This page will outline the various plans for each team within the Tides organization for the up coming off-season and our regular season. Of course, our game schedule will not be added to this until late March of 08. In addition, it will allow you to compare what we offer for each of our age groups.
Conditioning Program, our team trainer, Greg Murphy, will work on quickness, agility, and overall athleticism. This will take place over a 3 month period, beginning in February and ending in April. The organization will sometimes extend this into the season, as the results can be very beneficial. Also, Trainer Murphy is available for additional one-on-one sessions. Last season at the 13U level was the first time we worked this into the program and the results were excellent and the players developed an outstanding working relationship with him, as a result or team was much more athletic at the end of the season as compared to the beginning.
Off-Season Hitting Sessions, The team will hit indoors at Extra Innings for 12 dates, covering 3 months, beginning in February and ending in early April.
Spring Pitcher/Catcher Sessions, the entire team will workout indoors off of pitching mounds and work on preparing themselves for the upcoming season, everyone will participate in this activity, because we expect each of our players to be able to either pitch or catch. Also, position players will work with the pitchers on timing their pickoffs and so forth. These sessions will take place in March and they will be held at either Extra Innings or an indoor HS or College facility.
Individual Hitting, as a member of the Tides organization a player receives an 8 month membership to Extra Innings in Warwick, RI, this allows him many discounts on equipment and lessons at the facility, but one of the biggest benefits is each player can hit for free for a 1/2 hour each week and if two Tides players combine their time, then they can hit for 1 hour for free, this is a great deal, and we expect the player to take advantage of this, and hit, hit, and hit during the off-season and regular season, plus it is very cost effective to the family, as you do not have to pay for weekly batting cage sessions anymore. The 8 months for the 12U team will begin once the team is selected in early January.
Regular Season
Outdoor Practices, the 12U team will begin the season will a series of outdoor practices going over all the necessary team and individual skill work needed to compete at the HS level, the 12U players will be making the jump to slightly bigger field, as the playing distances are 50 foot mound and 70 foot bases, also, all the same rules that apply to HS are played at this level, so you can lead, steal, everything, including the use of big barrel bats. We would like our players at this level to use -7 or - 5, no Little League bats will be allowed. So as you can see the players have a lot to learn, but it is a lot of fun too.
Games, the team will play against AAU teams from around New England and Connecticut, we are confident that we will play most of our games at home, traditionally the Tides usually play at home on a Sunday and on the road on a Saturday, when we play, we always compete in doubleheaders on that day, much like your experience during the fall baseball season, if you participated in the "Little Rhody Fall League" The teams we play are excellent and they provide a great deal of competition, so our team is challenged each week.
* Special Note... Due to our wish that all of our players participate in Little League All Stars, the Tides 12U team will take a break during the All Star tournament, this will allow our players to participate with their towns and enjoy the tournament. Once the tournament begins to wind down we will begin play again.
AAU Playoffs, the New England playoffs are usually held around the beginning of June, and take place over 1 or 2 weekends. This will be part of our schedule.
AAU Nationals, the Tides 12U team will have a goal of competing at the AAU Nationals. Traditionally the AAU Nationals are held at the end of July or the beginning of August. In 2007 the 12U AAU Nationals were held in Newport News, VA. On a side-note, the team will NOT compete at Cooperstown.
Equipment and Uniforms, the Tides players will receive the following gear... Game uniform jersey and pants, batting helmet, batting gloves, cleats, wrist bands, bat bag, baseball cap, undershirt, belt, socks, and Jacket.
Conditioning Program, our team trainer, Greg Murphy, will work on quickness, agility, and overall athleticism. This will take place over a 3 month period, beginning in February and ending in April. The organization will sometimes extend this into the season, as the results can be very beneficial. Also, Trainer Murphy is available for additional one-on-one sessions. Last season at the 13U level was the first time we worked this into the program and the results were excellent and the players developed an outstanding working relationship with him, as a result or team was much more athletic at the end of the season as compared to the beginning.
Off-Season Hitting Sessions, The team will hit indoors at Extra Innings for 12 dates, covering 3 months, beginning in February and ending in early April.
Indoor Practice Sessions, the entire team will workout indoors at a HS facility, in 07 our 13U team was able to get over 20 indoor practices in before going outside, we anticipate a very similar situation again this year, the 13U team will be selected by the end of October, so by late November/early December the team will begin to practice indoors. These practices will focus on team defense, pick-off, overall fundamentals and skills. The goal will be to begin these practices in late November/early December and end them by the time the weather is good enough to get outside, as we did this past season.
Individual Hitting, as a member of the Tides organization a player receives an 8 month membership to Extra Innings in Warwick, RI, this allows him many discounts on equipment and lessons at the facility, but one of the biggest benefits is each player can hit for free for a 1/2 hour each week and if two Tides players combine their time, then they can hit for 1 hour for free, this is a great deal, and we expect the player to take advantage of this, and hit, hit, and hit during the off-season and regular season, plus it is very cost effective to the family, as you do not have to pay for weekly batting cage sessions anymore. The 8 months for the 13U team will begin once the team is selected in late October, so you could plan on being able to hit from early November until June of 08, that's a pretty good deal.
Regular Season
Outdoor Practices, the 13U team will begin the season with a series of intense 4 to 6 hour practice days, during these practice sessions the team will go over a variety of team defenses and plays to prepare for the new season, also outfield skills and cutoffs will be drilled as well, as these are things that are difficult to work on indoors. The jump to the big diamond is not an easy one, and practice is essential to putting a competitive and elite team on the field. In addition, the team will occasionally practice at the conclusion of a doubleheader on the weekend, these practices are usually short, in and around the 20 minute variety, but key in on a specific area that is needed at that time. The players on this team are preparing to play for their HS of choice, so we take practice very seriously.
