THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 2, 1996 TAG: 9608010156
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 269 lines
TO BE A YOUTH baseball star, it's no longer enough to worship Ken Griffey Jr., memorize the dimensions of Oriole Park and sleep with your glove.
You say little Johnny made his Little League All-Star team? Cherish the memory, but don't take out a loan against his first big league contract.
The path to greatness - or at least a starting spot on the varsity - no longer leads through Lamade Stadium in Williamsport, Pa. - the House that Youth Built.
There is a relatively new vehicle to stardom in Hampton Roads, and it's called AAU.
That's short for Amateur Athletic Union, the largest not-for-profit sports organization in the world. AAU is more closely identified locally with Boo Williams basketball.
But the baseball program in Hampton Roads is growing rapidly, from two teams that played in one tournament in 1993 to 35 teams this year.
And just like in AAU basketball, AAU baseball has taken aim at the best players in their age groups.
That has caused unrest and upheaval in some of the more established PONY Baseball leagues. But a truce appears to be holding as the established leagues recognize that AAU offers something they cannot: The chance for the best boys in the region to play together up to 80 games in a year under expert coaching with the chance to qualify for a national tournament.
These are elite teams that in most instances draw not from one Little League or PONY League or even one city, but from all of Hampton Roads.
``I'm strongly in favor of AAU baseball,'' says Cox High coach John Ingram, who led the Falcons to the state Group AAA title in June. ``An awful lot of kids are getting to play against a higher level of competition throughout the season.
``We're beginning to turn the corner again in getting younger kids interested in baseball. For a while, we weren't getting the best athletes, but we are starting to again.''
THE SEEDS OF AAU's growth in Hampton Roads were planted four years ago when Towny Townsend and Gary Lavelle formed two teams from their Tidewater Professional Sports camps and took them to Richmond to play in a tournament.
``Both teams got pounded,'' Townsend said. ``When we came back, we sat down and analyzed why, and it was because we couldn't hit and run, couldn't bunt, didn't execute the fundamentals.''
The culprits, Townsend said, were the dozens of youth leagues with their short seasons, pressure-packed all-star competitions and mandatory play rules designed to aid the weakest players.
Townsend, the varsity coach at Lake Taylor and a former minor leaguer in the Red Sox organization, saw AAU as an avenue to challenge the best kids whom he says were becoming bored with baseball.
Townsend formed the Blasters Baseball Club in 1994 and fielded five teams: 10-under, 11-under, 12-under, 13-under and 15-under. The club has since added teams at 9-under and 14-under.
Townsend is responsible for appointing all managers and coaches. He also requires all Blasters players to maintain at least a 2.5 grade point average in school.
The Blasters were successful immediately and this year qualified five teams for national championship tournaments.
``The biggest improvement has come in team play and situational baseball,'' Townsend said. ``Runners on second and third and no outs, our 10-year-olds know to take a shot at right field. They can execute a double cutoff, and the catcher hustles down the line to back up the first baseman.''
Townsend's 10-under team will play more than 60 games this year.
``You must play this game regularly to excel,'' Townsend says. ``When I was growing up, we played all day on sandlots. Today, parents are afraid their kids are going to wind up on the back of milk cartons (if they wander down the street). We must provide an alternative.''
Most Blasters players are handpicked by Townsend and his associates. With only one team per age group, there has been plenty of room for growth.
The Tidewater Drillers Baseball Club moved quickly to fill the void, and other teams have followed.
The Drillers field teams in six age groups, and three qualified for national tournaments this year. The 9-under team also will compete nationally, but there is no qualifying tournament in that age group.
The Drillers are headed by a six-person board of directors that oversees the coaching staffs.
The ability of these clubs to appoint proven and dedicated managers and coaches is a big part of AAU's allure.
Virginia Wesleyan coach Nick Booth manages a 12-under team for the Virginia Wildcats; Al Erbe, a scout for the Cubs, is a manager for the Blasters; Matt Sinnen, who spent two season in the Pirates' organization, manages a team for the Drillers.
