Gladiator Baseball

[Guest jackbquick]

WHY DOES ANYONE CARE ABOUT THIS!!!!  THEY ARE ELEVEN YEAR OLDS.

Again it's not about the kids, they are a very talented bunch. It is about staying away from little league politics and having all teams/kids follow the same rules.

If it's not about the kids, then move on.  Address whatever problems you have regarding this situation with the coach, nations or whomever. 

My mistake I should have put all teams/coaches follow the same rules not kids, they are doing what they are supposed to be doing and that is playing good baseball and this will be dropped by me.

[homerun]

Obviously the people on this forum name calling and sending negative comments do not even know Morgan Walker.  First of all, he trains this team and his goal is and always has been to teach these kids to be the best they can be. This team started two years ago with a group of AA kids from different teams in the area, with the exception of one kid.  These kids have worked extremely hard to get where they are.  I can assure you if Nations wanted to move this team up, Morgan would have been the first one do it.  The Gladiators just play baseball when and where they can.  Stop bashing this team and Morgan Walker, they have earned everything they have accomplished.  If you have a problem with Morgan, then you should address him personally, but stop bashing these 11 year old kids who work their butts off on a daily basis to become the best players they can be.  Morgan not only trains them in baseball, but also teaches them lessons about life in general.  He is a stand up guy, and I am sure if you have any questions, he would be happy to address them.  You have to remember; kids also read this forum.  Stop bashing them for working hard and being a competitive baseball team.  Every kid on the Gladiators work hard and train daily.  These are the work ethics and goals Morgan teaches these kids.  These kids respect him and always want to do their best to make him proud.

[bmtball]

bottom line is nations baseball bends the rules for certain teams with connections & screws teams trying to play by the rules. the rules were made for everybody to follow.the travel issue is bull, other teams get laughed at by mathis if that reason is used.SANDBAGGER WALKER isnt worried about finding comp. hes more worried about his rep., JUSTIFing the money he needs to keep his job  & getting more kids to join the gladiators org. to get more money. thats the plan.u cant argue the facts any team with their record at the first of the year would have been moved up no questions asked,and a good competitive coach would have not argued.

You really are ignorant aren't you?  You have no earthly idea what you are talking about.  Most every trainer in this area makes his/her money from training individuals, not coaching a team.  Do the math - $35 for 30 minutes translates into roughly $300 per night/$1500 per week or $5000-6000 per month.  Compare that to $1000 per team per month coaching a team.  Do you really think Morgan needs to justify coaching a team when his bread and butter is training?  Believe me, Morgan does not need to justify his job, nor does he need to get more kids to join the Gladiator organization.  There are kids lining up to be a part of that organization (Not just because of Morgan's coaching ability or his wins and losses).  Again, Morgan realizes his future success depends on the success of each player, not his win/loss record.  If any of you knew him or even better- if any of you have ever been to one of his practices, you would realize that people aren't lining up to be a Gladiator because of a win/loss record.  They are lining up to be Gladiators because of the success of the kids who play for him.  All of the "marquis" players in the area high schools were once Gladiators - Statum, Felts, Hicks, etc.....  Up until this year, the Gladiators had no teams past age 14, so these players were forced to go elsewhere.  The success of the Gladiator organization is not based on an age group's record.  It is based upon the development of the player - on and off the field.  That, Bullett, is the difference between Gladiator Baseball and other organizations.  It is also the reason people are wanting to be Gladiators - not because of the win/loss record of a particular team.

[643]

bottom line is nations baseball bends the rules for certain teams with connections & screws teams trying to play by the rules. the rules were made for everybody to follow.the travel issue is bull, other teams get laughed at by mathis if that reason is used.SANDBAGGER WALKER isnt worried about finding comp. hes more worried about his rep., JUSTIFing the money he needs to keep his job  & getting more kids to join the gladiators org. to get more money. thats the plan.u cant argue the facts any team with their record at the first of the year would have been moved up no questions asked,and a good competitive coach would have not argued.

