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Tryout Information

2024 Travel Baseball Info

As the 2023 season is coming to a close this month, planning for the 2024 travel season is already underway.  If you are not familiar with the WAA Travel program, this email will give you a high level understanding and resources to contact to get more information. WAA baseball is open to all residents of Woodbury, regardless of high school boundaries.

Age Levels:

Woodbury Athletic Association (WAA) fields competitive travel teams from the U9 - U15 age levels.  Player must be 9 yrs old by 8/31/2023 to meet age requirements to play on city fields.  To determine what age level your child could play at, see the grid below:

U9:   5/1/14 -8/31/15

U10:  5/1/13-4/30/14

U11:  5/1/12-4/30/13

U12:  5/1/11-4/30/12

U13:  5/1/10-4/30/11

U14:  5/1/09-4/30/10

U15:  5/1/08-4/30/09

U15 Traveling Information:  For those families who will have an upcoming U15 player (traditionally incoming freshmen), WAA will have teams that compete in a very similar fashion as our younger teams with a couple of differences: 

  • A vast majority of players in our travel program at this age also tryout and participate for school affiliated programs.   If we have U15 teams, we intentionally make sure that the seasons do NOT overlap.
  • Once the school season has ended, the travel season will begin with a shorter league season (12 -14 games) and 3 invitational tournaments in late May/June.  The July state tournaments are the same as younger age levels.

These are age restrictions placed by the Minnesota  Youth Athletic Services (MYAS).  We as a baseball association are fully aware that that they do not align with grade levels. We apologize in advance for any issues that this may cause.  Historically we have had 9 and 10 year olds mixed at our U10 level.  Depending on enrollment numbers each year, we decide if a U9 only team can be formed.  That information will not be known until after tryouts.

Registrations:

For WAA, registrations will open on Monday, August 14th here.  There is a $375 initial deposit at the time of registration.  A refund is given to families if a player is not placed on a travel team, less a $30 tryout fee to cover expenses.  

Tryouts:

WAA hold tryouts for the 2024 season THIS September.  The exact dates are listed below:

  •  Sept 16/17 Health East Sports Complex 
    • Saturday times:  8:00 - 11:30, check in begins at 7:45
    • Sunday times:  8:30 - 10:30, check in begins at 8:00
    • TIMES ARE ESTIMATES CURRENTLY, WILL BE FINALIZED LATE AUGUST/EARLY SEPT

Attendance is mandatory to be eligible for the 2024 season.  To find out more about tryouts, see the following links: WAA Tryouts.   This site will continually be updated through early September.  The specific times are listed on the Tryout Information tab by age level. 

2024 Parent Meeting

If you are thinking about travel baseball, or new to the Woodbury area, we are here to help!  We will hold a 2024 Parent Meeting at the following time:

Tuesday, August 29th 7:00  Woodbury High School Lecture Hall

see Travel Page for details on how to find the lecture hall

This session is designed for families new to travel baseball, but anyone interested in hearing about Travel Baseball for WAA is welcome.  We will be covering topics such as: 

  • Overview of Season / What to Expect
  • Tryout Process
  • Levels of Play
  • Selection Process
  • Budget Example and Breakdown

Coaches:

If you are interested in being a head coach for the 2024 season, our application is now on our Travel Page.  Click the link (Google Form) and complete the document, and submit.  Applications are due by 8/25.  Interviews will be scheduled in early September.

Tryout Details

The Saturday portion of the tryouts is the evaluated portion of the weekend.  WAA brings in outside evaluators (University of Northwestern-St. Paul) to rate skillsets of the participants.  The list of tryout drills is provided below.

The Sunday portion of the tryout is NOT evaluated but it is mandatory.  This portion of the tryout allows coaches to see other skillsets of potential bubble players.  We will allow coaches to take notes as they see players but they are not part of the overall evaluation score. 


Tryout Fee

Effective July 2023, the initial tryout payment fee will be changed to $375.  This is 1 of 3 payments made for the season. The 2nd payment is for uniforms only, the 3rd and final payment is at uniform pickup in April each year.

Once tryouts are completed, no refunds are given.  A refund will be given (or balance transferred to Woodbury Area In-House fees) if your child is not picked for a WAA travel team, less a $30 tryout fee to cover expenses.

Injury / Illness Absence

A player who has registered for tryouts and cannot participate due to an injury or illness will be excused, prior to the start of the tryout session, upon delivery of a doctor's note describing the player's limitations.  A player excused due to injury or illness must present a signed doctor's release indicating that the player is medically fit before he/she will be allowed to participate in any WAA activity.   A player who misses the scheduled tryout due to injury/illness is still eligible to be selected to a team, but not guaranteed a spot.  A player must register and present a medical waiver to the Director prior to tryouts.

