AAU Nationals

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. 

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.