You really are ignorant aren't you?  You have no earthly idea what you are talking about.  Most every trainer in this area makes his/her money from training individuals, not coaching a team.  Do the math - $35 for 30 minutes translates into roughly $300 per night/$1500 per week or $5000-6000 per month.  Compare that to $1000 per team per month coaching a team.  Do you really think Morgan needs to justify coaching a team when his bread and butter is training?  Believe me, Morgan does not need to justify his job, nor does he need to get more kids to join the Gladiator organization.  There are kids lining up to be a part of that organization (Not just because of Morgan's coaching ability or his wins and losses).  Again, Morgan realizes his future success depends on the success of each player, not his win/loss record.  If any of you knew him or even better- if any of you have ever been to one of his practices, you would realize that people aren't lining up to be a Gladiator because of a win/loss record.  They are lining up to be Gladiators because of the success of the kids who play for him.  All of the "marquis" players in the area high schools were once Gladiators - Statum, Felts, Hicks, etc.....  Up until this year, the Gladiators had no teams past age 14, so these players were forced to go elsewhere.  The success of the Gladiator organization is not based on an age group's record.  It is based upon the development of the player - on and off the field.  That, Bullett, is the difference between Gladiator Baseball and other organizations.  It is also the reason people are wanting to be Gladiators - not because of the win/loss record of a particular team.

and THAT should be the rest of the story>>well said ;D

[bigdog88]

Ok, I got something to say about this... You take a team like the GTB10 Major

With Nations, they are register as Premier. Not once did another team sign up to play them @ Ford Park. They had to travel every just about every tournament. I know they played once in bmt as 11AA and won championship game. Morgan was smart! These kids on the GTB 10 Premier Nations played USSSA World Series but had to go to Mississippi! They were in Champ game and through the year won several Champ games but if they would of done like Morgan Walker they could of for sure been classified playing up as 11 yr olds. They have some talent on their team and some kids that can hit the ball just as good as the gladiators.

[bullett1]

i know a lot of players that are very good players that arent gladiators and never will be & dont want to be.for every person that thinks walker & his so called pro trainers are great there are 3 people that think they are terrible.for $35 FOR 30 MIN. $15OO A WEEK $5000-$6000 A MONTH.how do you justify that kind of money?by winning & if you can play a division lower(sanbagging) all the time you got it made.we can argue all day but any one that knows baseball & is honest knows the gladiators should have been moved up months ago.just goes to show u that nations is no better then usssa,the only diff. is usssa is cheaper. 

[TLB0]

THE GTB TEAM ALSO CLASSIFIED IN USSSA AS AAA AND  PLAYED IN AAA WORLD SERIES NOT MAJOR.

[reddog24]

i know a lot of players that are very good players that arent gladiators and never will be & dont want to be.for every person that thinks walker & his so called pro trainers are great there are 3 people that think they are terrible.for $35 FOR 30 MIN. $15OO A WEEK $5000-$6000 A MONTH.how do you justify that kind of money?by winning & if you can play a division lower(sanbagging) all the time you got it made.we can argue all day but any one that knows baseball & is honest knows the gladiators should have been moved up months ago.just goes to show u that nations is no better then usssa,the only diff. is usssa is cheaper. 

Wow only three people think they are terrible. Sound like pretty good trainers to me

[643]

i know a lot of players that are very good players that arent gladiators and never will be & dont want to be.for every person that thinks walker & his so called pro trainers are great there are 3 people that think they are terrible.for $35 FOR 30 MIN. $15OO A WEEK $5000-$6000 A MONTH.how do you justify that kind of money?by winning & if you can play a division lower(sanbagging) all the time you got it made.we can argue all day but any one that knows baseball & is honest knows the gladiators should have been moved up months ago.just goes to show u that nations is no better then usssa,the only diff. is usssa is cheaper. 

