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gafan
66 Posts |
 Posted - 08/09/2010 : 11:05:46
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| Why is it that I see so many "ECB" teams, but when you go to their website, they don't even practice close to the facility... why play for them then? Just for the name? Is that more of the "local" players who just want a AA-AAA team and to say they play for East Cobb? Seems crazy since putting a name on your team doesn't make it a better team... those teams are routinely beat by "regular" AA-AAA teams from all over GA, right? |
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Alter-Ego
802 Posts |
Posted - 08/09/2010 : 13:15:09
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Depends on the age group you are talking about.
Many times these are teams that have moved to EC from somewhere else but still have access to alternative field time. With all the teams at EC, there is not an overabundance of practice time so having an alternate location can be very beneficial.
Why move to EC then, you may ask?
Because they would like to attract those additional players that may not come to play where they are currently playing. Many times they are bringing 7 or 8 players over and hope to get 3 or 4 more from becoming an EC team. |
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in_the_know
985 Posts |
Posted - 08/09/2010 : 14:25:47
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Largely, the younger age group teams are migrating from local rec parks; either an up & coming all-star team making the jump to travel, or a rec park travel team "escaping" the rules and stipulations that their rec board imposes on them.
When this is the case, the coach will find a park nearest his core of families to call their practice home, then use the ECB name to aid in recruiting and also to get away from the percentage of "in-park" kids rec boards require.
Your assessment is correct that many of these teams are fairly equivalent to most park travel teams at the younger age groups. At 13u/14u, you'll begin to see the better ECB players begin to concentrate to two or three top teams. As you reach into the 15u and above ages, ECB becomes more of a collection of elite players who gather onto one of two teams that receive a great deal of attention from coaches, recruiters and scouts.
As many are suggesting, ECB doesn't necessarily grow and groom talent from the ages of 9 and up as a means of providing a farm system for their older age teams. They provide a place of convenience for many of the younger ages (which certainly raises funds for the organization as a whole) and a nationally recognized platform for older age elite players to be seen.
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coach0512
123 Posts |
Posted - 08/09/2010 : 19:00:56
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Like it or not, if you want to have the best shot possible at playing on one of those 1 or 2 EC teams where talent has been concentrated then you want to be over there as young as you can. If the coaches of those top teams have seen or at least heard your kids name since the age of 10 then you have a much better shot at making the team then a kid they've seen only sporatically at other parks.
Yes, any team can beat any other team on any day so you are not guaranteed to be a top contender on a younger EC team. But ECs resources and access to coaching help from older teams within their "franchise" is unavailable at other parks. |
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beanball
222 Posts |
Posted - 08/09/2010 : 20:59:22
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Coach,
You should read the other thread about ECB try-outs currently going on. your opinion could not be farther from the truth. Unless you're talking about just the young age groups. |
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AA17Dad
211 Posts |
Posted - 08/09/2010 : 21:06:41
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Last year our 12u teams field time was 8PM on Mondays, not a good day to practice after playing most Fri. Sat. Sun. and then coming back for practice on Mondays. Coaches,parents, kids and arms needed a day off not to mention that 8PM on a school night made for a long day on Tuesday. Our other field time was 5:30 PM on Wedensday if you lived close by and did not have a job it worked out pretty good but for most folks it was hard to make.
Too many teams not enough fields.
Having an alternate field to practice is an ace in the hole. |
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gafan
66 Posts |
Posted - 08/09/2010 : 22:01:32
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| From some of the comments I have read I would not want my son to be a part of the program so I guess to each his own. |
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bballman
1432 Posts |
Posted - 08/09/2010 : 23:42:59
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Coach, we've never played at EC, but I've always speculated the opposite. I've always thought that if you played there at the younger ages and were not on one of the top two teams, you would get pigeon holed as not being a top notch player. I've always thought it might make it harder to make one of the top teams as you got older. I could be totally wrong, but it's what I've thought about.
I think what others have said is also true. Most of the older rosters are filled with guys who didn't play at ECB until HS age. There are exceptions, but you will see many, many kids from out of state and certainly out of metro-Atlanta on those top teams. Playing there when you are young is not that important. Getting better while you are young is.
BTW, some of those teams who are EC teams, but don't practice there do it for the name recognition as well as obtaining discounted insurance and several other benefits from being part of ECB. |
Edited by - bballman on 08/10/2010 08:13:02 |
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gasbag
281 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2010 : 08:19:16
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quote:
Originally posted by beanball
Coach,
You should read the other thread about ECB try-outs currently going on. your opinion could not be farther from the truth. Unless you're talking about just the young age groups.
I don't believe 'coach" is talking about tryouts as much as during the season. We've experienced firsthand what "coach" is saying during the season. Since the " team organizations " really don't start until the 13U age group, it won't be apparent in any teams / age groups under that. You'll see more and more of it 14U and up. |
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12uCoach
357 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2010 : 10:28:38
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quote:
Originally posted by gafan
From some of the comments I have read I would not want my son to be a part of the program so I guess to each his own.
Sorry, sort of off topic, but going with the thread:
Then you, like many people here, don't get it. It is all about coaching. There are good, and bad, coaches everywhere. What coach will bring about the best in your kid. AND what kind of schedule do you as a parent want to do?
ECB has gravitas as a name nationwide, and every Coach whose older boy has lost to an Astro team will come gunning for you. With the abundance of teams, the brand has gotten watered down at the lower ages due to the number of teams. I hated putting Astros on my players shirts, because it means something out of town.
