First Ever Bobby Valentine 16U All-American Baseball Team

All-American Athletic Foundation Sponsors Inaugural 2010 Season

STAMFORD, Conn., June 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The All-American Athletic Foundation proudly announces the official members of the inaugural Bobby Valentine 16U All-American team.  The 2010 team is made up of 23 outstanding players from 16 states around the USA.  There is also an Honorable Mention All-American team.  The Bobby Valentine 16U All-American team was chosen this past winter from among hundreds of players from 39 states who attended invitation-only Showcase Tryouts around the nation.

The 2010 player profiles and how to register early for the 2011 tryouts can be found at: www.allamericanfoundation.com.  

Tim Corbin, SEC head coach at Vanderbilt University, said, "The Bobby Valentine All-American team is an excellent scouting opportunity for us to find players to compete in the SEC, the toughest conference in college baseball. The value to us, and the whole scouting community, is clear—we get to watch as many high caliber recruits as possible. This makes us more efficient on the scouting side, and hopefully that efficiency translates to wins and championships here in the SEC."

Baseball Hall of Fame legend Tommy Lasorda added, "We are looking forward to a Bobby Valentine All-American team that will provide us with early looks at potential MLB talent that we can hopefully one day project as players who can help win a World Series."

The Bobby Valentine All-American team will play a 2010 summer season that simulates a minor league experience as the players will live and travel together for the entire summer.  The schedule is the most geographically diverse program of any 16U team in the United States, guaranteeing our players maximum exposure to recruiters in every region of the USA.  The team will play up in tournaments against older and more experienced competition such as East Cobb Braves, East Cobb Astros, Norcal Baseball, Diamond Devils, and the Utah Marshalls, Bryce Harper's 2009 summer team.

In the true spirit of the Foundation's mission, four elite coaches are either volunteering their time or earning modest stipends for the chance to help these young All-Americans build their careers:  

• Lou Rettman: Former New York Yankee and University of Tampa record holder is a long-time friend of Bobby Valentine.  Coach Rettman has won 4 national championships with three different age groups and graduates of his B.A.T. Baseball Analysis and Training Facility have earned numerous division one scholarships and moved to the professional ranks.      
• Steve Mandl: Two-time national coach of the year and legendary 30 year veteran coach with 900 wins at the nationally ranked George Washington High School in NYC.  Since 1984 Steven has graduated 7 major league players and more than 30 minor league players, a record that is virtually unmatched by any high school program in the United States during the same time period.  
• Ryan Leahy: Assistant coach at the number one hitting team in the nation in 2010, the University of Pittsburgh.  Ryan had a 5 year professional career after being a two time captain of the Boston College Eagles of the ACC.  
• Thomas Arcidiacono: 15th on the NCAA all time leading rushing list, Thomas is the strength and conditioning coach.  

About:

An All-American Athletic Foundation's mission is to help young men, irrespective of their financial means, convert their gifts as baseball players into the best possible college and MLB baseball careers.  In 2010 the Foundation is sponsoring the first ever Bobby Valentine 16U All-American team.  As one of the living legends of the game, Bobby, as he so often does for the causes that help young people, has generously given a great deal of his time to the Foundation and traveled extensively around the nation to select and evaluate players that made first team All-American.    

To follow the Bobby Valentine All-American team this summer:

The Foundation has established a partnership with Pointstreak that enables scouts and fans to simply go to: www.allamericanfoundation.com  and follow every play via Game Live, a real-time flash application that streams play-by-play baseball results over a 3-D graphical image of a baseball diamond.  A full complement of professional level statistics will also be recorded in real time on the web site.  

SOURCE All-American Athletic Foundation