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If you check insted of bashing you will see the academy has instructors that has BEEN where most want to go and without a dought KNOW what it takes to get there. Your "so called pro trainers" are actually instructors with 3 being EX professional players but I guess you know baseball better than them too. Its been a few yrs since I've had anything to do with BB other than a specktator BUT in the yrs n yrs I was, I have ran into lots of people as you and their son ended up sacking groceries at Market Basket. Have you ever thought of taking up Badminton, Croquet or perhaps crochet... 

[coach78]

This was a loop hole in the Nations system this year... Next year everyone will be required just like USSSA.

[East TX]

Can someone put the roster on here including--home town and the HS they will attend...Thank you

[BBGod]

11

[westend1]

Whitecaps went from AA to AAA, did they not?  They at least have some chance of playing locally.

[redslugger]

I agree with what is being stated regarding the differential treatment of the gladiators versus other teams in the area.  Hopefully things will change next year.  But I seriously doubt it.....

The 11 Elite team needs to enjoy what they have achieved this season.  Big changes are coming!!  :'(

[BBGod]

11

[sportsallday]

There's no crying in baseball......... :'( :'( :'(

Great job Morgan..  You've done alot for quite a few local kids over the years, not to mention what you've done to help bring select ball to this area.

[redslugger]

Nope not all area teams just the 11 elite Glads and GTB will be envolved in this shake up...with a possible couple from another team..

[BBGod]

11

[ondeck]

What kind of changes.....???

[MPrice]

I met with everyone involved tonight and there is no shake up going on as far as GTB is concerned.  We will be posting tryout information for GTB next week for ages 8 though 14.  I have heard all the rumors and there is no truth to it.  If you have any questions about tryouts etc. you can pm me. 

[redslugger]

We will see in a couple of weeks....and yes the rumors are true...maybe you didn't ask the right people...I'm sure the GTB will go on but it will be without several coaches, players, and staff on more than a couple of their teams..

This is the time of year when all of the shake ups happen some for the good and some well...lets just wait and see.. :-\

[SWAT34]

For its 1st year GTB had lots of success & it will continue to grow..it has a solid foundation of good kids & dedicated people behind it..to have that many teams in its 1st year, GTB did well..I'm sure it was a learning experience so it will only get better

[bb3]

For those of you who want to see the gladiators play in majors so for they are 0-1 at the elite world series.even with taking 2 of gtb kids.

[Guest Ranger83]

For those of you who want to see the gladiators play in majors so for they are 0-1 at the elite world series.even with taking 2 of gtb kids.

.....and your point is? 

[bmtball]

First of all let me say that I think that Morgan has done an exceptional job with those kids. He took several run of the mill/average players and turned them into a machine. For that he should be commended. However I do believe that there has been a shadyness to the whole move up not move up thing. I have to believe it has something to do with Morgan's relationship with Ron Mathis. All you have to do is look at the statistics. Lets compare the Whitecaps with the Gladiators.

Whitecaps won 4 out of the first 5 tourneys this spring

Gladiators won 4 out of the first 5 tourneys this spring

Whitecaps went 20-2 over this period

Gladiators went 19-3 over this period

Whitecaps got moved up and went 6-13 the remainder of the year

Gladiators did not get moved up and won 5 more tourneys and the world series going 8-0

Something stinks in Denmark. Love the kids and the organization but something is not right.

I think personally that there needs to be several teams moved around to make it more competative

Since you are obviously with the Whitecaps, or a proponent of the Whitecaps, lets get to the heart of the matter.  In three games played against the Gladiators this year, Gladiators scored 30 runs to the Whitecaps 5 runs.  Gladiators beat Whitecaps all three games.  The bottom line is, the Gladiators are a better team, so lets discredit them.  These are 11 year olds for cryin out loud.  I know the Whitecaps are trying to build an organization comparable to the Gladiators, but lets take the high road by showing how well you do.  Don't discredit a coach or a group of players who have worked their rear ends off.