What is DREAM Team all about?

DREAM Team Player Assessment Strategy

What makes our organization different (in a very good way)?

How many practices per week does DREAM Team practice?

Our league teams generally practice twice per week and three times per week if you count Training Track. Our tournament teams generally practice three times per week. We believe that to improve and develop a player must be faithful to attend practice! We believe that practice is extremely important as that's where a player's development really occurs (practice is where skills are built, games are where skills are displayed).

How does playing time work?

DREAM Team is about one thing, kids dreaming big! Kids watch & play the game of baseball & many dream of pitching a shutout, hitting a homer, or scoring the winning run...but there's something more to baseball in that it teaches kids incredible life lessons. Baseball (and softball) is a very competitive sport and we typically see a lot of growth over the course of 2-3 consecutive DREAM Team seasons (there will be growth within one season, but it takes more time to bring players fully up to a competitive balance of baseball skills). Dreams can & do come true, BUT baseball teaches life lessons such as discipline, focus and teamwork. At DREAM Team, our goal is to help provide quality instruction, constructive coaching, and outstanding practice facilities & fields to help kids achieve their dreams of growing in the game of baseball. Our motto is DREAM Big, WORK Hard, and TEAM First.

As a development organization, we want to keep developing and challenging players to "grow their game" over the course of each season. Player assessments may occur during the course of the season (month to month), but each player will be assessed after each season and parents will have access to the constructive coaching feedback according to this DREAM Team Player Evaluation Sheet. Also, DREAM Team offers year-round training and classes & lessons to help players accelerate their development.

DREAM Team as a select baseball organization does perform preseason skills tryouts (to select players) and combine events to measure skills. Our organization also employs Rapsodo Hitting and Pitching ball-tracking software to further evaluate and measure player development. Players can be given (through use of Rapsodo) a RapScore which is independent of DREAM Team, but can provide insight on Hitting and Pitching skills and development as it relates to players' skills at their age level (basically, it compares their metrics to their peers that use Rapsodo). DREAM Team assesses development using Rapsodo as outlined here on this webpage.

For MYBA, please refer to the MYBA rulebook as our coaches are instructed to follow the In-City MYBA rulebook for playing time.

For tournaments, every game’s lineup is constructed by the team’s head coach (he will pre-plan the lineup using each player that has RSVP’d 'Yes' via GameChanger or is known to be present on the roster & at the game). Each head coach is tasked with getting every player in the lineup or on the field in some way on Saturday (this can include pinch hitting, being a defensive sub, pinch running or involved in some other way). Barring an unexpected circumstance (illness, poor attitude, lack of coachability, or for some other valid coach’s reason) the player will play at some point unless there are circumstances that prevent it. 

Generally speaking, head coaches select each weekend's tournament lineups by the following criteria:

• Player Availability (which players have committed to play at a tournament)
• Position Availability & Skills or Ability (our coaches may have to consider which positions we will need for certain tournaments) 
• Coaches Consideration & Planning (although stats are a consideration, they are not the only coaches consideration---in baseball, you can get hits and swing the bat poorly and conversely you can swing the bat very well and the ball gets caught by a fielder)

For elimination games, the head coach will pre-plan lineups and there is a possibility that players may not play (we instruct our head coaches to do their very best to communicate with the player on their playing time if at all possible). The goal of an elimination game is to win and advance and our organization‘s goal is to get all players to contribute, but there may be a circumstance that arises which keeps the player from playing in that game (possibly, the head coach was planning on the player playing in the next game ahead or it's often the case where the head coach saves a player from playing in the first game in the field as they are the starting pitcher for the second elimination game). Ultimately, our organization’s goal is to do our very best to get every player involved. We are not perfect and lineup mistakes may happen, but we ask for parents to give head coaches the benefit of the doubt and NEVER approach a coach during the game. As long as the parent respectfully asks a question in an orderly manner, the coach will be happy to provide an answer.

In conclusion, a coach’s job goes beyond coaching players on the field, it is as important that each player learn how to develop skills even when being a sub or in the dugout as outlined in this blogpost.

Does DREAM Team have teams of all ages and skill levels?

Yes! DREAM Team offers baseball or softball for all ages from 7U-14U! Our goal is to form teams by age and skill level (some in baseball play in MYBA (Mansfield Youth Baseball Association) or MGSA (Mansfield Girls Softball Association), but many play tournaments). We will do our best to communicate to parents which teams have open spots preseason and when available with the goal of each selected player being able to play on a DREAM Team during the season or train with our DREAM Team Sports Center staff.