In this part of the series I will give you a look into the several different options of putting a team together.There are several different options when building a team and depending what your trying to accomplish with your team. Do you want to build a team of the best of the best or get a group of kids and really teach them and let them grow into a team or you may just want to give some kids an opportunity to play the game and have some fun.
There are several types of travel teams out there today. This a quick guide of what they generally are.
1. Town travel team
2. Multi town team
3. Multi county team/ Select & Elite Teams
4. Tournament Teams
Town Team
In 2008 the most popular team would probably be the Town travel team. I believe the reason is it's the easiest to start. You can get kids from your local rec league to play. A lot managers will get the kids from there local all star team. This is a great option if you want to help build a good high school program. You will see these teams play in local travel leagues and local tournaments. Some are very competitive and compete on a larger level and are successful. You will find though with some tournaments you may end up playing much stronger teams.
Multi Town teams
If your looking to build a little stronger team you may want to look at a multi town team. This option is good if you come from a smaller town and you are looking to be a strong team in tournaments. You'll have more options to choose from with a bigger talent pool, but it will require a little more work on your part in having tryouts.
Multi County Team/ Select Elite Team:
This is really the same as a multi town team but on a larger scale. This team type is usually the strongest you will see. The talent pool they take from is very large. The one thing I have noticed over the years that these teams seem to be replacing players every year. With teams like this the commitment level is very high for parents and players. Traveling some distances just for practice can get old and in today's society time is very valuable.
Tournament Teams:
When entering tournaments you will see all types of teams and by there name you usually can't tell what type of team they are. There are also some teams who will build select tournament teams. These teams will have players from different teams. You may see a team with different players on it at each tournament they enter.
This should give you a general idea of the types of teams out there. So when you do plan on starting a team you will have an idea of what type of teams you could face.
In the next section I will touch on selecting a name for your team.