VIC WILFORE DOESN'T have a baseball pedigree, although his four years on a football scholarship at East Carolina sharpened his competitive instincts to a fine edge.
He started coaching 5-year-olds in T-Ball and worked his way up through the Great Bridge PONY leagues until Townsend offered him a managing position with the Blasters.
In Wilfore's first two seasons with the Blasters, his teams placed fifth and second in the nation. The players are now 12 and leave Aug. 1 for Minnesota and a third crack at a national championship.
``This is not for every child,'' Wilfore says. ``As you go through it, you find people who say this is too much. We've had kids come in and go out.''
Mark Reynolds, a pitcher and shortstop from Virginia Beach, has been with Wilfore all three years.
``I want to get better,'' Reynolds says matter-of-factly. ``I like traveling and hopefully this will help me make my high school team (he lives in the Cox district).''
Reynolds' devotion to baseball and the Blasters has necessitated some degree of separation from his neighborhood friends.
``They know I like baseball,'' he says. ``And playing, for me, is better than sitting at home.''
Sitting at home is an alien concept for these Blasters. Six live on the Peninsula, including John Corbin, who commutes to practices and games from Williamsburg.
``We've put a few miles on,'' says Corbin's father, Mike. ``But that's part of the sacrifice you make as a parent in raising your kids to do what you want them to do. Nobody is twisting our arms.''
None of the 12-under Blasters play for other organizations, although several play other sports.
B.J. Upton, a rising seventh-grader at Hickory Middle School in Chesapeake and the son of former Great Bridge and Norfolk State standout Manny Upton, was practically born with a ball in is hands. He has balanced Boo Williams basketball with baseball this summer and plans to play school football in the fall.
Asked if he felt he was sacrificing any aspects of a ``normal'' childhood, B.J. Upton said, ``Not really.''
``When I was young I went to almost all of my dad's softball games,'' he added. ``I just love the game of baseball.''
Manny Upton, who helps coach his younger son, Justin, on the Blasters' 9-under team, gets a dreamy look on his face when asked if he regrets not having the opportunity to play AAU as a kid.
``I wish I could have done it,'' he said. ``I see it as a gifted and talented program for sports. Hopefully, we can get this to the same level as Boo Williams basketball.''
SO WHAT'S NOT to like about AAU baseball?
Its goals and methods don't differ much from other sports that offer elite programs such as basketball, soccer, swimming and gymnastics.
Each requires significant amounts of time and money. Expenses for a national tournament can run as high as $20,000 per team for players and family members, Townsend says.
``That involves a lot of fund raising,'' he adds. ``We do raffles, doughnuts, car washes and hit-a-thons. We also receive some corporate sponsorship.''
The Blasters have no registration fee beyond the $10 AAU card each player must buy. The Drillers require their players to pay annual participation, which was $100 in 1996.
The biggest difference between AAU baseball and other elite sports is that baseball bumps heads against established leagues with emotional ties to neighborhoods.
Hard feelings between AAU and some PONY leagues first flared two years ago when several players chose to leave their all-star teams in mid-stream to play in AAU national tournaments.
At least two leagues, Great Bridge and Lynnhaven, now require players to make a commitment to that league before they can be chosen as all-stars.
Should a Great Bridge player violate that agreement, he would be ineligible for all-star competition for two years, although he could still play the regular season. A Lynnhaven player who bails out on his all-star team is banned from future all-star teams.
Great Bridge also prohibits AAU managers or coaches from holding those positions on its all-star teams.
As AAU has grown, some managers have requested that their players forsake other organizations.
``There is no reason for players to have two sets of signs, two sets of coaches, two sets of practices,'' Townsend says.
Tyree Brown, who coaches the 13-under Drillers, has taken that philosophy to another level by asking his players to give up other sports.
``There is a certain age - I'm not sure what it is, but for my kids it was 13 - where they are ready to make a full commitment,'' he says.
