Legion ball...What Legion ball?

apologies to Dick Vermeil...

Down here in Chatham and Orange Counties Post 6 (Chapel Hill) has folded up and will not have a legion team. This leaves quite a number of seniors with no place to play this summer before they start their college careers. The underclassmen will be involved with the school based teams (which I think is a good thing) but the guys that are graduating are kind of out in the cold.
I know legion is strong in some places in NC but it sure seems to be self destructing in a bunch of the other places it has been in the past. It always seems that every year a team is knocked out not by a better team but by a organization that allows protests to rule the game more than the players on the field.

Mean while my son is looking for a place to play...

 

Gman, could you expound on this a little more? ( The protest thing)
Thanks

 

Travel Ball, Showcase, whatever you choose to call it (AAU on steroids) is eating into Legion ball.

We may try for a team next year but most want to play travel ball.

Regardless of where you stand there are positives on both sides. People will do what's best for them, as they should.

 

ME ball-- rather play in front of a scout than 1000 fans. oh sorry couldnt help myself you can disregard that remark just a rabid 22 year legion fan watching it all go away

 

anything different?

just wondering, are there things that Legion ball in general could do to reverse the trend that you guys speak of?

 

its happening in caldwell co and if it is happening here you can probably stick a fork in it

 

JMO but I think it started with AAU/USSSA ball. AAU/USSSA really started taking off with the current '07/08 age kids. Before that the travel teams were very talented and limited. Not many teams. Slowly more and more kids and Dads started forming teams. Anybody with a checkbook and about 11 kids can start a team. I'm guilty. I did it twice myself and there were many positives as well as setbacks. Kids and parents went looking for something beyond REC ball. I saw this 1st hand as I ran a REC league for 6 years while also having two boys in travel ball at the same time.

These kids that have played AAU/USSSA ball are now growing up and Showcase/travel ball and such is seen as the next step for these kids and parents. Now we are seeing that just about anyone can start a Showcase team. Just like in AAU, it doesn't take much. You enter the same tourney's as every other team. Same scouts watch every team.

Personally, it's sad for me and my son. My son loves nothing better than playing with his best friends and his teammates. He is very fortunate to be in a school with a great group of guys. Time will tell what happens. For the kids and parents that want to play after HS, many feel they have to play the Showcase ball to get in front of scouts or to get noticed. I can see their point. Sometimes I feel the same way they do.

Fortunately we have Colt ball coming up after the school season ends. My son knows he has a summer season coming up with his best friends on the ball field. He'll enjoy it. Afterall, you never get these days back.

 

I feel there are some things that Legion could do to help it regain some lost luster but it may be a little late and they need to move fast. They would have to work hard to reverse the trend. Some things I see that they could do:

This no dual participation rule (once tourney play starts) hurts as many of the better players, particularly pitchers, want to participate in the tournaments and showcases to be seen by the scouts. I don't blame them. Why shouldn't they go where they're going to be seen by the most scouts at one time. This also hurts with the position players as I heard from several sources, including one major college recruiter, last year that the pitching in Legion was getting really watered down and that a position player may be better served playing travel ball. He went on to say he loved Legion ball and played Legion ball but facts is facts and he wants his incoming recruits playing travel ball that summer before enrolling with as high a quality travel club as they can get on so they can face high quality pitching.

Then you have the season. It is short and compact. Most boys want to play the rest of the summer but unless you're a top level player, a travel team may not save a spot for you, particularly in light of the no dual participation rule and unknown length of play in the tournament. Therefore you, or your parents, have to work twice as hard. Once to get a player into Legion and then again to talk a travel team into letting you join late.

Then you need to work to get the scouts to come. The best way to do this, IMHO, is to make it easy and cost effective for them. Don’t play single games, in hard to reach places. Play with multiple teams at one location. Match the travel ball and let the scouts see 60-100 boys at one location at one time.

Another item is the protests and playing for your area team. I understand why these rules are in place but these problems don’t exist in travel ball and the protests are bad publicity. Also, maybe some boys want to play with friends from other areas. Legion doesn’t allow this without forms and approvals, a hassle. That is readily fixed by playing travel ball.

Also, getting the boys in earlier with more Jr. Legion teams. Oh, and maybe letting those Jr. Legion teams play in travel ball tournaments. Just a thought and maybe a way to get them into the program. Once in, maybe they stay in.

This isn’t knocking Legion. It is what it is and Legion had their reasons for doing what they do. BUT times change and maybe Legion needs to make some adjustments. So these are just a few of the items I see that Legion could work on to make their game more attractive.

 

The protest that cost Post 6 a chance to advance in the playoffs was lodged by a team that lost to them and, as I understand it, was for a couple of players that went to Orange HS (a feeder school for Post 6) but had addresses that supposedly made them eligable for the team that protested. I also have been told that the protesting team had knowledge of this during the regular season but didn't play the protest card until Post 6 beat them in the playoffs.
I agree with others here that the best exposure is with a quality showcase team. My son played with the Dirtbags last summer and fall and I'm positive that the exposure he got playing with them is what led him to getting a scholarship to a D-I program. This summer we don't "need" to play showcase but he does need to play, and wants to play, to continue building for college.

 

M Vaughn, that's an excellent post. Lots of good ideas. Many of your comments are a case of the hammer meeting the nail. It's as simple as a business meeting the demands of their customer base. Adapt or fall by the way.