Sports at the Beach — Attraction in Delaware

I want to start by saying my son has been playing travel baseball for 5 years now and we have had many different experiences at a highly competitive travel level of baseball. I am not one to typically complain and can fully understanding how various factors contribute to changes and decisions made during tournaments. We have played three consecutive years at Sports at the Beach, and unfortunately each experience was not the most desirable. However, this year trumped the worst experience thus far. Each year, weather has had a factor in our games, we’ve atleast has one full day of ball cancelled for what could have been maintained fields given the amount of money they charge for the tournament and daily admission into the parking lot. Not to mention the amount of money you have to pay in lodging to be relatively close to the complex. The experience definitely wasn’t worth the expense.

This year, our first day, we had late draw times (3:30 and 6pm). A storm came through during the middle of our first game and then our second game was cancelled also. The following day (mind you, there was no rain, just wet fields from the day before) was entirely cancelled and all games were recorded as a tie…so that now was 4 out of 6 scheduled games for seeding that we had not even been able to play ONE complete game. A very unfair disadvantage to our boys to not be able to compete for the 1st or 2nd seed, in fact, we didn’t even have a chance despite winning the only two full games we got to play on Saturday. I was highly disappointment in the condition of the fields, we played a whole day Saturday on a unlined field. So what exactly was being handled during that Friday of cancelled ball and no storms? Our coach fought for our boys by reaching out to the tournament director and requesting a make up game for the first night, as all other teams were able to complete their first two games, but there was no effort in trying to get one field ready to make that happen. And then he proceeded to change the tournament rules on the website during the MIDDLE of our tournament, to justify how things were handled….how unfair!

Unfortunately, this past experience was enough for us to make a unanimous team decision to not enter into another Sports at the Beach tournament. I’m not writing this review to tell you not to attempt your own experience, but I just want to be honest about what you can expect and give you a true review on MY experience. Had I seen a review such as this, I might have saved myself $1500, between travel and...

Just had our end of year tournament here. There is good and bad to Sports at the Beach.

The good: Umpires were some of the best we encountered this season. I was really impressed with how consistent they were, and for the most part, made very good calls. The boys loved the experience, and really enjoyed watching other teams play. They cheered on other teams they became friendly with, and other teams came to cheer on our boys. The employees we encountered in the snack stands, pro shop, and entrance gate were extremely pleasant and more than willing to help you out.

The bad: Our first game had a pretty large sink hole in foul territory off 3rd base. The coaches for both teams were not willing to start the game until it was filled in, and it was not easy finding someone to fill it in. By Sunday, it looked like a bomb had gone off. The trash cans were over flowing, there was trash literally all over the complex because people either left their trash on the tables due to the trash cans being so full, or the trash overflowing from the cans just blew all over the place. The bathrooms look old, dirty and beat up. I'm sure the use they get makes it tough to keep them looking pristine, but they were in really bad shape. It is very clearly a profit business first, and they have no issues charging as such. It is a bit of a shame to have to pay $7 every day just to get in. They have plenty of options for profit here (snack stand, pro shop, photos), it would be nice to just be able to park and watch baseball without having to pay to get in. The first 3 games only have a single umpire, calling balls and strikes from behind the mound. While they did a pretty good job, there were a few foul tips that were missed because the ump said, "he couldn't hear it from where he was standing".

All in all, we were glad we had our season ending tournament here, but this is definitely a 1 and done for us. The place in general did not live up to the presentation on their website.

I would never tell someone "you have to play here", but I would also not tell someone that they need to avoid this place. It has good and...

We attended a tournament here on 7/13 thru 7/15. We paid $7.00 a day per person, It was close to $50.00 for us to enter the parking lot and the complex. The complex was a dust bowl. Yes, we understand the time of the year allows for this type of condition due to lack of rain however, the fields should be watered between games. After each game the fields were dragged which was a disaster, the dust clouds were horrendous.

The bathrooms were disgusting. The soap dispensers in the men's room were ripped off the wall and on the floor. They were dirty and unsanitary to say the least. The womans rest room soap dispenser ran out of soap and was never re-filled. There were open covered utility boxes that I saw which clearly posed a hazard to spectators and kids to potentially being injured. These were located over near field #13. We also never had scoreboard controller, our scoreboard did not work.

There is also no shaded areas for spectators, bring a tent or an umbrella. Also watch the bleachers, some were broken and not safe to sit on. They should all be inspected and replaced and or repaired as needed.

There were no safety nets over the common areas to protect fans from any fly balls. We played our final game at 6pm and near our dug out were garbage cans that were overflowing with garbage. I myself had to move the garbage cans away from the dug out. I rolled them into the pathway near the concession stand hoping someone would empty them. The cans were not emptied and remained there until we left. In fact, we saw workers drive around the overflowing cans, it was somewhat comical to say the least. They don't check for coolers, bring all your own food and drinks, the concession prices are high. After you pay $7.00 per person and pay for the food and drinks at the concession stand, it could cost you a lot of money !

Also be aware the fields are short, their home run fields, in an effort to sell t-shirts in the gift shop.

This complex was not...