I have no proof, but, I believe, based on information from other organizations I have read about nationwide, turning away kids from a 501(c)(3) is a bad thing in the eyes of the tax collector at the state and local level. Again, no proof, but something to keep in mind in our litigious society.
Back to the original point. Too many teams, leave too little field time, so we go elsewhere to guarantee a slot. |
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coach0512
123 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2010 : 13:27:53
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Hi Bean,
What I was referring to is that I would think kids who have been on EC teams for a number of years prior to the age of 15 would have a better shot at getting on a 15U EC team than those kids who have not been at EC previously.
BBall might have it right, though, and it works opposite to that. I do not know, but it would SEEM to make sense that if you have played EC for awhile and proven yourself consistently then you would have a leg up on those coming from outside the park.
I am just starting my adventure at EC as my son just went through tryouts this past weekend and has been selected for the Astros. I imagine my eyes will be opened even wider as the season goes on. |
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coach0512
123 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2010 : 13:35:10
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quote:
Originally posted by gafan
From some of the comments I have read I would not want my son to be a part of the program so I guess to each his own.
Before any strong opinions are formed one way or the other I think it's only fair to point out that East Cobb is the focus of many of these forums and you rarely, if ever, see long discussions about life at other organizations. ECs dirty laundry is hung out on these forums for all to see, as well as their good points, but no other organization faces that much scrutiny.
The closest would be 643DP and, compared to EC, you see few postings about them.
I wonder if you would feel the same way about the programs at Acworth, Sandy Plains, Coal Mountain, Wills Park, etc if they were the focus of so much discussion here?
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bmoser
1633 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2010 : 14:27:52
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coach0512:
Agree 100%. EVERY park/youth org has a dark side that 95% of its members don't see. If the East Cobb complex/organization was in a neighboring State, we'd all be jealous and wish we had something like that in Georgia.
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gafan
66 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2010 : 14:36:06
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12Ucoach
Actually your response means that I DO get it... we stay where we stay because we love our coaches and my son gets much better every year (and has a lot of fun with his friends on the team too.) I have no problem with the program besides what I have heard on these forum... however you do notice that lots of people post about ECB so thats my only vantage point. My point was I would not move him for a name. My original point was that I guess that it is very important to some people who feel the need to tell others their son plays for East Cobb even if their son trains in West Cobb or elsewhere. |
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coach0512
123 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2010 : 16:37:48
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gafan, I completely agree with you. You can search my other posts and see I have frequently said that the overriding concern for a parent should be finding a team your son enjoys playing on and where he gets the most playing time and where the coaches are good. Team name is irrelevant.
For those of us who live within a reasonable distance of EC, though, why we would play out of a public rec park with limited facilities and resources instead of playing out of EC with what they have to offer? Yes, field time is limited but it is also limited at the rec parks who tend to have 1 or 2 fields per age group with 4-6 rec teams and 1 or 2 travel teams vying for field time. They usually are county parks and are locked into firm, scheduled field times per contract with the county. That leaves times open where the sport association can not kick county residents off the fields because the county owns the fields. I think the issue of field time comes down more to what is most convenient for the families and if you end up with the 5-7pm slot and thats a hard time to make then the coach will find another field with a better time and that will probably be outside the EC property. Happens at EC and happens at rec fields.
And name dropping is something everyone falls prey too. There IS value in reputation, though not as much as some think I would agree. Who has the better law school, Harvard or University of Alabama? Depends on how you measure it. I'm willing to bet the bottom of the class Harvard graduate gets more job offers than the top of the class Bama grad. (BTW, no offense whatsoever to Bama, just illustrating....) Or better yet,as much as this Boston boy hates the Yankees, if my son was ever fought over by the Yankees and the Mariners I think I'd push him towards the Yankees.
On a side note- I checked out the Perfect Game website today and opened a free account. TONS of info on that site for baseball fans who like learning about up and coming players. I was particularly interested in the May 2010 nationwide rankings of summer travel teams. They rank each age group from 14U to 18U. EC teams are on every list............. :)
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philmitch
15 Posts |
Posted - 08/20/2010 : 11:23:46
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| Imagine paying 3x what you pay for travel ball out of your local rec park (Wills Park, Sandy Plains...etc) and you still wind up having to sneak on and practice at the "crappy rec fields" that you left in the first place. |
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AllStar
762 Posts |
Posted - 08/20/2010 : 12:53:22
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quote:
Originally posted by philmitch
Imagine paying 3x what you pay for travel ball out of your local rec park (Wills Park, Sandy Plains...etc) and you still wind up having to sneak on and practice at the "crappy rec fields" that you left in the first place.
Unless it's the Astros, I don't believe it costs 3X as much to play at ECB as it did for my son to play at one of the other parks.
I think the biggest difference is that you don't have as much freedom to spend the money as you see fit at ECB. Although at least the stuff that they "make" you buy is good stuff from what I've seen. |
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BREAMKING
323 Posts |
Posted - 08/20/2010 : 20:37:38
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quote:
Originally posted by philmitch
Imagine paying 3x what you pay for travel ball out of your local rec park (Wills Park, Sandy Plains...etc) and you still wind up having to sneak on and practice at the "crappy rec fields" that you left in the first place.
Just wondering but are not some travel tournaments held at the above two parks mentioned. I do not see your point. I would venture to say that the practice time at the rec. parks are more than kids are getting at east cobb. Especially if you get the crappy times as stated above. |
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ECB teams practicing elsewhere