Brown's team placed ninth in the nation last year as 12-year-olds and won the state qualifier this summer.
First Colonial coach Norbie Wilson agrees there is a certain age when boys are ready to make commitments. Like Brown, though, he's unsure what that age is.
But it is not 10.
Wilson's son, Bert, who plays for Sinnen's 11-under Drillers, dropped out of AAU for several months during the last school year.
``He had so many things going on he couldn't do them all,'' Wilson said.
When he did rejoin the team it kept him so busy he was able to attend only a handful of First Colonial's games.
``The people who are strongly into AAU say they bond family time around baseball,'' Wilson says. ``But if you have more than one child, or one plays soccer . . .''
The implication is clear.
Wilson is also concerned that AAU may do lasting damage to some recreational leagues.
``I'm not in favor of AAU running your best players out of youth baseball,'' he says. ``I don't know that it's not inevitable that will happen.''
Townsend counters that every kid who leaves a recreational league simply opens a spot for another kid to play.
That said, Wilson still recognizes the benefits of expert coaching and strong competition. So he allows his son to play AAU.
``I think it's definitely here to stay,'' he says. ``I just want to see a blend of youth leagues and AAU.''
Blake Rawls, president of Great Bridge Baseball, shares that reality.
``The way I look at it,'' he says, ``is that AAU is one of the best things that could happen for the area. The boys get a chance to play 30, 40 games a season.
``We have 1,600 kids in our organization. We can't do that. AAU is going to get bigger. No doubt about it.'' MEMO: Related stories:
LOCAL TEAMS IN AAU NATIONAL TOURNAMENTS, p. 16
PROFILE OF AN AAU FAMILY, p. 18
YOUTH BASEBALL: HOW THEY LINE UP\ AAU
Established: 1983
USA players: 22,000
Virginia players: 1,000
Little League
Established: 1939
USA players: 2,886,000
Virginia players: 82,000
PONY Baseball
Established: 1951
USA players: 400,000
Virginia players: 11,600
Mission
AAU: Established to provide an additional national level of
competition for players and coaches who otherwise might not have that
opportunity.
Little League: The league pledge that is supposed to be recited
before every game says that players will trust in God, love their
country, play fair, strive to win and always do their best.
PONY: The acronym PONY stands for Protect Our Nation's Youth and the
organization's goal is to provide quality, recreation baseball to help
keep kids out of trouble.
MAJOR RULES DIFFERENCES
Participation
AAU: No restrictions.
Little League: Every player must play in the field every game for at
least six consecutive outs and receive at least one at-bat.
PONY: It is recommended that kids play at least two innings per game
at age 9 and 10 and there are no further restrictions after that.
However, locally, Lynnhaven has mandatory play rules through 14 and
every player remains in the batting order. Great Bridge does not have
a continuous batting order, but requires players to play at least three
innings.
Base Running
AAU: Uses 60-foot base paths at ages 9, 10 and 11. Players can steal
at 9 and 10, but can't leave the base until the ball crosses the plate.
Players can't take leads until they are 12.
Little League: Uses 60-foot base paths through age 12. Players are
not allowed to take leads or steal bases until they are 13.
PONY: Uses 60-foot base paths at ages 9 and 10 and 70 feet at 11 and
12. Players are allowed to take leads and steal bases at 9. ILLUSTRATION: Staff color photo on cover by MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN
William Davis...
Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
Kameron Mills, left, tags Andre Dobbins at first base during an AAU
practice of the Tidewater Drillers U13.
Staff photo by MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN
Fans like Connie Hendrix, left, are kept on the edge of their seats
during a game between the U10 Blasters and the Drillers.
Staff photo by MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN
Nelson Adcock, assistant coach of the U10 Drillers watches an AAU
game at the Lynnhaven baseball complex.
Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
Dusty Pate, left, puts the tag on Bryan Langbord as he tries to
slide into third base during a practice of the Tidewater Drillers.
The team of under 13-year-olds is going to the national tournament
in Oklahoma.
Photo
Tyree Brown by CNB