Games, the team will play against AAU teams from around New England and Connecticut, we are confident that we will play most of our games at home, which is Moses Brown School, Providence, traditionally the Tides usually play at home on a Sunday and on the road on a Saturday, when we play, we always compete in doubleheaders on that day, the teams we play are excellent and they provide a great deal of competition, so our team is challenged each week. As due to our reputation as an elite organization we usually have no problem filling up our schedule with the best team's in our region. The Tides also traditionally host an invitational tournament just before the AAU Nationals in which we invite the best teams in NE and CT to play, also, prior to that weekend the Tides will travel to the "Connecticut Invitational" which is an excellent tune-up prior to the Nationals as well.
AAU Playoffs, the New England playoffs are usually held around the beginning of June, and take place over 1 or 2 weekends. This will be part of our schedule as it is used for qualifying for a bid to the AAU Nationals.
AAU Nationals, the Tides 13U team will have a goal of competing at the AAU Nationals. Traditionally the AAU Nationals are held at the end of July or the beginning of August. The 2008 13U AAU Nationals will be held at Virginia Beach. We will miss the people at Myrtle Beach, SC that made it such a great experience.
Equipment and Uniforms, the Tides players will receive the following gear... Game uniform jersey and pants, batting helmet, batting gloves, cleats, wrist bands, bat bag, baseball cap, undershirt, belt, socks, and Jacket.
Special Note... Some of the players on this team will be participating for their local HS teams in various sports, we encourage all our athletes to participate in as many sports at their school as possible, and will do our best to work around these conflicts, players are not penalized for missing our practices, workouts, or games due to HS issues, as one of the goals of the Tides is to help our players become quality HS athletes. Also, our off-season schedule at the 14U level should be very flexible, as that will be a goal when establishing workout times and such.
Conditioning Program, our team trainer, Greg Murphy, will work on quickness, agility, and overall athleticism. This will take place over a 3 month period, beginning in February and ending in April. The organization will sometimes extend this into the season, as the results can be very beneficial. Also, Trainer Murphy is available for additional one-on-one sessions. Last season at the 13U level was the first time we worked this into the program and the results were excellent and the players developed an outstanding working relationship with him, as a result or team was much more athletic at the end of the season as compared to the beginning.
Off-Season Hitting Sessions, The team will hit indoors at Extra Innings for 12 dates, covering 3 months, beginning in February and ending in early April.
Spring Pitcher/Catcher Sessions, the entire team will workout indoors off of pitching mounds and work on preparing themselves for the upcoming season, everyone will participate in this activity, because we expect each of our players to be able to either pitch or catch. Also, position players will work with the pitchers on timing their pickoffs and so forth. These sessions will take place in late February and during the month of March and they will be held at either Extra Innings or an indoor HS or College facility.
Individual Hitting, as a member of the Tides organization a player receives an 8 month membership to Extra Innings in Warwick, RI, this allows him many discounts on equipment and lessons at the facility, but one of the biggest benefits is each player can hit for free for a 1/2 hour each week and if two Tides players combine their time, then they can hit for 1 hour for free, this is a great deal, and we expect the player to take advantage of this, and hit, hit, and hit during the off-season and regular season, plus it is very cost effective to the family, as you do not have to pay for weekly batting cage sessions anymore. The 8 months for the 14U team will begin once the team is selected in early January.
Regular Season
Outdoor Practices, very similar to the 13U team, the 14U team will begin the season with a series of intense 4 to 6 hour practice days, during these practice sessions the team will go over a variety of team defenses and plays to prepare for the new season, also outfield skills and cutoffs will be drilled as well, as these are things that are difficult to work on indoors. Quality practice sessions is a key to putting a competitive team on the field. In addition, the team will occasionally practice at the conclusion of a doubleheader on the weekend, these practices are usually short, in and around the 20 minute variety, but key in on a specific area that is needed at that time. In the event the team doesn't practice they will most likely do some type of running for conditioning purposes at the conclusion of the game. The players on this team are preparing to play for their HS of choice or are already in HS, so practices should be very intense.
Games, the team will play against AAU teams from around New England and Connecticut, we are confident that we will play most of our games at home. traditionally the Tides usually play at home on a Sunday and on the road on a Saturday, when we play, if we can play both days somewhere in RI, then great we will do it, and that was the case for the most part last season. We always compete in doubleheaders on that day, the teams we play are excellent and they provide a great deal of competition, so our team is challenged each week. Also, at the 14U level it is so much easier to schedule the best teams because you know the different organizations from playing them the previous year, so this is something we usual have no issues with. Also, due to our reputation as an elite organization we usually have no problem filling up our schedule with the best team's in our region, as teams always want to play the Tides.. Similar to the 13U season, the Tides also traditionally host an invitational tournament just before the AAU Nationals in which we invite the best teams in NE and CT to play, and prior to that tournament the team can expect to play in an invitational at the University of New Haven or Yale.
AAU Playoffs, the New England playoffs are usually held around the middle of June at the 14U level, and take place over 1 or 2 weekends. This will be part of our schedule as it is used for qualifying for a bid to the AAU Nationals.
AAU Nationals, the Tides 14U team will have a goal of competing at the AAU Nationals. Traditionally the AAU Nationals are held at the end of July or the beginning of August. The 2008 14U AAU Nationals will be held at Disney. This is a D2 tournament, however, we want to compete at this tournament due to the outstanding facilities and traditionally very high caliber teams travel to it as they prefer to play at Disney instead of Sarasota, which is the location of the D1 14U Nationals.
Equipment and Uniforms, the Tides players will receive the following gear... Game uniform jersey and pants, batting helmet, batting gloves, cleats, wrist bands, bat bag, baseball cap, undershirt, belt, socks, and Jacket.