Justin Rodriguez, Times Herald-Record

The recruiting job starts innocently enough. A coach asks a star player to play for his travel team.

Only for the weekend.

The kid with the killer swing, smooth jumper or cannon for an arm agrees to play in the tournament at some cool venue or city.

That's when the coach puts on the full-court press — salesman style. This team is a lot better with you running the point. We can get you a lot more exposure than that other club. Check out these new Nike uniforms we just got.

Some players say no thanks and walk. Others can't resist the promises and offers — and the deal is done.

Switching teams has gone on as long as there have been travel programs, but competition for players seems to have reached a new level in recent years as more and more travel team programs are launched.

While all these teams say they only have the best intentions for young athletes and want to provide the best chance to succeed or highest quality playing experiences, player movement — for whatever reason — has led to a lot of hard feelings in the travel sports community.

"It happens all the time and there is a lot of hatred out there about this happening," says Les LaFrance, president of the BC Eagles, a boys' AAU basketball team in Orange County. "Everyone does it, and if they say they don't, they're lying. It happens up here more than the city because there aren't as many good players."

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