Tournament Teams

Tournament Team Overview

CBA sponsors the formation of Recreational Tournament teams for the purpose of participating in tournaments against teams of similar ability from surrounding communities as well as teams from outside of the area.  Play starts at the conclusion of the Recreational City Tournament. 

Head Coaches will begin the process by verifying which players on your team are interested in participating in Tournament Team baseball by distributing the attached consent form to all players.  Players must commit to being available for practices and games (several nights per week/ weekend) from the end of May through approximately the end of June. If your player has family vacations planned during this time and cannot commit to being available, please advise them that it is not in the teams best interest for them to sign-up as eligible.

PLEASE RETURN THE  TOURNAMENT TEAM CONSENT FORM TO YOUR COACH INDICATING YOUR CHILD’S AVAILABILITY FOR PARTICIPATION NO LATER THAN April 20th.

BALLOTS MUST BE TURNED IN TO YOUR HEAD COACH and voting finalized on or before April 28th.  Ballots turned in after April 28 will not count.

Number of Teams

Up to one team per age group for the following age groups: 9, 10, U12, and U14.  CBA, with input from the coaches, will decide if a team should be formed for an age group. The U8 age group may form 2 teams (at CBA’s discretion) as no travel teams are supported by CBA for this age group. CBA will approve in advance based on the number of qualified players and coaches input.

Number of Players per team – No more than 12. 

Key Dates

·   Coach application submission – April 1 – April 14

·   Coach interviews – April 22 – April 28

·   Player nominations (Consent and Nomination forms completed) – April 20-28

·   List of players to attend tryout submitted to CBA office – April 30

·   Player tryouts – May 4th and/or May 11th

·   Players selected and notified – May 16th

·   Practice begins – AFTER teams are selected so long as it does not interfere   with rec. team practice or play.  OUR rec. league end of season tournament takes precedence over all Tournament Team activities. Tournament play begins – No earlier than May 26th…. AGAIN, we can have NO conflicts with our end of season rec. tournament.

 Head Coach Qualifications               

·         Must be in good standing with CBA.

·         Coach’s son must be among the top 12 players in that age group.

·         Must be a head coach in the age group for which the applicant is applying.

·         Only the head coach is selected.  The head coach selects assistant coaches after player selection.

 Head Coach Selection Process

1.        Applicant must submit application (send letter or email of intent to Gardner Green) See above requirements.

2.        A committee consisting of CBA board members will interview all applicants.  The committee will recommend to the CBA board a coach for each age group.

Player Nomination Process:

1.        Each team can nominate up to 4 players.

2.        The head coach for each team shall first ask each player/parents if they want to be considered for the Tournament Team Tryout.

3.        The name of all interested players is than complied in a nomination list.

4.        The nomination list is than given to the parents of each player on the team.  All players on the team receive a nomination list and a chance to vote even those players who chose not to be considered for the Tournament Team.     

5.        Only those players on the nomination list can receive a vote.       

6.        Each set of parents selects from the nomination list 4 players they feel are deserving of a tryout.  Nomination forms are returned to the coach to be tallied.  The nomination process is anonymous.  Parents do not have to provide their names on the nomination form.  One (1) ballot per family will be tabulated; siblings on the same team qualify their parents to submit two (2) nomination ballots for that team.  It is up to the player’s parents to decide on how they will vote.

7.        The 4 players receiving the most nominations are invited to the tryout

8.        If a coach feels strongly that he or she has more than 4 qualified players, the coach may petition the appropriate age group commissioner, to allow more than 4 nominations for a particular team. If the commissioner agrees that an exception would improve the overall quality of the try-outs a waiver may be granted, in the sole discretion of the Tournament Team commissioner.

 Practice Guidelines

·         Team practices can start once the player selection has concluded

·         Until the Recreational City Tournament concludes, one practice per week that does not conflict with a player’s rec. team schedule—games and practices

·         Practices as scheduled by the coach at the conclusion of the Recreational City Tournament

Tournament Team Season

Tournament play starts at the conclusion of the Recreational City Tournament

Player Selection Process

1.        Players nominated through the nomination process must attend the tryout to be eligible for selection.  Does not apply to the head coach’s son.  The head coach’s son is automatically on the team and will not be ranked during the tryout process.  

2.        Each head coach or an assistant of all teams in an age group should attend the tryout and rank each player in that age group.  Each coach assigns a rank to each player from 1 to the total number of players in the tryout.  A ranking of 1 representing the highest ranking.

3.        The coaches submit their rankings and, once the highest and lowest rankings for each player are omitted, the results are tallied for each player.  The highest and lowest rankings are omitted to help eliminate biases. 

4.        The first 8 players with the lowest total scores (higher rankings) qualify for the team.  The tournament team head coach will have 4 “wildcard” selections (the coach’s son counts as one of the wildcard selections) to bring the total number of players selected to 12.  The “wildcard” selections must come from the list of players who attended the tryout and were ranked.

Costs

• The players (parents) must cover uniforms, tournament fees and any other expenses.  Estimated costs for uniforms is $35 – 85/player.  Costs vary widely based on the quality and number of uniform components a team decides to purchase.  Tournament fees are usually $325 – 425 per tournament, per team.  Donations/sponsorships can and should be solicited to offset the cost.

Tournament Team Expectations

Tournament Team participation is a fun and rewarding time for all involved.  However, in considering Tournament Team participation and discussing the merits of Tournament Team play with your child, please bear the following points in mind: 

1.        A minimum of two tournaments (3-4 games each) should be guaranteed, with the potential for as many as three or four.

2.        Commitment to Tournament Teams means a commitment of time and money.

3.         Most tournaments will be held outside of Coppell in surrounding communities. 

4.        The Tournament Team season is a highly competitive environment, much more so than our Coppell recreational league.  It is not necessarily conducive to equal playing time for all members of the team.

5.        The amount of playing time, and in which positions, is up to the manager and coaches of the team.  Although many of the players selected may have pitched or played shortstop during the CBA season, not all will pitch or play shortstop for Tournament Teams.

         We hope this information is helpful for everyone as we prepare for Tournament Team play.  Thank you in advance for your cooperation, and thanks for supporting Coppell Baseball.

Coppell Baseball Association