 

** Waivers due to injury, Illness or other:  The travel baseball board will acknowledge a waiver of player to be placed on a travel team due to injury, illness or other verifiable reason.  The waiver process will consist of written evaluations by the player's former coaches with a suggested level of play for the upcoming season.  Player rankings from prior tryouts will be taken into consideration as well as current year’s stats.  U10 players will not be waivered.  Any U10 player that misses tryouts will fall to the “A” level as there is no basis of comparison to fairly grant a waiver.

 

** WAA may conduct a winter or spring supplemental tryout.  This tryout is designed to fill any open roster positions available.  There are a VERY limited number of roster positions available (usually one or two per team) and these will be filled at the coaches' discretion.  We do NOT use supplemental tryouts for injuries, only if we have open roster spots on teams.

Player Identification

Each player will be identified by a number assigned at the tryout sessions.  A player must not wear clothing from a prior years traveling team, use any paraphernalia identifying him/her as a  previous traveling player or wear any article of clothing with his/her name on it.  Failure to comply will result in the player not being evaluated.

WAA and ERAA have a mutual agreement that once a player is placed on a roster of another organization, he is ineligible to tryout for a team from one of the other organizations.

Player Evaluation

Every players baseball skills will be evaluated by a team of impartial evaluators provided by the Traveling Baseball Board.  The evaluators will be people  who are known to possess the knowledge necessary to evaluate a players skill at a particular level.  Evaluators will not be related to any of the tryout participants involved in their assigned age level. The evaluation scores will be the primary basis used to select the players for each traveling team.  Age level coaches will act as tryout assistants however will be instructed NOT to talk to the players or the evaluators during the tryout.

Player Selection

Players will be placed on a team based upon their own merits (skills, athletic ability, hustle, enthusiasm, and coach ability)  If players have played on a previous years team, their prior commitment, character and parent issues may also be considered. No player will be placed on a team over a more deserving candidate because he/she has previously played on a traveling team.  If the provisional Coach’s child does not make the team, the coach must either relinquish his / her job or else continue to coach the team with out his/her child.  Each team will consist of 11 or 12 players.  The highest ranking six players based on the evaluators scores and their own merit will qualify for the AAA team.  The Provisional Coach then has the discretion to fill out the roster from the remaining top 18 ranked players. 

 

**  In the event evaluation scores clearly show there is enough players to form additional AAA teams the highest rated players will be equally divided among teams until each team has equally divided the top twelve players.  The remaining roster spots will be filled by the Provisional Coaches selecting from the next highest rated 18 players.

 

AA and A teams be will selected equally based on the evaluators scores and player histories in a player “draft” format. Discretionary selections made by the provisional coach will be based on sound baseball logic and the needs of the team, and will be done so with the assistance of one or more members of the traveling baseball board.

Player History

WAA Travel Baseball incorporates a post season player evaluation that is completed by the coaches (head and asst.).  Each player’s evaluation will be assigned scores based on hitting, fielding, and overall baseball ability.  These scores will then be weighted (A, AA and AAA) and added to the tryout results.  The player history component accounts for approximately 55% of  a players overall score.  Players new to the program will be given the average coaches evaluation score based on the following criteria:

  • All "AAA" and "AA" new to WAA will receive the average coach’s evaluation score of the "AA" level.
  • All "A", In-House and other incoming players that did not play at a MBL designated level last year will receive the average coaches evaluation score of the "A" level.

The purpose of this measure is to “quantify” the player histories in the hopes that we are placing players in the proper level of play.

 ** Player histories will not be considered at the 10yr age level since they have no “history” in travel baseball.

AGE DIVISIONS – 2024 BASEBALL SEASON
Born between:    

Age Levels:

Woodbury Athletic Association (WAA) fields competitive travel teams from the U9 - U15 age levels.  Player must be 9 yrs old by 8/31/2023 to meet age requirements to play on city fields.  To determine what age level your child could play at, see the grid below:

 

U9:   5/1/14 -8/31/15 (typically 2nd/3rd grade for 2023/24 school year)

U10:  5/1/13-4/30/14 (typically 4th grade for 2023/24 school year)

U11:  5/1/12-4/30/13 (typically 5th grade for 2023/24 school year)

U12:  5/1/11-4/30/12 (typically 6th grade for 2023/24 school year)

U13:  5/1/10-4/30/11 (typically 7th grade for 2023/24 school year)

U14:  5/1/09-4/30/10 (typically 8th grade for 2023/24 school year)

U15:  5/1/08-4/30/09 (typically 9th grade for 2023/24 school year)