AAU Nationals
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Highlight Event...
The AAU
Nationals is the highlight event of the Rhode Island Tides season. It
is truly a time to test your skills against some of the countries best
youth players. Also, it is a common site to see many of the players who
competed the previous year at the Little League World Series playing in
the tournament, and many times against us. Also, in the past the Tides
have competed against more than a few players who have gone on to star
in the Major Leagues. Yet, they started out like so many other
outstanding youth players, at the AAU Nationals. And in turn the past
Tides rosters have included more than a few players who have gone on to
sign MLB contracts, or in the case of Rocco Baldelli star on a Major
League team.
The AAU
Nationals are usually held during the last week of July or the first
week of August, and these tournaments commonly involve anywhere from 45
to 70 teams depending upon the age division. Over the past few
years the 13 year old AAU Nationals have been held in Myrtle Beach,
South Carolina, and the 14 year old AAU Nationals have been held in
either Disney or Sarasota, Florida. At this time we know the 13
year old Nationals will be held in Myrtle Beach, SC in 2005 and 2006 as
they have been granted the bid by AAU Sports. As for the 14U
Division 1 Nationals, it has not yet been confirmed, but we are pretty
sure that the Nationals we will be held in Sarasota and the Division 2
14 year old Nationals will be held at the Disney complex in Orlando,
Florida in 2005. Due to all the great travel deals available to
everyone over the internet and through credit card companies we
encourage the parents to book their own flights to these tournament
destinations. Of course, some families may decide to drive to
South Carolina and that is fine with us. You might think that it
could get a little confusing having
everyone on the team coming in at
different time slots, but it goes rather smoothly, because we require
all the parents and players to gather for a meeting at 7:00 PM on the
Thursday prior to the player registration day at the tournament site.
Once this is completed all the players, coaches, and family members go
out together for a team meal and discuss many of the tournament details
and procedures. By doing this we get everyone together and on the
same page and we are then ready to begin our tournament experience.
Another one of the trip policies with the Tides is the parents and players always stay in the same hotel on the trip. We ask that each room is chaperoned by a parent and encourage each family to make the trip and stay with their son whenever possible. In the event the player's parents can not make the trip, then we will be pair up the player with another family on our team during the tournament. Typically the AAU Nationals takes place over a 7 to 10 day period of time, so we always try and book a high quality vacation hotel as well as a site that is centrally located to the games being played. Once we have completed the player check-in and registration we always get a quick practice in before the start of the first round of play the next day. The AAU Nationals always uses a pool play format for their tournaments to ensure each team gets a fair amount of games. The tournament format typically includes 3 rounds of play, and concludes with an elimination style medal round in which the final 4 teams are rewarded with the Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Copper medals. By using this format a team can expect to play a minimum of 6 games and a maximum of 10 or 11 games during the week. It is truly a rewarding experience for the players involved. Then once the AAU Nationals are over the Rhode Island Tides season has concluded.