I'm so frustrated!!!!

[DonnieS]

[
No nerve struck...its just that many people read what is written on this board and they apply some amount of credence to what they read. I'm trying to express what I know to be true. If a player does her groundwork and contacts coaches from schools she would like to attend, they will likely come to see her play, regardless of whom she plays for during the season. Using your advice, a player might choose to play a lot less for a somewhat better team and not be seen because she might not be one of the starting 9...or maybe she is a leadoff hitter who the better team might have hitting in the 8 or 9 hole...not as many ABs. Personally, I would always advise a kid to join a team where she will play much of the time, regardless of how skilled her fellow players might be...

We are NOT an organization team, though we play the organization teams and usually compete well, usually. We are a team made up of kids from 6 different schools, coached by dads. We just played at RMD - at one of the outlying fields (TB), and had major D1 coaches coming to watch, and the kid was a freshman. Two we contacted, one was contacted by an opposing coach that played us a few weeks back, and two came because of recruiting camp scores by the freshman.

The point Sam makes is a kid cant be seen if a kid is on the bench. And the college coaches will come, if you make contact, and if you have something they want to see.

[Tucson]

But, Donnie, you have a player that the coaches want to see and she has established herself by playing up for several years.

The top coaches are watching these kids since they were in 8th grade.

But, 99% of us don't have a prodigy kid.

I still believe that there is a college team for everyone. No, it isn't going to be U of A or ASU, but there is a team out there that needs you.

When I was coaching at a 2 yr. school I had two Div. 1 type players because they sat around and waited on the perfect offer and passed up the very good D2 offers.

There are many, many teams in the US. If you are willing to move away from home, there is a coach that can use you.

[SBNut]

Some of you make it sound like you can get your kid on a top Gold team at the drop of a hat. There is ONE top Gold team in our metropolitan area & they picked up a bunch of 2011s and a few 2010s this year. So, sure, I'd like my kid to be on that team, but I can't buy her a spot or tell the coach that he has to pick my kid. I've been told by several current players & parents on that Gold team that they don't understand why these younger kids were picked over my kid & so other '09s, as the younger players aren't nearly as good. I guess the coach decided he needed to plan for the future more than try to help current seniors find a spot on a college softball team.

And my kid has done everything all of you have suggested - emails, calls, invitations, videos, etc. And YES, she IS good. She's 1st team all-everything & JC coaches are all over her, trying to get her to play for them. But she wants to play for a 4 year school. But her team doesn't get to play at the main fields, and no matter what everyone posts here, MOST of the coaches will not come out to the outlying fields. Sure, you'll get some, but not nearly as many as those that stick around the main fields. ALL or at least MOST of the teams in these showcases should get the chance to play a couple of games at the main fields! Period!

And to top it off, the team's 3 games at the Surf City showcase were canceled on Sunday, due to a little bit of rain in the morning. They told all the teams that were there that the park would be closed the rest of the day & to go home. (There was VERY little rain & the fields were still in good condition.) But teams arriving later were told there was a 2 hour delay & they got their games in, as did the teams at all the other fields.

Guess it's just not meant to be.

[coolstuff]

Just returned from a showcase in St. Louis. Games were held in two different locations about 15 minutes apart. DD's team rotated between both locations for the five games they played. Recruiters were visible at both locations. We are new to the recruiting process (DD is a '93 playing 18U - long story). So we weren't really trying to get recruiters to look at her, just getting our feet wet and seeing how this works. Overall I thought is was well-run, and from what I read in the opening post, probably the way it should be done.

[andy]

SBNUT
We played at HB at 0945 and the game stared on time, as did the game before us. There was no cancellation or rain delay that I saw on the HB fields.

The other point some miss is that if you move the traditonally stong teams off the main fields so your team can play on them, then the main fields will move as the college coaches will follow the same teams they usually do. It is exactly these games that draw the college coaches to spend their ADs money in the first place.

It is frustrating but somethings are they way they are becuase the TD has to market their product and have something to sell. It seems to me Surf City did a good job of spreading out teams this last showcase and there were good teams at most of the field locations

[SBNut]

Obviously from my post, we were not at HB Sports Complex.

[noclu13]

We get it. It is harder to get college coaches to come to outlying fields. But there are a couple of problems with your post. There were just as many college coaches at Bill Barber and Harvard as there were at Huntington Beach. I spent time at all 3 facilities talking to college coaches.

But yes you are right. It is more difficult to get college coaches to come to the outlying fields. I have played on some of those fields and what you get are coaches who are coming to look at specific players. You don't usually have coaches who are just wandering around.

The real problem is that in spite of your efforts you aren't getting college coaches to come look at your kid. This usually means one of several things.

