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Aug052008

Is your child ready to play AAU baseball?

Filed under AAU Sports, Baseball, Fall sports, General, NH Grizzlies by bob hammerstrom at 11:15 am

Now that your son or daughter is finishing up their last year of Cal Ripken or Little League, are you planning for the next stage of their youth baseball career? You should be!

It’s only mid-summer and baseball is wrapping up. In just a month our kids will be back in school. High school football practices start up next week in New Hampshire, and the sports camps are in full swing. So why think about next year’s baseball season now?

The answer is simple. Tryouts for the 2009 AAU baseball teams are usually held during August. Some teams will begin practice in September, or enter fall ball leagues. Once the rosters are full, you’ll have to look elsewhere for a team to play on.

Gone are the days of paying $40 for your kid to play recreational baseball. No free shirts and sox. No free anything. Cherish those memories, and start saving for the next step.

AAU baseball will change the way your child plays sports. Competition is incredible. Coaching and training is excellent. And, you play against teams from outside your local area. Playing AAU ball is a way to prepare your young athlete for high school sports.

So what are the drawbacks? It’s expensive to join some teams. You will invest hundreds or thousands of dollars in bats, gloves, uniforms, team fees, private hitting and pitching lessons, travel to weekend and week-long tournaments, and gas money - a lot of gas money.

Not all AAU baseball teams are expensive. Some do not travel much, or play out-of-town tournaments. Others are just teams formed to play AAU games in the spring, and finish when school is done. But, the best teams will offer training year-around, and compete against stronger teams from the south.

Below is a list of local teams in New Hampshire. It’s not conclusive, but rather those that my son’s team, the New Hampshire Grizzlies, have competed against. Each offers different age levels of teams. Check out the links. Most have information on them about tryouts.

NH Grizzles of Litchfield, NH

Nashua Knights of Nashua, NH

Hudson Hawks of Hudson, NH

Black Flies of Bedford, NH

Diamond Dawgs of Dracut, MA

Hammerheads of Hooksett, NH

Concord Cannons of Concord, NH

Team GID, Nashua, NH

Concord Quarry Dogs, Concord, NH

Nor’Easters of northern MA

New England AAU

-Bob Hammerstrom

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Viewing 3 Comments

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    I have played and coached at every level of amateur baseball. I've enjoyed playing with some great players and I've both enjoyed and not enjoyed coaching young baseball players. I've enjoyed coaching those players who genuinely enjoy the many extra months of a focus on "baseball only". For those athletes I think the opportunity to continue playing baseball beyond the usual baseball season is great. I have however coached many young athletes who would much rather be enjoying participation in another sport once the usual baseball season is over but are pressured to focus on baseball pretty much year round by either a parent, a coach or both. They are often told that without this focus on one specific sport only they will never make the high school or legion team. Often times they have been pressured by an otherwise well-meaning parent to remain focused on the one sport while that parent is pretty much unaware they themselves are the ones enjoying that intense focus on baseball for example, something they were probably not skilled enough to do when they were the age of their child. My point is, as parents I think we should all pay special attention to who is the one really enjoying this year round focus on one sport. Sometimes our own enthusiasm puts our kid on a baseball field in October when he or she may rather be playing football in the fall. I love almost all sports. Even in these times, as a coach, I've seen many young athletes succeed in both football and baseball at the high school level and baseball at the Legion and college level when they did not maintain a single-minded focus on baseball alone while coming up through the ranks. In my opinion it is important to be a well rounded athlete especially as a young person so that you don't run the risk of losing interest in potentially all sports due to burnout in one.

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    These are some great points you make Bill. I'm fortunate not to have to push my son, Brandon to play sports and keep active. He lives for them, and has since he was young (I can't say little, cause he never was!). He's not the over-aggressive type that has to win everything, but he does enjoy the competition.


    When he has a free night, he asks me to take him to the baseball field to hit some balls, or play catch with the football in our yard. Occasionally, I've had to say no, when he has been practicing all day, and I feel his body needs the break to recover and heal.


    Saturday will be his first high school scrimmage against Souhegan H.S. at Memorial in Manchester. It will be interesting to watch him out there. People have often asked him if he plays football, since he is so big, and he's always said, "No, I play soccer in the fall." This year he is trying football. His size will help him as a QB and linebacker, but he still needs to figure out how not to throw a pass like a fastball!


    -Bob Hammerstrom

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    My kid has been playing baseball since he was 3. I don't push him either, he pushes me and of course I'm happy to help.

    "Now that your son or daughter is finishing up their last year of Cal Ripken or Little League, are you planning for the next stage of their youth baseball career? You should be!"

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