Player Commitment

• Desire to listen, learn, and make adjustments as recommend by the coaches.
• Desire to work outside of practice on your skills.
• During Fall, at least 1 practice per week plus a potential Fall Tournament
• During Winter, at least 1 practice per week (location TBD) and availability for Winter Indoor League
• During April and June, at least 1 practice per week plus 2-4 games per weekend. Additionally at least one "away" Tournament in April or May in Branford, CT Triple Crown Sports tourney or Yaphank, NY at Baseball Heaven.
• During June, priority to team to play in NE AAU Playoffs
• Late July, early August - trip to Cooperstown Dreams Park (date TBD by CDP based on team’s request of 3 options)

Fall: September & October

Since most programs organize their teams during the fall, there are not generally any formal games. It is expected we will have at least one practice per week while the weather holds out. If we can find a team to scrimmage that will be a bonus. Since we run out of daylight quickly in the fall, we will try to use Sat or Sun for a practice day.

Based on interest and cost, we will also enter an end of the season wooden bat Triple Sports Tournament in Branford, CT.

Winter: November through February

During the winter there will be winter workout program where we can hit and throw at least two times per week. Those details are still to be worked out. There will be one practice per week at either Litchfield Middle School or Talent Hall in Litchfield. It is understood and expected that most players will be playing another sport such as basketball primarily in the Winter. We will try to create a schedule that accomodates the majority of players.

The team will expects to enter one of the Hampshire Dome leagues. Once the dates are firmed up, the team will be polled for the best dates.

Spring: March through June

There will be at least one practice per week in addition to playing games within the NE AAU Baseball League. During the regular season it is expected there will be some conflicts with players’ town teams. The coach will set up team guidelines with respect to handling these conflicts.

The NE AAU has clubs primarily located in NH, MA, and RI. The game schedule is only determined during the March 2008 coaches meeting (although some clubs do set games up before the meeting). Since we have an available field we generally can get more home games than away games. Games are played on weekends utilizing a double header format (two 6 innings games, where each team is the "home team" once). Game days generally require a 5-6 hour commitment.

The coaches generally try to fill out the schedule leaving only a few open dates (such as Mother's Day!). This results in approximately 25-30 games played in April and May. The schedule will include both "divisional" and "non-divisional" games. The Divisional games carry more importance and thus we ask that they take priority over town baseball. If there's a town baseball conflict on a non-divisional game day, then your child can choose to play town ball. The non-divisional games will be very important in making sure we get game experience.

Depending on how many teams there are in the age group and how the team does within the Division, there will be playoffs in early June. Typically, the NE AAU only handles 32 teams per age group in the playoffs. Each team is placed into a 5 or 6 team pool based on their regular season divisional record and runs against. On that first weekend the teams play 4 or 5 games to determine the top teams that qualify for the second weekend. Again, depending on the number of teams in the age group, the top 8 or 16 teams from weekend #1 qualify for the second weekend of playoffs. The second weekend of playoffs can be either pool play or modified single elimination. For pool play, the top team from each pool plays an additional game or two to determine the top four spots. The top teams qualify for the AAU Division 1 National playoffs. Other teams can request and participate in the AAU Division 2 National playoffs.

Summer: July and August

The exact schedule will be determined by when the team is going to Cooperstown Dreams Park. It is understood that in general youth baseball all star rules have issues with players playing both travel and town all star baseball, so the coaches will make all attempts to avoid those conflicts and issues. Once All Star season commences a schedule for practices will be worked out to reduce conflicts for everyone.

Cost

The team is entirely self funded and since not all the costs are known at the time of tryouts. If actual costs are less than estimated costs, funds will be returned to the team. Most teams have been able to return roughly $200 to each family after the season.  Cost can also be reduced by individual player sponsorship and team fund-raisers. The primary fund-raiser for the team is a Comedy Night usually held in mid March to coincide with St. Patrick's Day (for a theme).

As an estimate, the U12 team should cost between $1500-2000 while the U11 team should cost $1000-1200.  The bulk of the U12 team cost is the trip to Cooperstown Dreams Park.  The exact cost depends on many factors, some of which aren't fully known yet. The team will use a 4 step payment plan with payments due October 15, December 15, February 15, and April 1.  The purpose of paying in full and getting money back even though fundraisers are being done is to allow the team to choose to add to their experience using team funds rather than digging into your pocket again. The following should give you an idea of where all that money goes:

• AAU Player, Team, Insurance, Bond, and Field "Fees"
  • Player fee: $14 each player
  • National club fee: $300/club (2008 fee)
  • NE AAU Team fee: $300/team (2008 fee)
  • NE AAU Insurance fee: $200/club (2008 fee)
  • NE AAU Bond fee: $250/club (2008 fee)
• Winter workouts - depends on facility (approx $100-150 per session - 12-16 weeks)
• Spring tournament - $950
• Games - umpire fees - $50-60/game per umpire (each team pays 1 umpire)
• Equipment - Baseballs - $30-36/dozen - generally we use 10 dozen or so
• Dreams Park
  • Player/Coach Fee: $850

Uniforms are not included directly in the cost of the program.  This is to allow each team to choose their uniform style and vendor. Additionally, it doesn't make much sense to require payment for a complete uniform for a U12 player if their U11 uniform still fits. There are many uniform options available and it's believed that it's easier for the team to many what style and color scheme they want. 

NOTE: Beyond these costs, for "away" tournaments such as Triple Crown and Dreams Park, parents are responsible for their own hotel accomodations and meals for themselves and their player. Someone from the team can will work to get team rates running between $100-150 per night. There will also be a variety of housing options for Cooperstown - a house is usually shared between multiple families.