TIGERTOWN TIGERS - 15U

(Lakeland, Florida)

With an over-arching priority of advancing the players' skillsets in a manner that is not costly or disruptive (practice is just one weekend each month, but the players must do their daily baseball maintenance), our goal is for every player to earn a Division I scholarship -- and for some to realize their dreams of becoming big league ballplayers...

We will always be fair and care about each player equally; and we'll always be looking out for the best interests of each player, both in the short term, as well as long-term, keeping in mind that the most important element of baseball development is not hitting or fielding. Rather, the most important aspect of development is mental makeup (mental toughness; self-confidence; tenacity; quick recovery from a negative game situation, character, and being a respectful, kind, non-envious teammate)...Based at the Detroit Tigers facility in Lakeland, FL, the TigerTown Tigers developmental program is NOT a business, but instead is the antithesis of exorbitantly-priced baseball programs that disrupt families with too many meaningless and counter-productive tournaments that consume gobs of money and time. Youth baseball doesn't need to be and shouldn't be about money...TigerTown is a baseball culture that exists solely for the purpose of helping appreciative and respectful kids, with similarly-inclined parents/guardians -- not about making money...We look for people who value the unique experience; who are reliable, and who appreciate the focus on developmental baseball, instead of chasing meaningless trophies at disparate, alphabet-soup baseball tournaments, at which families spend a fortune and their kids typically get between 4-9 at bats over the course of the weekend...The Tigers will participate in only the Perfect Game Showcase and USA Baseball's National Team Identification Championships, both in June 2013. The team instead invests its time with instruction, occasional games, scrimmages and simulated games...We also have the kids play "sandlot-type" games, in which they play without umpires and coaches, and the spectators can only cheer and encourage. Interestingly, the boys and the parents all state how those games are more enjoyable than any other game or tournament. Obviously, that is because everyone's out there for the love of the game...TigerTown has a zero tolerance policy for bad behavior and/or misguided parents -- no exceptions, regardless of how good a ballplayer the mother and/or father believe their son is! Problems in youth sports seldom have to do with the kids...

 Even though we have never had a tryout and have just one weekend a month of team practices, the Tigers are as competitive as any team in the country, which can be attributed to professional instruction and also due to our program not deviating from our convictions and policies...

Development and long-term benefits take priority over counter-productive, win-at-all-costs coaching methods that are injurious and which focus on winning soon-to-be-forgotten, meaningless tournaments, instead of developing players for next level baseball...

 "A PROGRAM THAT WINS A LOT OF GAMES DOES NOT CONNOTE A WINNING PROGRAM...TOO MANY KIDS TODAY ARE PLAYING A LOT OF GAMES, HOWEVER, THEY AREN'T LEARNING HOW TO PROPERLY PLAY THE GAME, BECAUSE 'TOP' TEAMS ARE OFTEN RECRUITING-CENTRIC, NOT INSTRUCTIVE-CENTRIC...

Winning will take care of itself at the individual level, as well as on the field, when the focus is on developing baseball and life skills...