1. The coach you are contacting is not looking for a player at your kids position
2. The coach is full for 2009 or whatever year and isn't looking for any more 2009 graduates.
3. Possibly you are recruiting over your kids head.
4. Just because you feel she is a great player doesn't mean she is a great player
5. Expand your search beyond the top 25 DI schools.
6. College coaches are not stupid. They know when parents are doing the recruiting work.
7. GPA? SAT? ACT? These open doors. Many coaches look for specific ranges and some
have to recruit grades. If your kid is a 3.0 you can't look at Stanford or Harvard.
8. There are ways to increase your recruitability. Whining about not fair isn't one of them
9. I talked to a parent this weekend whose kid was playing at Terwinkle (sp). They had
several coaches at a couple of their games. The parents, kids and coaches worked hard to
get them to come to their game and they did.
10. Maybe a coach or two was there but they were not wearing flashing lights advertising the
school the work for.
11. Maybe the coach or coaches you emailed did take a look and are not really interested.
12. When did you contact the coach? Is it a California school? California Schools have 4 to 5
openings per year and get between 500 and 800 players trying to get each of those
positions. That means you are competing for a spot with 4,000 other players. What
separates you from the rest?
13. How about a dose of reality. Get an impartial softball person to evaluate your DD and really
think about what level of softball she should be playing in college. If they aren't coming to
see her play then maybe she isn't a DI caliber player
14. Who told you how to recruit college coaches anyway?
15. I think I told you before. College coaches go see the players that recruit them. But you
have to make them want to come see her. What is in it for them. Why should they come
see your daughter? Why her over someone else? Did you do anything in your email that
made them think I need to go see this player? Remember those 800 players trying to get
each spot on a team? Well they are emailing every day or every couple of days. Well
actually I'm not going to tell you everything I tell my players to do. However, there is more
to it than sending an email that says dear coach, I want to play softball at your school.
Come see me play.

Take some of the advise beyond some of the sarcasm. Read through all of this and see what others have told you. It can be done inspite of the outlying fields.

Oh by the way. The TD has no control over rainouts. They use city fields and the city makes the call. I have seen everything called off at all the fields with no more rain than there was on Sunday.

Over the last few years, there have been rain outs, wind outs and fire outs (sorry Andy). All of these are outside the control of the TD.
Hell sometimes even on the better fields you get bad times. Someone has to play at 8pm and 8am. Most college aren't making those games either.

OK I'm done.

[Tucson]

Noclu, I think you have nailed just about everything.

I wondered if all college coaches wear their colors and advertise who they are. I used to wear the schools colors to recruit and I really thought that I looked ridiculous.

And people would ask questions like "Are you hear to see Julie?" (And, of course, I had never heard of Julie.)

Sometimes when coaches would show up at my DD's HS games, the girl they were watching would become so nervous that she looked like a novice. I like the coaches that you really don't know that they are there.

[Hitmechanic]

But, Donnie, you have a player that the coaches want to see and she has established herself by playing up for several years.

The top coaches are watching these kids since they were in 8th grade.

But, 99% of us don't have a prodigy kid.

I still believe that there is a college team for everyone. No, it isn't going to be U of A or ASU, but there is a team out there that needs you.

When I was coaching at a 2 yr. school I had two Div. 1 type players because they sat around and waited on the perfect offer and passed up the very good D2 offers.

There are many, many teams in the US. If you are willing to move away from home, there is a coach that can use you.

Not only is there a team for any DD that really wants it, the $$$ is readily available too (especially in the 2 year colleges). I know over a dozen DD's that got sweet deals this season (mixing atheletic and academic $$$) and none of them I considered good enough to play on my TB team.

Let's not forget the goal...get DD the BA...so you can get her out of your pocket...so you can retire comfortably.

[DonnieS]

>> I know over a dozen DD's that got sweet deals this season (mixing atheletic and academic $$$) and none of them I considered good enough to play on my TB team. <<

Same here - well maybe not a dozen. I am now convinced that just about any kid (at least here in Texas) that is competitive on any travel ball level can get paid to go to college, small D1s,JCs, its all there, just BE REALISTIC about the possibilties/probabilities. College is college for pete's sake, very few people gives a rats behind where it was after a few years. Think about 10-15 years out, you take your little blonde brat to her first t-ball tryouts, and they say ' hey check out that kid, her mom played college ball!'. (Maybe its Texas A&M, maybe its South Western Brush Country Junior College - its still college ball)

What I tell kids is how do you want to pay for college, 3 choices, sack groceries at a grocery store like I did for 1.18 per hour, pay for college at the rate of multi-hundred a month for 15 years (a car payment), or play softball. And softball is not going to be like it is playing for me, its going to be early practice, lots of practice, late games, lots of conditioning work, no b/s excuses, but you will be a college athlete and treated, maybe a little different than other students, still better than 1.18 per hour.