Wilmette Baseball: Bronco Travel League

Teams will be selected following tryouts. 12 year old tryouts will be held on 4/24 and 4/25 and the 11 year old tryouts will be held 5/1 and 5/2. A committee comprised of league officials, a few dads and our paid coaches will determine the selections. The weekend tryout is but a part of the evaluation process.

More important is game performance during the time leading up to the tryout. We are also acutely aware that last year's performance has litttle to do with this year's. While kids don't really get worse, they do get better and some kids get passed by. Making or not making a team last year is not a criteria for selection to a team this year.

12 year-old teams travel to the Cooperstown Dreams Park in Cooperstown New York for a week-long tournament. The three teams will travel to Dreams Park from 7/31-8/6. Lodging for the players is included in the Cooperstown fee, but parents are responsible for their own lodging in the Cooperstown area. Everyone is responsible for their own travel costs to and from Cooperstown. The link below to the Cooperstown Dreams Park provides links to lodging in the Cooperstown area. Because there are over 100 teams in the tournament we would recommend considering making reservations now. Because there is no certainty as to whether any child will make any team , if parents plan to make reservations ahead we would caution them to please make sure the reservations can be canceled. If you have questions regarding Cooperstown please e-mail Bruce Lyon at BLyon2210@aol.com.

In addition, there will be paid college / high school coaches of the highest caliber with each team. Fees for 2010 travel baseball have not been set yet, but last years fees were $575 to participate in the North Shore Baseball League. Last year the Cooperstown tournament was an additional fee of $1075 per player, which included lodging for the player. Once we have the fees for this year we will update the web site. Cooperstown is optional. In the past players have made one of our 12 year-old travel teams and have chosen not to go to Cooperstown.

In an effort to make this a better experience, we ask that you consider the following ... whether your child does not make a team, makes a B team instead of an A team, or whatever the circumstances, you should prepare yourself and your child.

In the big picture, this is not that important and should never be devastating to the child or to the family. If your child intends to try out, we ask that you prepare your family for any of these scenarios.

Being on a travel team has no future bearing at all on making future travel teams or high school teams. Those that do not make a travel team should understand this and those that do make a travel team should understand this.

And again, pleaser remember that we are a house league that offers a travel program. Our goal is to ensure that our players have fun & enjoy playing baseball ... just because.

Good luck to all,
Bruce Lyon, Sid Tepps, Charlie Ieuter, Bob Brown,

P.S. Scholarships are available for North Shore Baseball fees only. All requests will be kept in strict confidentiality. Contact bronco@wilmettebaseball.com for more information.

For more information contact:

Sid Tepps, President, broncotravel@wilmettebaseball.org
Charlie Ieuter, VP, cieuter@ieuter.com
Bruce Lyon, VP