What is Warpath?

Warpath is the tournament baseball and softball program for NHAA. While maintaining an unwavering emphasis on player and personal development, Warpath is for the player that would like to continue to play the sport beyond the in-house league, in environments that will challenge and test their skills against other tournament teams. The Warpath program is designed to accommodate all levels of players so ANY player wishing to continue to play beyond the in-house league, should inquire and/or sign up to be evaluated for the Warpath program. Evaluations are designed to place your child in the level of competition that best suits their current skills and abilities. These evaluations are held yearly to establish that year’s travel team(s). This will give each player the ability to advance their skillset to each of their potential.

You can expect a higher degree of competition than what you experience in regular season play.  Some of the changes you may observe are your child’s positions, batting order, and playing time. Those that your child experienced during the season may change when committing to a tournament ball team. There is no guarantee that your child will play every inning, or in their desired position, although coaches should be willing to listen to the players' desires, work with them to develop the skills, and give them opportunities to compete for playing time. Coaches for the Warpath program typically have a high degree of baseball acumen and will ultimately be the decision maker on what positions, playing time, and batting order puts the TEAM in the best position to compete successfully. 

What’s the commitment?

Players and families should also expect to give a higher degree of commitment. Commitment to the Warpath team is important to the program’s success and you can expect to spend more time, money, and travel than in the regular league play. Each team will set their own schedule, however, you can expect to practice/scrimmage throughout the week and play multiple games per day on the weekends where you have tournaments scheduled. Coaches are expected to be upfront about tournament, uniform, equipment, and other team costs and you should be prepared to pay for these costs upfront. NHAA will pay for one tournament each season but the team will fund themselves for everything else. 

Sample cost breakdown for a tournament season per player (without fundraising):

We are dedicated to keeping costs below what other tournament organizations charge. Please understand this is a sample and these costs may increase or decrease based on different scenarios. Each Warpath team is responsible for paying for their own costs.

Communication

Due to the higher degree of commitment, communication is vital and you should expect to communicate scheduling conflicts, injuries/illness, and any other information requested by the coach religiously, as it’s requested. It is expected that you communicate vacation schedules and do your best to avoid the months of June and July since you can expect to play multiple tournaments during those months. Rosters are typically smaller, so commitment is imperative to the team’s success.

What is practice like?

You can expect our practices to be very structured where players can develop the skills needed to find success on the diamond in a competitive environment. Not only will players be introduced to the skills they need to find success on the ball field, they will be introduced to skills that will help them develop into strong leaders, teammates, and persons as a whole. We believe higher competition promotes a growth mindset in our players where we can learn important traits such as, but not limited to; overcoming failure, celebrating successes, perseverance, determination, grit, goal setting, collaboration, and of course, love for the game! 

Below is what a sample schedule may look like for the busiest week in the summer.

Throughout the months of June and July you can expect to play multiple tournaments. NHAA also encourages their Warpath teams to explore other opportunities that may be offered in the Spring or Fall, provided they do not interfere with the NHAA Regular Season.

You can also expect us to keep fun at the heart of youth sports, because at the end of the day, it is a game. Practices and games alike should be fun for coaches, parents, and most importantly, players. Due to the competitive nature of tournament baseball and softball, there should be times of heartbreak, however, the focus will always be on the development of our future and overcoming those obstacles. Winning is of course a priority on a competitive team. For the Warpath program you can expect it to be a byproduct of our program and not a point of focus or emphasis. We will aim to create a healthy and exciting atmosphere where our children can learn to play baseball or softball fundamentally correctly, play hard for their community and team, and have fun with their teammates for the shared love of the game.

• In-house performance
• In-house attendance
• Performance at tournament team evaluation
• Performance in previous tournament team play
• Attendance and commitment to tournament team schedules
• Player's attitude, behavior and sportsmanship

To ensure the teams are picked fairly and the right kids are chosen, the Managers are not permitted to vote for their own child nor any child on their team. They can promote their opinion of their players but are not permitted to vote for them. Once the Warpath rosters are selected and approved, the Board evaluates all applications of potential Managers, and then votes. The Manager is selected after the team to ensure fairness.