The #1 Bestseller! Twelve-year-old Danny Walker may be the smallest kid on the basketball court -- but don't tell him that. Because no one plays with more heart or court sense. But none of that matters when he is cut from his local travel team, the very same team his father led to national prominence as a boy. Danny's father, still smarting from his own troubles, knows Danny isn't the only kid who was cut for the wrong reason, and together, this washed-up former player and a bunch of never-say-die kids prove that the heart simply cannot be measured. For fans of The Bad News Bears, Hoosiers, the Mighty Ducks, and Mike Lupica's other New York Times bestselling novels Heat, The Underdogs, and Million-Dollar Throw, here is a book that proves that when the game knocks you down, champions stand tall.

Zack Waddell's baseball IQ makes him one of the Roadrunners' most important players. When a new kid, Dustin, immediately takes their catcher's spot, Zack is puzzled. Dustin doesn't have the skills to be a starter. So Zack offers to help him with his swing in Dustin's swanky personal batting cages. Zack accidentally overhears a conversation and figures out why Dustin is starting—and why the team is suddenly able to afford an expensive trip to a New York tournament. Will Zack's baseball instincts transfer off the field? Will the Roadrunners be able to stay focused when their team chemistry faces its greatest challenge yet?

Carlos "Trip" Costas is a fiery shortstop with many talents and passions. His father is Julio Costas—yes, the Julio Costas, the famous singer. Unfortunately, Julio is also famous for being loud, controlling, and sometimes violent with Trip. He dreams of seeing his son play in the majors, but that's not what Trip wants. When Trip decides to take a break from baseball to focus on his own music, his father loses his temper. He threatens to stop donating money to the team. Will the Roadrunners survive losing their biggest financial backer and their star shortstop? Will Trip have the courage to follow his dreams, and not his father's?

Whether you're an experienced coach or a parent eager to help your child get the best experiences with a newly-formed team, you'll get everything you need from Ron Filipkowski's "Travelball: How to Start and Manage a Successful Travel Baseball Team." Filipkowski, named the 2010 13-U Coach of the Year by Travelball Select, brings more than a decade of personal expertise to this comprehensive handbook. He not only knows what it takes to keep a group of kids moving ahead toward top-level tournament goals-- he also shares amazing insights into the psychology of motivation and team management. Along the way, Ron Filipkowski shares unabashedly personal stories of his many experiences as the coach of a championship team. Some of his tales will have you splitting your sides with laughter; others will simply melt your heart. But throughout the book the author repeatedly makes one thing clear: if your team is going to be a consistent success on the baseball field, then you have to be at the top of your game when your players are off the field, too. While some travelball coaches may find themselves severely challenged by the competing needs of young players, demanding parents, petty rivalries, scheduling conflicts, hotel logistics, unethical competition, and all the other wild and unpredictable factors that go into the potentially overwhelming world of high-level travelball competition, Ron Filipkowski makes it all seem easy. Although "Travelball" features a massive amount of practical, hands-on information that will help you coach your team to peak levels of performance, this book doesn't stop there. Ron Filipkowski also takes you off the playing field, out of the dugout, past the locker room, and into the hearts and minds of anxious parents, overbearing tournament officials, and the umpires who never seem to get the respect they deserve. This is the real world of competing egos, unintentional goof-ups, and big-league stupidity that can make even veteran coaches pull their hair out-- and Filipkowski not only captures it elegantly in print; he also tells you exactly how to survive in this super-charged culture of crazy little things that all somehow make a big difference! If you're serious about being all the coach you can be, get this book and read every word. Then read it a second time, and keep a copy with you every time you get ready for a practice or head out for a tournament. And if you really want your team to succeed, make sure all your assistant coaches have their own copies, too! Here's just some of what you'll find in the exciting pages of "Travelball: How to Start and Manage a Successsful Travel Baseball Team" * Dealing with parents that are unhappy with playing time or positions. * How to handle and approach youth umpires to get them on your side. * Crazy little strategy tips that make a huge difference in travelball tournaments. * Why you should consistently treat each player different. * Creative offensive and defensive plays. * Recruiting new players from rec ball leagues and other travelball teams. * Tournament and game strategies adapted for travelball rules and formats. * Why doing things by "The Book" doesn't always work in the youth game. * Keeping other coaches from recruiting your players. * Managing playing time in tournaments to keep everyone happy while winning. * How to make travelball coexist with rec ball, school ball and other sports. * Baseball-specific strength, speed & conditioning exercises tailored for youth players. * Why home runs are evil in the youth game. * Curveballs and kids. * Why Bill Walsh-style practices are best for young players. * How to keep your team together over several seasons. * Teaching plate discipline and the mental approach at the plate. * The ethics of sign-stealing. * Why you should remove the word "umpire" from your team vocabulary. * Dealing with difficult parents of outstanding players. * Hosting tournaments as fundraisers. * And much, mu

Sammy Perez has to make it to the big leagues. After his teammate's career-ending injury, the Roadrunners decided to play in a wood bat tournament to protect their pitchers. And while Sammy used to be a hotheaded, hard-hitting, home-run machine, he's now stuck in the slump of his life. Sammy thinks the wood bats are causing the problem, but his dad suggests that maybe he's not strong enough. Is Sammy willing to break the law and sacrifice his health to get an edge by taking performance-enhancing drugs? Can Sammy break out of his slump in time to get noticed by major-league scouts?

The #1 Bestseller! Twelve-year-old Danny Walker may be the smallest kid on the basketball court -- but don't tell him that. Because no one plays with more heart or court sense. But none of that matters when he is cut from his local travel team, the very same team his father led to national prominence as a boy. Danny's father, still smarting from his own troubles, knows Danny isn't the only kid who was cut for the wrong reason, and together, this washed-up former player and a bunch of never-say-die kids prove that the heart simply cannot be measured. For fans of The Bad News Bears, Hoosiers, the Mighty Ducks, and Mike Lupica's other New York Times bestselling novels Heat, The Underdogs, and Million-Dollar Throw, here is a book that proves that when the game knocks you down, champions stand tall.

When Danny makes a catch that ends up on SportsCenter's Top Plays, he is approached by a sports-gear executive with an offer too tempting to pass up.