by Iluvblue » Thu May 31, 2012 1:27 pm
hey blue, what is the most important job of an org. in your opinion? is it getting girls signed, putting a good product on the field, keeping girls together for many seasons or is it a combo of all 3 or something different?
I dont think there is a right or wrong answer to your question. Each Org has to decide what their goals are and what is important to them. I will break down your question into a few parts.
1) Getting kids signed. I dont think it is the org that gets kids signed. Families work hard to get their kids seen and signed. Being on the big name team helps(field placements), and the contacts the teams have with coaches are a major plus, but the kids get themselves signed with their abilities, their grades, and how hard they work stayng in contact with coaches. I had a player 3 years ago on our 14u team that was followed around by Washington and they really liked her. We were 14u, so it wasnt the team name that got this kid looked at, it was the fact the she is damn good. If kids arent getting signed, the org wont be around long.... or if they do stick around, they will be a really weak team(if kids arent getting signed). So they MUST be getting signed if they are signable kids.
2) Good product on field. That goes with having good players. It doesnt matter who the coach is, if you dont have good players, the product will not be good. How great has Mike Candrea been in the last few years without the stud pitcher? AZ looks very avg lately and I dont think Mr. Candrea has forgot how to coach. For my organization, putting a good product on the field is important due to perception in our area. Why would good players want to come to an organization if the teams in the organization look like garbage every weekend. In addition, good players will not stay on your teams if the team is competitive. Good players want to play on good teams. Coaches are also not likely to want to come see your team(and thus your players) if the product on the field is not good.
Keeping kids together. If the team is not any good, this is a moot point. If the team is good, and the players are good, that means those kids can go play where they want. So if they stay on the team, that speaks volumes to how well things are ran, how much the kids are taught, and whether the parent feels they are getting their money worth and have a reason to stay, and one of the most important for me, whether the kid actually likes playing on that team. I know a norcal team that is at the top of all these rankings that seems about to have a major meltdown every weekend. You hear about it from various people every week. Why?? it aint about wins and losses. So the fact people are looking to leave with such a talented team should say something.
So I think keeping them together is big.
When I started the Monarchs I wanted to be able to feed my teams up. I wanted to see kids feed into my oldest team, knowing my system like a MLB team. I can say right now that I will not be having a tryout for my Gold team in the Fall. Well not exactly true, I ALWAYS have a tryout for pitchers, as we will never turn away a difference maker at that position, but the other spots that we will graduate will be filled from our 16u team, just like I wanted it. But only because I feel they are good enough.
So for me, I guess it is a combo of all 3 things you mention..... and almost in equal importance.