviting Hampton, Pine Richland, Brad Mar Pine, North Shaler and Seneca Valley to participate this past Fall and the league was a success. We hope to continue in the Spring.
Creation of ‘New’ Northern 6 Competitive Baseball League for Spring and Fall
• As Head Coach of the current 8U Travel team, I spearheaded a new ‘Travel’ League and named it the Northern 6. With my extensive contact list and connections to other district coaches, I comprised the league of teams from the Northern area, to minimize travel and make it easier for parents and kids — plus it naturally creates rivals with our geographical area. It also is a deterrent for kids to leave the Mars community and join an AAU Travel team. This league, coupled with our Winter Training, basically gives our kids what the AAU teams are offering.
This league parallels our Spring and Fall In-House (rec) league. It is modeled after the current METRO League, which plays double-headers on Sundays (during In-house). It gives the kids a chance to play competitive baseball for two seasons in addition to Summer Tournament Ball.
Summer Tournament Ball
• As Head Coach of the 8U Travel team, I would look to join 4 Tournaments in the Summer. One of those Tournaments would be our Mars 8U Tournament and we would host it. I would look to book our Tournament early in the summer season as one of the first Tournaments offered for 8U. I would want this held at both Adams 1 & 2 fields for a weekend.
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Winter Training
• I am volunteering to run this Winters Training for 8U at the $135 cost. I ran last year’s 7U group. I have an agenda for each week as the kids practice basic fundamentals... game-situations, hitting, fielding and throwing. These kids are still a little too younger for strength training and do not need to review pitching, base stealing, etc... I also have the help of the dads who helped coach during the season(s), each leading the stations as needed.
Fundraising
• In addition to hosting a summer 8U Tournament to raise funds, I would look to have a few fundraising parties during the year... possibly a ‘Superhero Themed Spring Kick-off’ party with live music, face painting, etc... and a Halloween party for the kids. I don’t have details at this point, but I am willing to coordinate this with the help of my team parents as I know all the money we can raise is critical to the success of the organization and its efforts (Lights, etc...).
9U Travel Team Items Only
Head Coach of A Team: Pat Koroly
Winter Training: Encourages players to participate in the Elite Winter Training for a minimum of one day per week (cost is $250)
Spring Baseball: Seek either Spring Tournaments or schedule some weekend games against similar competition.
Summer Baseball: 4-5 Local Tournaments in the A and Open Classifications; will host a 9U Tournament at Mars Baseball facilities.
Fall Baseball: Will play in the Northern Fall League a schedule of 8-10 games as we have for the last two years.
Fundraiser: Mars Night at the Pirate Game with portion of ticket proceeds donated back to Mars Baseball.
10A Travel Team Items Only
Head Coach of A Team: Joe Buttermore
Spring Program Concept:
We propose to play 2-3 tournaments and 4-5 double headers against other local organization tournament teams. All tournaments and games will be played on weekends. We expect the spring program to begin play prior to the in house season, and continue throughout the spring in house season (give or take). All players must play in house ball.
Summer Tournament Concept:
We propose to keep the same format that the tournament team used in 2014. The team played in (7) tournaments with a mix of Open, A and B class tournaments. We will host one tournament in Mars in 2015.
The team will participate in the Pony Mustang Super-Regional Tournament. The Mustang Super-Regional Tournament permits only 9 batters per team and employs strict substitution rules. We will compete to win this tournament and will not guarantee playing time.
Winter Training
We propose to offer Basic Winter Training (at a cost of $135 per player) to all players who played on the 9A team last summer and to those interested in trying out for the team in March. We will limit the team winter training program to 11 players. Attendance is not mandatory. We also encourage all players to take advantage of the Elite Winter Training program offered by Mars Baseball at least one day per week, which provides an extremely cost effective way to develop skills during the winter time.
Fund Raising
We propose to execute a fund raising program. Pending the success of the 2014 MBA Halloween party, we proposed to repeat this program annually.
10B Team Items Only
Assistant Coach: Edwin Palmer
A Head Coach will be selected after the March Tryout
Coach Selection:
Edwin Palmer will be an assistant coach of the 2015 10B spring travel team. The head coach will be selected after the tryout (based on who is on the team).
Team Tryout Process and Timing:
We propose to select the spring travel team in March during the in-house evaluation process. After the A team is selected, the players with the highest 9 scores at the evaluation will be placed on the 10B team. Then, up to 5 additional players will be placed on the B team as alternates which means that (a)they will be invited to all practices, (b)they will be invited to play in a minimum of two tournaments and (c)they will be expected to play in the summer in-house league one day per week.
Spring Program Concept:
We propose to play games through the Northern 6 League against other local organization B tournament teams. All games will be played on weekends. We expect the spring program to begin play prior to the in-house season, and continue throughout the spring in-house season (give or take). Even though the A team will also be playing tournament and league games during the spring, we will work together to ensure that both teams have enough players on any given weekend. Both teams will also work together during the summer to deal with family vacations and other conflicts to ensure that both teams have enough players at every tournament.
All players must play in house ball.
Summer Tournament Concept:
We propose to play in tournaments during the summer of 2014 based on the availability of players and coaches. We would expect to play in a minimum of 4 B level tournaments. If possible, we will take the team and compete in a tournament in Akron in June. We likely will host a 10B tournament the weekend of June 19-21.
Winter Training
We will encourage all players who want to participate on a 10B team to participate in the Elite or Basic Winter Training Program at least one day per week.
Fundraising
We propose to encourage parents on a 10B to participate in existing Mars Baseball fundraisers – such as Community Day and others. Because the 10A team likely will hold the Halloween Party in 2015, we would encourage our parents to participate in that program by attending and donating and setting up and anything else that is needed. We would also like to host a 10B tournament in Mars in 2015.
11U Travel Team Items Only
Head Coach of A Team: Dave Kuremsky
Head Coach:Dave Kuremsky will be designated the Head Coach and will be the final decision maker. Dave has 9 years of baseball coaching experience at the junior varsity and varsity levels at Mars High School. He has also coached football, basketball, track and field, volleyball and cross country over the past 24 years at the middle school, high school and collegiate levels.
Spring Program Concept:
We propose to play at least two tournaments during the spring season. Additionally, we will hold periodic practices with the tournament team and could engage in weekend scrimmages with other local tournament teams.
Summer Tournament Concept:
We propose to keep the same format used in 2014. We will play in 4 – 5 A/B level Tournaments. The team will participate in the Pony Bronco 11 Super-Regional Tournament. The Pony Bronco 11 Super-Regional Tournament permits only 9 batters per team and employs strict substitution rules. We would compete to win this tournament and will not guarantee playing time. We plan to host a tournament one weekend during the summer tournament season as well. The other tournaments that we enter will be held in southwestern Pennsylvania. However, the idea of traveling out of state to participate in one tournament is not out of the question.